I’ve talked a lot about nonlinear marketing over the past few weeks. Nonlinear marketing is a way brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Red Bull are using storytelling to deepen their relationships with customers and prospects.
Here’s the definition of nonlinear marketing I shared with you not too long ago.
[clickToTweet tweet=”How is The Coca-Cola Company using nonlinear marketing to connect with customers? Find out here:” quote=”Nonlinear marketing builds a bridge between brands and consumers by having the brand become part of the consumer’s life, and by having the consumer become part of the brand’s life.” theme=”style2″]
As mentioned in our blog post last week, traditional marketing is disruptive, intrusive and uninvited. Nonlinear marketing is woven into the fabric of a consumer’s life.
With nonlinear marketing, the brand doesn’t interrupt the consumer’s life, it actually becomes part of the consumer’s experience.
When I was invited to The Coca-Cola Company world headquarters to see the launch of their JourneyxJourney initiative, I knew I’d be witnessing the launch of something that takes advantage of everything nonlinear marketing has to offer.
Doug Busk, who is the Global Group Director of Social and Digital Communications for The Coca-Cola Company, is heading up the JourneyxJourney initiative.
Doug and the company are putting two millennials on a cross-country trip to capture how The Coca-Cola Company and its brands are linked to the local communities and cultural fabric of the United States.
Want to get inside the mind of Doug to get a sense of what this initiative is all about? Here’s a 28-second sound bite of Doug discussing the key idea behind JourneyxJourney.
JourneyxJourney marks the first trip in the Coca-Cola Journey Mobile Brand Publishing Unit, which is a 40-foot motorhome equipped with production gear, cameras, filming drones and editing equipment.
The two JourneyxJourney storytellers will be driving alongside the mobile brand publishing unit in a 2017 Ford Escape, courtesy of Ford.
I had the opportunity to interview the JourneyxJourney storytellers (named Emily Bucharati and Meagan Priselac) before they kicked-off their trip, which begins in Atlanta and continues for 20-plus days ending up in Los Angeles.
Emily and Meagan will connect and co-create content with fans, exploring the passions ingrained in The Coca-Cola Company’s DNA — such as innovation, food, sports, music and culture.
Here’s a 33-second video where Emily and Meagan share their plans for the ultimate roadtrip.
Interested in following Meagan and Emily in their journey? Visit JourneyxJourney.com or connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.
Okay, now for the big question — what are a few key take-aways you can learn from the JourneyxJourney initiative?
Glad you asked:
- Companies are no longer marketers, they’re content creators: Traditional marketing is intrusive and (can sometimes be) annoying. Therefore, companies are relying less and less on traditional marketing and more and more on storytelling and brand publishing. That technique is what I’ve defined as nonlinear marketing, which is where the brand becomes part of the consumer’s life, and the consumer becomes part of the brand’s life.
- Traditional marketing isn’t dead, it’s just being supplemented by nonlinear marketing: TV commercials, radio spots, outdoor boards and print ads aren’t going away, their impact is just being enhanced by the advent of nonlinear marketing.
- You don’t need big budgets to do nonlinear marketing: You’d be surprised by how cost-effective the JourneyxJourney initiative is for Coca-Cola. (I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.) The key thing to know is that the best ideas don’t always require a big budget, they just require a great idea and the cajunas to pull it off.
Congratulations to Coca-Cola for having cajunas. You guys continue to do amazing things. We’re all watching how this plays out and we wish you all the luck in the world.
About the Author: Jamie Turner is an internationally-recognized author, speaker, and business thought-leader. You’ll find him on the 60 Second Marketer and as an expert commentator on CNN. He is the founder of SIXTY, a marketing optimization firm that helps clients get more bang for their marketing buck.
