When does a clever product turn into brilliant marketing? When that product becomes iconic.
Over the years, a huge part of the Coca-Cola Company’s success has been its packaging. The Coke Bottle. The vintage vending machines.
Now Coke has once again wowed beverage enthusiasts and media folks alike with its new Freestyle Initiative. 
This is the soda machine of the future.
With over 100 flavors, consumers can choose from flavors they have never heard of. Raspberry Diet Coke? Sure. Fanta Grape? Why not!
Kids will no longer have to resort to creating a suicide* drink to stand out from their friends.
*(For those who haven’t been around an 11 year-old in the past decade, a suicide drink is a mixture of all drink options at the soda fountain in one cup. Mmmm!)
Coca-Cola has found the individual in all of us. We are no longer one-size-fits-all soda consumers — or even six-flavors-satisfies-all consumers. We now have the ability to uniquely connect to flavors in ways we never could before.
Look for these innovative new vending machines in Duane Reade, Burger King, and Five Guys all over New York.
And speaking of connecting, it’s hard to connect more than through a good hug.
Forbes recently highlighted this amazing Coca-Cola vending machine at the National University of Singapore that dispenses beverages not in response to money, but in response to hugs!
In a statement as part of the company’s ‘Open Happiness’ campaign, Leonardo O’Grady, ASEAN IMC Director, The Coca-Cola Company, explained that: “Happiness is contagious. The Coca-Cola Hug Machine is a simple idea to spread some happiness. Our strategy is to deliver doses of happiness in an unexpected, innovative way to engage not only the people present, but the audience at large.”
Coca-Cola has once again changed how not only we look at its soda, but also how our soda consumption replicates life.
Brilliantly iconic!