My Coke Rewards is a customer loyalty

Loyalty business model

The loyalty business model is a business model used in strategic management in which company resources are employed so as to increase the loyalty of customers and other stakeholders in the expectation that corporate objectives will be met or surpassed...

 marketing program for Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

 soft drinks. Customers enter codes found on specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products on a website. Codes can also be entered "on the go" by texting them from a cell phone. These codes are converted into virtual "points" which can in turn be redeemed by members for various prizes or sweepstakes

Sweepstakes

The United States consumer sales promotion known as a sweepstake has become associated with marketing promotions targeted toward both generating enthusiasm and providing incentive reactions among customers by enticing consumers to submit free entries into drawings of chance...

 entries.

The program was first launched in 2006. By November of that year, more than one million prizes had been redeemed. The program has since been extended every year for the past 5 years with the current extension until December 31, 2011.

Limitations

The program has always featured limits on the number of codes and points that could be redeemed at one time. Prior to February 17, 2009, members were limited to entering 10 codes per day, regardless of the number of points that this represented. Members who entered 10 codes from 32-can packages could, under this system, earn a total of 250 points per day, or 1,750 per week. This represented that maximum rate at which points could be accrued without the use of bonus points and similar promotions.

On February 17, 2009, this system was changed. Members are now limited to entering 120 points per week, regardless of the number of codes redeemed per day. Bonus points and promotional offers such as "Double Points Days" are still not subject to this weekly limit. My Coke Rewards now has a meter that tells the member how many points they earned during the current week, and whether they have reached the 120 point-per-week limit. Attempts to enter codes that exceed the limit (for example, entering 10-point code once you have accumulated 119 points) do not cause overflow; the participant is told to "hold on to that code".

In addition, MyCokeRewards features an expiration date on the 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.

Code reuse

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

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a series of films, a theme park ride, and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. The franchise originates with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, which opened at Disneyland in...

) have participated in such special promotions.

Controversy

The program is one of several marketing campaigns that have come under fire from the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group

Advocacy group

Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...

 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

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

 called "Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth" which criticizes the program for collecting personal information

Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...

 from children and for promoting obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

.

Childhood obesity was also a concern for weight-loss

Weight loss

Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...

 instructor Julia Griggs Havey

Julia Griggs Havey

Julia Griggs Havey is an American author of several diet books, written after her experience fighting obesity.-Biography:She was born in Colorado Springs, to Colonel Leonard L. Griggs, Jr. and Virginia Spicer. Her weight problem started when she was 11-years-old, while her father was on duty in...

 who sued Coca-Cola over the program in 2006, but dropped her lawsuit a few weeks later. 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 Coca-Cola Company has other products besides Coca-Cola, including Powerade

Powerade

Powerade is a sports drink manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. First introduced in 1988, its primary competitor is PepsiCo's Gatorade...

, Powerade Zero and Dasani

Dasani

Dasani is a brand of bottled water from the Coca-Cola company, launched in 1999, after the success of Aquafina . It is one of many brands of Coca-Cola bottled water sold around the world....

 water that are available for those who do not wish to consume high amounts of high fructose corn syrup

High fructose corn syrup

High-fructose corn syrup  — also called glucose-fructose syrup in the UK, glucose/fructose in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce...

 or caffeine

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

. Additionally, many grocery stores and discount stores offer Coca-Cola products (often imported) that are sweetened with sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Some customers have further accused Coca-Cola of utilizing "bait-and-switch" tactics in the program. They claim that the prizes for which they had been saving are either constantly out of stock or are no longer available. Some items have experienced steep unexpected price increases, as well; for example the coupons for a free 20 ounce bottle of Coke increased 25% (from 24 points to 30), a $75 Blockbuster gift card which used to cost 722 points went up to 1020 points (a 41% increase),a single Napster download went from 35 to 70 points from 2010 to 2011 (and 10 from 350 to 700, a 100% increase), and the price of a GPX docking station went up from 975 points to 1820 (an 87% increase). These increases, it should be noted, took place at the same time as Coca-Cola was taking drastic measures to decrease the number of points awarded (through its February 2009 rule changes which reduced the maximum number of points from 1,750 per week to 120 per week).

For its part, Coca Cola has maintained that all prizes in the My Point Rewards program are available "while supplies last," and that there is no guarantee expressed or intended that a given prize will either continue to be offered or continue to be offered at the same price.

Some prizes are advertised as "free." For example, a customer may redeem points for a "free 20 oz. sparkling product." What the customer receives is a manufacturers coupon. These coupons are not accepted at all retailers who sell Coca-Cola products, which can be frustrating to customers. Also, when a customer finds a retailer who does accept the coupons, he or she is responsible for sales tax on the retail price of the product plus any state container deposits. In California, for example, redeeming a "free" coupon for a 20 oz. beverage will cost the consumer $.20. Likewise, only one such coupon can be used per transaction.

External links

• My Coke Rewards (United States)
• iCoke (Canada)
• (UK version)
• Cokeplay (KO version)