Coca-Cola: Celebrating Everyday Women

Coca-Cola had run women's empowerment programmes throughout its years of operation in Myanmar, but the work was largely invisible to the public. On the fifth anniversary of its entry into the market, the company wanted a Women's Day campaign that would raise awareness of the ways it had helped women across the country.

The difficulty was editorial habit. Myanmar media typically profile women who are celebrities, well connected or influential, and rarely feature ordinary women. A corporate CSR announcement risked being ignored altogether.

The strategy turned the editorial habit into the story. Ruder Finn Era, then ERA Communications, identified the most compelling women from Coca-Cola's CSR programmes and pitched their personal stories to top-tier media as Women's Day features, positioning everyday women as the people worth profiling.

The team arranged visits for journalists to meet the women in their communities around Myanmar, and produced special video content with the media outlets themselves, so that each feature was co-created rather than supplied. Coca-Cola's role in the women's lives came through the stories naturally, without the brand having to claim credit.