I hate to interrupt the grownups when they're talking about implementing customer reference programs, but I need to take a moment here to discuss soda pop.

I recently wrote that a throwaway post about My Coke Rewards on my personal blog had gotten a surprising amount of attention. The post was getting as many as 20 hits a day, many of them from a message forum devoted to discussing the rewards program. Wow! Twenty whole hits per day!



That post is now getting nearly 150 hits per day. Why don't I link to the post, you ask? Why bother? If you search Google for "my coke rewards", my post is now the fifth result. The message forum closed up shop in response to a cease and desist order from the company, so many of its participants took the conversation to my blog (also Matt Volk's.) As of this writing, that post has 64 comments.

What are they saying about the program? (Here's a fun game: try and figure out how many of these are real customers, and how many are undercover marketing agents!)

A couple of people are pretty happy:

"I have recieved several free magazine subscriptions, movie rentals and an entire month of Blockbuster Online! All without any problems! It’s been easy and free."

"The new site is fantastic! I really love the “Grab your drink” section including a kick-ass Pibb Xtra bull-riding game. The guy who came up with this is a pure genius."

But then people started to report problems:

"YeA well I havent been able to get on in over an hour. Sux 4 me, probly sellin out of everything I want..."

"Taking part in this contest has been the most frustrating experience! I think I’ll just switch to Pepsi or maybe even water, it’s a lot healthier."

"I received a text message telling me to enter the code they just sent me to earn 10 points. When I tried entering the code, the site said it was invalid. Got another text saying they updated thier system and to try re-entering my code. Now I can’t even get on to their site. What will they think of next?"

"You all should just drink PEPSI, it’s a million times better than Coke anyway. I only looked here after buying a sprite at some dumb store that didn’t sell Pepsi. I was just curious what the code thing was about. PEPSI would never, ever do something so totally & completely retarded."

Rage begat rage. People lashed out in all directions, complaining about the 1985 switch to New Coke, ranting about the RIAA (??), and for some reason reposting a June 2006 Motley Fool article about  the Diet Coke/Mentos video.

Who's voice is missing amid the clamor? The Coca-Cola company of America's.

Come on, Coke--this bitchfest is the number five Google result for your promotion. Matt's blog entry is number four. Would it kill you to have an intern pop in just once to tell these unhappy people that you hear them? Or better yet take a page from Dell, who abandoned its "look, don't touch" policy toward blogs and set up one of its own.

Because all of these negative comments on my blog are bumming me out, man. And if there's one thing I learned from my childhood in the early 70s, it's that Coke is not a bummer.



Tags: My Coke Rewards, Coca-Cola, Coke, customer relations, Google, Dell, comments