As soon as The Coca-Cola Co. announced the launch of its “Share a Coke” campaign in the United States this summer, I immediately began my quest to find a bottle with my name on it. After reading about similar campaigns in Europe, Asia and Australia in the past, I was excited that it would finally be my turn to join the fun.

I spent more time than I’d like to admit digging through coolers and beverage displays this summer hunting for my Coke. It even got to the point that people I was shopping with pretended they didn’t know me when I was Coke hunting. After two months of searching, my sister finally found a Jennifer bottle at a local hardware store and “shared” it with me. 

Although not all consumers have gone to the extreme that I have to hunt for their names, people are showing strong, positive responses to the campaign. According to a July 24 post on Networked Insights’ blog, “Share a Coke” is a leader among this summer’s advertising campaigns. The analytics company reports that fans are frequently talking about finding bottles with their names on them or receiving them from loved ones. Forty-five percent of these online posts have
been outwardly positive, with another 50 percent being neutral, it reports.

 The campaign even has sparked humorous consumer interaction, such as a CollegeHumor video that turned “Share A Coke” into a competition, multiple memes that lament the challenges of finding a bottle with a specific name, and even a fan video by a couple that used “Share A Coke” to impersonate celebrities and then announce that they are expecting a child. Following this strong consumer response, it’ll be interesting to see what other personalized campaigns beverage brands promote next.