Coca-Cola’s Bottle Cap Loyalty Program Shuts Down
Fans of the video game franchise “Fallout” have long drawn a comparison between their game of choice and Coca-Cola, who has long had a bottle cap-based loyalty program designed to get drinkers to keep coming back for more Cokes with a simple code system under each cap. Sadly that era is over, as just over 10 years after the program started, it has shut down.
Starting July 1, the codes will be largely useless as anything more than a curiosity (or potentially a hedge against apocalypse as the “Fallout” series taught us with a bottle cap-based currency). The program has been running since 2006, and in its first year represented four billion bottle caps and $50 million in prizes set to be given away. Stockholders were happy and showed it with an upward bump in Coke’s share price.
As the cap-based system started to get cumbersome, mobile devices got into the action, though not always with the best results. Manually entering codes became a bit of a hassle, and the end result left Coke without an idea of what to do next. Ellen Duncan, the company’s director of digital platforms for North America had this to say: “As our brand portfolio evolves, the company is evolving its loyalty program to ensure it continues to bring innovative and valuable experiences to loyal consumers across all brands.”
The bad news is a loyalty program is going away, and it may leave some users in the lurch. The good news is that Coke has learned that loyalty programs are a good thing and, when done properly, deliver impressive results. The first round showed that much clearly, and plenty of other programs have proved the value of the entire concept. So, what to change? Something as simple as QR codes under bottle caps could do the job here.
Whatever Coke does, meanwhile, it needs to do something in short order. The longer it’s without a loyalty program, the better the chances are that consumers will step in to take over, and there are few things so commoditized as a can of soda. So cash in your caps now, and get ready, because something better’s likely coming soon!