The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Coca-Cola embraced unofficial shop signs of its logo and turned them into a campaign
Instead of policing hand-painted fake Coke logos in small shops, Coca-Cola celebrated them, reached 3.78B people and lifted positive sentiment 95%.
The Coca-Cola Company
The solution
All over the world, small shops sell Coca-Cola under hand-painted, improvised and misspelled versions of its logo. The textbook response for a trademark owner would be to regulate or remove them; Coca-Cola instead sent VML to find the creators and celebrate them.
The campaign showcased hundreds of these 'Coke-Creations' in outdoor, print and social ads near the shops that made them, printed the unofficial logos on official Coca-Cola cans and delivered them back to the original artists, and even published a fine-art book of nearly 30 creations.
It was, in effect, an admission that the informal logos were the ultimate user-generated content: Coca-Cola publicly said these interpretations were not only welcome but appreciated, turning a control problem into a global story about community and authenticity.
The One Show jury recognized the work with a Merit in 2025, and it also collected multiple Lions at Cannes, including Golds.
Why it worked
- Celebration costs less than enforcement and generates goodwill instead of resentment.
- Local shop owners became brand advocates, and their communities saw a global giant respect local craft.
- The surprise of a brand blessing its own knock-offs made the story inherently newsworthy.
- Redesigned touchpoints — cans, trucks, fridges, apparel — made the idea visible everywhere, not just in one ad.
What can be applied
When an unowned expression of your brand is everywhere, enforcement is not the only option: blessing the phenomenon converts a trademark problem into user-generated affection.
Aftermath
The campaign reached a unique 3.78 billion people, lifted positive brand sentiment 95% (34% above Coca-Cola's social average) and was covered by AdAge and Fast Company. It went on to win multiple Cannes Lions and a The One Show 2025 Merit.
Sources
- The Coca-Cola Company | Thanks for Coke-Creating — The One Show
- What happened when Coke handed over creative control of its iconic logo
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