Coca-Cola supports communities and businesses to open like never before

As the country navigated its way through the Covid-19 crisis earlier this year, Coca-Cola, along with many other leading companies in Ireland, focused on investing in a number of programmes and actions to support its employees, customers and the community.

Petre Sandru, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Ireland reflected on recent months saying: “When the pandemic started to spread globally our Irish teams had the benefit of learning from our colleagues in other countries who were living through the impact of lock down restrictions and telling us what to expect. In the first instance, the company sought to ensure continuity of supply to customers, while maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our employees. With all precautions in place our supply chain stood up throughout the pandemic and we have been able to remain fully operational.”

“Globally we took a position to pause marketing campaigns and go offline redirecting our focus to supporting the communities we’re operating in and ensuring we played our part in supporting those most vulnerable in our society. Alongside our local bottling partners Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company donated more than $120m globally to organisations to support leading relief efforts. Locally through this funding a cash grant was given to social enterprise FoodCloud, which has enabled the charity to deliver the equivalent of 100,000 meals to communities in need. As our marketing campaigns paused we were then able to donate media space to the HSE to support efforts to amplify its public information campaign and through our global supply chains, we have been able to secure much needed PPE which was donated to the HSE for use by frontline workers. We also sought to provide some immediate relief to those on the frontline by donating more than 600,000 drinks to healthcare workers and to the most vulnerable groups in our communities since March.”

The campaign encourages everyone to be 'open like never before' and to appreciate what was taken for granted

As the economy reopens, the company is now looking to the future. This month the company’s new marketing campaign ‘Open Like Never Before’ is going live locally. Founded on the promise of new possibilities discovered as a result of the lockdown, the campaign encourages everyone to be ‘open like never before’ and to appreciate what was perhaps previously taken for granted, while finding opportunities in this 'new normal' environment.

The campaign, created and developed by 72andSunny Amsterdam, launches following a seven month pause on air, the longest ever for Coca-Cola.

The integrated campaign will include a sustained programme of in-market activities focused on supporting bars, cafes and restaurants in the hospitality sector. The campaign will be providing some operating in the sector with access to Coca-Cola’s Ad Generator platform whereby they will be provided with resources and expertise to create their own adverts for digital communications.

The Coca-Cola system is tailoring our community-based initiatives to address some of the needs facing Ireland's young people

Sandru continued: “The Open Like Never Before campaign is founded on the belief that we don’t just have to go back to normal following the change we’ve witnessed in recent months. Instead, it’s our ambition to move forward and make the world not just different, but a better, more open place. We plan to invest in some targeted activities in the weeks ahead that will focus on stimulating demand within local, independent outlets while also providing training for hospitality staff – helping them to adapt to the new environment within which they are operating. Even more importantly, we want to use our platform to support and celebrate the many Irish businesses who have recently reopened their doors after a very challenging time for the industry.”

“But our efforts do not stop there. The Coca-Cola system is also tailoring our community-based initiatives to specifically address some of the emerging needs facing Ireland’s young people. This includes Coca-Cola HBC Ireland’s Youth Empowered programme, which provides skills training to those no longer in education or employment, and the Coca-Cola Thank You Fund, which provides grants to non-profits on the island of Ireland. Both of these initiatives will launch in coming weeks with a focus on supporting youth right across this country.”

The Coca-Cola Thank You Fund is one of the relief initiatives for young people Coca-Cola is launching this month. Marking a decade of support for youth-orientated non-profit groups across the island of Ireland, this year's Fund has been reimagined to support groups in response to the impact of COVID-19.

To avail of this Fund and to find out more about Coca-Cola's campaigns locally in Ireland including the newly launched 'open like never before' campaign log onto www.coca-cola.ie.