Shopper Activation + Retail Brand System
Turning a masterbrand anniversary into shoppable retail theatre.
Challenge
Coca-Cola’s 125th anniversary needed to do more than commemorate heritage. In busy grocery environments, the platform had to establish immediate brand recognition, clarify different promotional mechanics, integrate retailer and partner requirements, and remain legible across multiple physical formats.
Strategic response
At retail, a brand anniversary only matters if it becomes a shopper action: stop, understand, participate, collect, win, refresh, or discover. The resulting system combined iconic Coca-Cola equities with clear participation cues and physical reward theatre.
Role — Senior Art Director
Original campaign work:
Led concept development and art direction across anniversary POS, Sobeys shopper activation, dimensional retail displays, and trade-show graphics. Directed retail hierarchy, Coca-Cola/Sobeys integration, production artwork, and approvals. Commissioned and directed original photography, CGI, and digital retouching for Sharing Happiness, and presented the work directly to client.
Current-channel adaptation:
Extended the Happiness Can promotion into a vertical social sequence.
Project Snapshot
Client: Coca-Cola
Retail partner: Sobeys
Agency: B Street Communications | Photography: Jeremy Lewis | Retouching: Brett Simms Imaging
Category: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), shopper marketing, retail activation, promotional POS, environmental graphics
Platform: Coca-Cola 125th Anniversary
Original Channels: Retail POS, promotional print, shopper display, trade-show/environmental graphics
Current-channel adaptation: 9:16 social story for Stories/Reels/TikTok
Current-channel adaptation: 9:16 social story for Stories/Reels/TikTok
Activation Platform
One anniversary idea, multiple shopper roles.
The system adapted across emotional, seasonal, collectible, prize-led, and environmental executions.
Creative Direction Decisions
Brand recognition, shopper hierarchy, partner integration, and dimensional activation
Lead with instant Coca-Cola recognition
Oversized red fields, script marks, bottle/can iconography, and anniversary symbols were used to create immediate brand ownership in cluttered retail environments.
Oversized red fields, script marks, bottle/can iconography, and anniversary symbols were used to create immediate brand ownership in cluttered retail environments.
Turn heritage into shopper action
The anniversary was framed through specific participation hooks: find, win, collect, travel, refresh, and discover.
The anniversary was framed through specific participation hooks: find, win, collect, travel, refresh, and discover.
Build hierarchy for distance and close read
Brand first, emotional or prize hook second, mechanics third, partner information and legal last — so the work could function across aisle, pallet, poster, and trade-show distances.
Brand first, emotional or prize hook second, mechanics third, partner information and legal last — so the work could function across aisle, pallet, poster, and trade-show distances.
Integrate partners without diluting the masterbrand
Sobeys, Air Miles, gift-card, prize, and retailer messaging were incorporated while keeping Coca-Cola visually dominant.
Sobeys, Air Miles, gift-card, prize, and retailer messaging were incorporated while keeping Coca-Cola visually dominant.
Use dimensionality to make the promotion physical
Layered toppers, raised elements, prize-wheel structure, and environmental scale gave the campaign presence, depth, and promotional clarity beyond flat POS.
Layered toppers, raised elements, prize-wheel structure, and environmental scale gave the campaign presence, depth, and promotional clarity beyond flat POS.
Core Shopper Activation — Sobeys Dimensional Displays
Turning prize mechanics into dimensional retail impact
The displays applied the distance, mid-range, and close-read hierarchy to two distinct promotional mechanics.
Display Concept A — Travel / Air Miles
A raised Coca-Cola disc and dimensional airplane turn the travel reward into a physical shopper cue. The structure breaks the red brand field, creates aisle-facing depth, and uses movement, family reward, and aspiration to make the Air Miles promotion readable in a busy grocery environment.
Display Concept B — Sobeys Points / Prize Wheel
A layered prize-wheel structure organizes multiple rewards into one immediate promotional read. The wheel creates a game-like mechanic for “What’s your dream?” and “Win 1,250,000 Sobeys points,” while preserving Coca-Cola brand dominance and retailer clarity.
Supporting Campaign Expressions
The platform also supported emotional, seasonal and collectible shopper moments.
Sharing Happiness
The Sharing Happiness execution gave the platform its emotional foundation: family, celebration, the commemorative can, and a simple participation mechanic — “Find 1 of 125 Coca-Cola Happiness Cans.”
Summer Tastes Better
The Summer Tastes Better execution shifted the anniversary into a seasonal refreshment occasion, using the cold can, dock setting, classic lake-jump moment, and colour-change callout to connect the platform to summer product interaction.
Environmental Extension — Trade Show Booth
Scaling the anniversary platform into a branded physical environment.
Coca-Cola red panels, vertical identity fields, bilingual messaging, product refrigeration, portfolio visibility, and walk-up engagement for trade and retail audiences. The booth organized multiple message tiers — 125th anniversary equity, sustainability, packaging, healthy-living cues, refrigerated product display, and broader Coca-Cola portfolio visibility — within one branded environment.
Production + Delivery
Approved and produced across retail and environmental formats.
• The campaign was produced across POS, dimensional grocery displays, seasonal executions, and trade-show environments.
• Directed final artwork integrating Coca-Cola, Sobeys, Air Miles, prize, retailer, and legal requirements.
• Commissioned and directed photography, CGI, and retouching; presented directly to the client and guided revisions
through final approval.
Current-Channel Adaptation
Translating the Happiness Can promotion into vertical social.
Developed as a portfolio extension, the 9:16 story adapts the collectible Happiness Can mechanic into a contemporary mobile format, preserving the core promotional read — celebration, collectability, participation, and final prize lockup — while giving the platform a current-channel expression.
Play to view sequence
Outcome
Approved, produced, and executed across Coca-Cola anniversary POS, Sobeys grocery activation, dimensional shopper displays, seasonal campaign expressions, and trade-show environments.
One masterbrand milestone became a flexible retail system with multiple shopper roles: celebration, collectability, summer refreshment, prize participation, travel reward, and trade engagement. While the channel mix has evolved, the core discipline demonstrated here remains current: translating brand equity into clear shopper action within complex retail environments.
