The soda company Coca-Cola apparently wants to approach the target group “gamers”, but seems not to understand them. After an advertising campaign aimed at gamers in 2021, they are now trying with a special cola for League of Legends. However, even the limited cola for LoL seems clumsy.
This is Coca-Cola’s new idea:
- Coca-Cola has teamed up with Riot Games and developed a limited cola based on League of Legends.
- The cola is supposed to taste like “experience points”. The “Coca-Cola Ultimate Zero Sugar” will be launched in the USA, Canada, China, South Korea, Latin America and Africa. In the USA, Canada and Mexico there will also be a version with sugar.
- Additionally, the drinks feature a QR code that leads to an Instagram filter, making you look like a LoL champion.
What do they say about the drink? Coca-Cola says in a press release that the cola “offers fans and players the taste of experience points (+Xp) and celebrates the player’s journey”.
The statement from Riot is (somewhat helpless): “We are excited for the players to be able to taste the new flavor of +XP, a unique and tailored collaboration with Coca-Cola, a globally recognized brand loved by millions. They share many of the gaming-oriented values that we have at Riot, and we are proud to be the first gaming collaboration with Coca-Cola.”
Coca-Cola Ultimate is the 17th “Coca-Cola Creation”.
85 % cola – 15 % something unexpected
And what does it taste like now? When asked directly by CNN how the cola tastes, a spokeswoman responds:
We will never really answer this question. It’s a “mystery flavor”. The taste profile is always, as we say, 85–90 % cola. And then it’s 10 to 15 % of something unexpected.
The taste is said to be “more interesting” than, for example, a vanilla coke. They want to test the “boundaries”.
We will probably have to wait until June 12th. Only then will the cola go on sale in the USA and Canada. The brave ones will surely provide the first reports.
“If it tastes like LoL, it must taste salty”
What is the problem? As Forbes notes, it is already bold to advertise with “tastes like experience points in LoL”. That is not only something that does not exist in the real world, even in the game, experience points have no form, but are an abstract concept.
In our editorial office, colleague Maik Schneider asked, in response to the hint that it tastes like LoL: “So it tastes salty?”
Perhaps the tears of the players are the secret ingredient.
What’s behind it: Coca-Cola seems to be struggling to connect with gamers again. Competitors like G-Fuel have a stronger gaming connection – although there are issues there as well.
The idea that gamers specifically long for “the taste of experience points in LoL” seems to completely miss the mark with gamers. This is a category that probably no one thinks of.
Even Riot Games’ reasoning that with “Coca-Cola” they share the same player-focused values seems to be completely meaningless marketing talk.
What experiences has Coca-Cola already had with gamers? Two years ago, Coca-Cola launched an advertising campaign aimed at gamers, which, however, seemed clumsy:
Coca-Cola launches advertising campaign for gamers who like Twitch, WoW and LoL – fails
