Coca-Cola slogan likeness is ‘unfortunate’ says Cadbury
It is “unfortunate” that Dairy Milk’s new slogan ‘Taste like this feels’ is similar to Coca-Cola’s ‘Taste the feeling’, according to Cadbury’s global brand equity director Nikhil Rao, but he insists that Cadbury’s focus on ‘consumption experiences’ gives it a point of difference.
The slogan is part of a new global campaign for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola unveiled its new slogan ‘Taste the feeling’, similarly focusing on the emotional enjoyment of its product’s taste.
The similarity between the two slogans is “unfortunate”, said Rao, but he pointed to the difference between the creative campaigns. While Cadbury focuses on the “consumption experience”, Coca-Cola emphasises the consequence of when a customer consumes its product, he insisted.
He told Marketing Week: “[It seems] we were both working on it at the same time. It’s unfortunate that two of the words are the same, but when you look at the creative work they’re totally different.
“The Coca-Cola work dramatises everyday moments in life and how Coke makes you feel as a result of consumption. So they focus on the consequence. But our ‘Taste like this feels’ work, focuses on the actual consumption experience. So one is about the consequence and one the experience.”
Rao added that its existing ‘Free the Joy’ slogan is not disappearing, but that the brand was keen to put an increased focus on its products’ taste with the “sub slogan” ‘Taste like this feels’.
“The enduring creative idea and the slogan across the globe is still ‘Free the Joy’, which we launched almost three years ago. This campaign puts a spotlight on taste, which we are setting up with ‘Taste like this feels’. So it’s a sub branch of the Free the Joy idea,” he explained.
“A lot of our tracking work, which includes feedback from consumers, shows we have focused a lot on the joy and what Cadbury and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk stands for, but perhaps not so much on taste. So it was the right year for us to bring it back, and we’ll have three campaigns focusing on taste for the next three to nine months.”
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Tastes like itchy wet bear…
Typo in the subheadline. Dairy Milk…..
Thanks Rich, good spot. Has been changed. Regards, MW
You really think consumers would recognize the difference, Nikhil Rao?
It does seem rather unlikely. I eat this stuff all the time and I have to say this experiential framework is news to me. All I’ve noticed over the years, with a sense of resigned sadness, is that the bar has got smaller and they’ve rounded the edges of the chunks. By curious coincidence, the same thing has happened to myself.
“Free the joy” reminds me a lot of Coca Cola’s previous slogan “Open Happiness”. There seems to be a pattern here….
The two seem pretty different to me — both in strategy (experience vs consequence) and in creative execution. And, as to whether consumers would notice the difference — it’s highly unlikely. Unfortunately, it’s also highly unlikely they’ll confuse the two — or even remember or notice the campaign name. This is a discussion/distinction for marketers more than anyone else.