This year marked the 10th anniversary of Coca-Cola’s Summer Love Festival: three days of parties, games, spas and music for Israeli teens—all with unlimited access to Coca-Cola. Of course, not every teenager who’d like to go can attend, setting up those who are absent for a serious case of FOMO: the fear of missing out, and in this case, the uneasy feeling that your peers are having a better time than you are. So Coca-Cola created a solution for a few of those left out: Social Robots, which allowed teens to join the fun virtually.
Controlled by users from their homes, these robots wheeled around the camp, equipped with webcams and microphones that allowed for interaction with festival-goers. Users could watch shows and even participate in competitions. Teens at the festival embraced the novel avatars, dancing and sunbathing with them. The robots also attracted attention from local media outlets.
By addressing FOMO—which is especially strong among social media-immersed teens—with a creative use of robots, Coca-Cola injected some novelty into this year’s festival, boosted engagement among attendees and brought its “Share the happiness” theme to life in yet another way. (Coca-Cola’s “Small World Machines” in India and Pakistan are another recent example.) Meanwhile, robot avatars have interesting potential, allowing brands to bring vicarious enjoyment to far-flung consumers; as part of its “Three Minutes in Italy” promotion, San Pellegrino recently let people take virtual tours of Taormina in Sicily using five remotely controlled robots.
Coca-Cola presents: The Social Robot from Gefen Team on Vimeo.
