12 Ways Coca-Cola Can Improve Their QR Code Experience

We recently noticed that Coca-Cola is using QR codes on its bottles. 

Coca-Cola is one of the most popular brands in the world. And it’s the most valuable beverage brand. It’s no doubt a trendsetter for the beverage category and no surprise they are an early adopter of QR codes. 

Aside from the classic soda brand, the company has a portfolio of beverage brands including Sprite, Fanta, Dasani, Honest Tea, SmartWater, Minute Maid, Powerade, Costa Coffee, Fresca, Topo Chico, and Vitamin Water. Based on what we can see on shelves, many of these products have QR codes too.  

Across all of their brands, Coca-Cola sold 30.3 BILLION unit cases of its products in 2020. 

With these sales, Coca-Cola is running the largest QR code experience program in the world.

While this is great, Coca-Cola’s QR code experience is sub-optimal. Keep on reading to learn how you can do better than what they're doing. 

The packaging QR Code Experience

Despite putting a QR code on their bottle - the implementation has A LOT of room for improvement. They are making all the rookie mistakes. 

Here are a few things Coca-Cola brand managers can do to make this experience shine. 

1️⃣  The QR code is hard to find. Granted this is a 16 oz. size bottle, but relative to the rest of the space the QR code doesn’t stand out. On 1- and 2-liter sizes, we need to make this larger. It gets lost with the UPC code and recycling logo. 

2️⃣  The call to action is nonexistent or vague. We’ve seen a few iterations out in the wild. Some just have the SmartLabel log with no call-to-action. Other’s that say, “Scan for more info.” What does that mean? Feels like it could be for the factory, shipper, or recycler. Some calls to actions which could improve this experience include the simplistic “Scan me” or adding a benefit to the consumer that entices them to scan.”

3️⃣  The QR code has its own sub-brand? Nothing wrong with this per se, but Coca-cola cedes branding and valuable real estate to a third party, Smartlabel. It dilutes the packaging and takes room away from the call to action. Props to Smart Label though, which has been championing QR codes since before it was cool.