By Princewill Ekwujuru

When Big Cola, a Peruvian soft drink brand from the bottle line of Aje Group launched into the market, little did the big players knew that it will make a big hit as its name imply. Today, the big players in the market are leaking their wounds for the mistake of not having insight into the space Big Cola played into.

That notwithstanding, whether the battle for supremacy in the market is anything to go by, then the big players like Pepsi and Coca cola are at liberty to up their ante, even though Pepsi has responded with, ‘Long  Throat’ campaign to douse the threat posed by Big Cola, thus deploying stretched Pepsi bottle using images of music stars like Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Seyi Shay  and others to attract consumers’ attention.

The campaign which began with the popular Twitter campaign #ThingsILong-ThroatForWell, has snowballed into a new 60cl Pepsi bottle a.k.a The Long Throat Bottle. Of course #ThingsILongThroatForWell campaign ignited a huge buzz on Twitter, trending all the way. But that is not all, the new 60cl Pepsi bottle is not only now 20 percent bigger than the previous Pepsi bottle but it also still retails for the same price, this increase also applied to Mirinda, 7UP and Teem.

Big Cola as crafty as it is entered the market with same price for increased bottle size, which sight eluded competition, a bait that invariably attracted patronage, because ‘consumers want more for less’, a well thought out strategic plan one would say, which paid off for the product. Whether this swoop on the market will last long is a question to be answered by managers of Big cola. Mind you, brand watchers ears are on the ground.

That aside, Coke on its part was expected to respond to the challenge of the new entrant during the yuletide, a time the brand usually deploy campaigns to buy back loyalty. Consumers’ were not disappointed after all, until lately when it rejuvenated the share –a–coke–campaign that sold the brand like wide fire in the harmattan in the early parts of 2015.

In response to Big Cola’s challenge, Coca-Cola deployed even more exciting version of the Share-a-Coke campaign. ‘Share a Feeling’ The new campaign includes fun smiley that convey diverse emotions and messages on Coca-Cola and Coke Zero packs.   The smiley also include popular Nigerian phrases that connect with everyone across boundaries, giving consumers an avenue to share their feelings with friends, family and even strangers.

The company is partnering with popular rapper/comedian Falz in recognizing and ‘sharing a feeling’ with everyday Nigerians and influencers by delivering to them personalized Coke bottles with names and smiley. Some of the influencers who have received their personalized Coke bottles include DJ Jimmy Jatt, TY Bello, Tekno, Cobhams, Chi-Gurl Kelechi Amadi-Obi etc.

Speaking on the ‘Share a Feeling’ campaign,  Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Patricia Jemibewon said, “The Yuletide period is perhaps the most exciting time of year for families, friends and neighbours. In the first Share a Coke campaign, we used the power of the first name in a playful way. With the Share a Feeling campaign, however,  we want to make the season extra special and memorable, by adding smiley.