My Coke Rewards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My Coke Rewards is a customer loyalty marketing campaign from ePrize for the Coca-Cola soft drink. Customers enter codes from specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products into a website, or after signing up for this program, customers can enter codes "on the go" throught texting on cell phones. These codes are converted into virtual "points" which can in turn be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries.[1]
The program was first launched in 2006. [2] By November of that year, over one million prizes had been redeemed.[3] The current phase of the promotion began on April 16, 2007. Although the "My Coke Rewards" promotion was supposed to end by December 31, 2007, the program has been recently extended until January 31, 2009.[4] While the prize selection dwindled in the months leading up to the promotions' proposed end, the official website reports that more rewards will be added soon.[5]
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[edit] Limitations
Some people consider the rewards program to be severely limited. For instance, the program does not allow more than 10 entries per day. Hence, if a customer were to consume a case of 15 Powerade bottles, it would take that person at least two days to enter the codes onto their accounts.
Customers have complained to Coca-Cola that the program is fraudulent due to these limitations[citation needed] and argue that a program set up to breed potential lifelong Coca-Cola customers is instead causing them to lose interest in the Coke brand[citation needed]. MyCokeRewards now lets you know when you enter codes that you can only enter 10 codes a day.
Many customers complain that the prizes they have been saving up for are out of stock or no longer available. Other customers have stated that when the prizes that were out of stock return that they cost more points. One example is a $75 dollar Blockbuster gift card that went out of stock at 722 points, and returned at 1020 points, or a GPX docking station which disappeared at 975 points, and returned at 1820 points.
Also, MyCokeRewards features an expiration date of codes that are entered. Currently, points expire after 90 days of user account inactivity, meaning a customer must either add points to their account or claim a prize within 90 days to ensure their points do not expire. [6]
[edit] Value to Real Money
The value of one MyCokeRewards point to the dollar varies. For example, Black Skullcandy Smokin' Buds earbuds valued at 731 points would be worth about US $0.040, when used in relation to its suggested retail value, US $29.95[7].
- Proper estimations can never be taken due to the many changes the prizes go through in point value.
[edit] Inflation
Recently, certain popular items, such as the Skullcandy earbuds have disappeared and returned at a much higher point value redemption. The 731-point "Smokin' Buds" were a couple hundred points less expensive than the "Full Metal Jacket" Earbuds, valued at 985 points, or about US $0.076, in relation to its suggested retail value, US $69.99[8]. However, the Full Metal Jacket earbuds disappeared and soon returned at 1,940 points, making the value-to-USD about US $0.036, compared to the same price (US $69.99) on Skullcandy's website for the earbuds.
The Skullcandy Smokin' Buds (731 points) have vanished completely, thus far.
Other items have gone through these dramatic price changes, as well.
Speculation states that the introductory prices were promos, but others argue that the prices, if they were to go up, should not have doubled on the customers who have not been able to acquire the points needed (as mentioned in Limitations).
It should be noted that prices have increased from the introductory period. For example, the single Mp3 download costed 15 points during the introductory phase, and currently costs 43 points. This translated to consumers needing to drink 5 drinks of 20 OZ or larger to obtain a single song during the introductory phase, compared to it now taking 15 drinks for the same download. This increase can also be compared to the price of the full album: it was 220 points during the introductory period, and now it has doubled to 440 points. Previously, 74 sodas were required for a full album, now it requires 147 sodas of 20 OZ or larger to obatin the same full album download. In comparison, it takes four sodas for the same single mp3 download at pepsistuff.com, and 60 sodas for the full album dowload.
[edit] Code reuse
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There are two types of codes: single-use and multi-use codes. Single-use codes like those found on Coke products contain a mix of letters and numbers. These codes can only be used once; if they have been entered in any account they will not work again. By contrast, multi-use codes are identified by being all numeric and may be entered by multiple users. Thus far the multi-use codes have all started with the digits 10008. They have been distributed through email, including during the 2006 Christmas holiday season, as well as through direct mail and print advertising campaigns in various magazines and other publications. Both Blockbuster and Disney (with Pirates of the Caribbean) have participated in such special promotions.
[edit] Controversy
The program is one of several marketing campaigns that have come under fire from the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group interested in regulating how food products are marketed to children. Coca-Cola's online marketing techniques are included in a 98-page report issued in May 2007 by the center and the American University called "Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth"[9][10] which criticizes the program for collecting personal information from children and for promoting obesity.[11]
Childhood obesity was also a concern for weight-loss instructor Julia Griggs Havey who sued Coca-Cola over the program in 2006, but dropped her lawsuit a few weeks later. [12] The lawsuit was dropped for the specific reason of it being frivolous, since there was a misinterpretation as to what was required of a user in order to accumulate Coke points and obtain the currently available reward prizes. The first assumption—that those who have Coke codes must purchase the product in order to redeem them—was shown to be untrue, as Coke stated they took into consideration that users may obtain codes from others. Second, it was pointed out that the CocaCola Company has other products besides Coca-Cola, including Nestea, Powerade and Dasani water that are available for those who wish not to consume high amounts of sugar or caffeine.
[edit] Glitches in the Web Site and Customer Service
Users have had unexplained problems accessing their accounts or entering points. Some users have tried to enter points but received a message that too many invalid codes had been entered for that day even though the user has entered no codes at all that day. In some cases, users have been unable to temporarily even log in to their accounts, receiving a cryptic message like "There has been an error on the invocation of the business service. Try again in a few minutes." Customer service staff always say they will "pass this along to the technical department." Customers can never speak with the "technical department" directly. Customers who have been barred from entering codes due to Web site glitch have typically been forced to simply forfeit the opportunity to enter codes for that day; customer service does not make any adjustments or allow the user to e.g. enter the missed codes a subsequent day.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Official FAQ
- ^ Coca-Cola North America Announces Launch of "My Coke Rewards" Largest Program of Its Kind in Coca-Cola History, The Coca-Cola Company press release, 2006-02-28
- ^ My Coke Rewards Celebrates Redemption of One Millionth Reward and Offers 20 Million Free Bonus Points for the Holidays, PR Newswire, November 9, 2006
- ^ Hank, The Coca-Cola vRep
- ^ My Coke Rewards
- ^ My Coke Rewards
- ^ "Smokin Buds SC-BUDB: Skullcandy". Retrieved on 2008-07-16.
- ^ "Full Metal Jacket earbuds SC-FMJ: Skullcandy". Retrieved on 2008-08-13.
- ^ Marketing brief - "Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing" (PDF),
- ^ Full report -- "Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing" (PDF)
- ^ Stefanie Olsen (May 17, 2007). "Protecting kids from online food ads" (in English). CNET news. Retrieved on May 17, 2007.
- ^ Woman drops suit against Coca-Cola, St. Petersburg Times, 2006-08-06
[edit] External links
- My Coke Rewards (United States)
- Summer of Music
- iCoke (Canada)
- Center for Digital Democracy
- [1] (UK version)
