Tag: McCann

Coca-Cola Peace Machines

Coca-Cola Peace Machines

Small World Machines. India and Pakistan meet through a Coke

Over the years Coca-Cola keeps experimenting with vending machines and tries to make them much more than the average soda-spitter-outer. It places two machines, one in India and the other in Pakistan, and turns them into a communication portal. These “Small World Machines” allow citizens from both countries to interact with each other and complete shared tasks. Here, “shared tasks” means actions designed to be completed together, not alone. The machines reward them with a Coke. The results…

Fair Play Machines. Inter and Milan fans can only give to rivals

The success of that has inspired Coca-Cola to once again bring fighting parties together. Now instead of bringing together nations at odds, it has tapped into the rivalry between Italian soccer teams Inter and Milan.

To ease the aggression between the fans, Coca-Cola installed their “Fair Play Machines” on opposite sides of Milan’s San Siro stadium as the teams faced off. Pressing the button of one machine dropped a Coke can down the chute of that on the side of the rival team. So this way rivals could only receive Cokes from each other. The results…

The real question is whether you can design an interaction where the easiest way to get your reward is to give something to the other side first.

In global consumer brands, especially when audiences are polarized, experience rules travel further than slogans.

What this teaches about “peace” as a design problem

The strongest move is not messaging. It is creating a constraint that makes cooperation the easiest path to a reward. A constraint is a built-in rule of the experience that limits options so the intended behaviour becomes the easiest one. This works because the reward is gated behind a cooperative act, so the social friction becomes part of the game instead of a barrier. When a machine encodes that rule, behaviour shifts without anyone needing to preach.

Extractable takeaway: If you want two sides to act differently, stop asking for goodwill. Change the rules of the interaction so the smallest “yes” becomes the default move.

Design moves you can borrow from Peace Machines

  • Gate the reward behind a give-first action. Make the path to getting something run through giving something to the other side.
  • Keep the rule legible in one glance. If people need an explanation, the moment is gone.
  • Turn tension into a shared task. Use a simple co-action that feels like play, not reconciliation.

A few fast answers before you act

What are Coca-Cola “Peace Machines” in this context?

They are vending machine concepts that turn a simple Coke transaction into a social interaction, designed to reduce tension between rival groups.

What is the core mechanic of the Fair Play Machines?

Pressing the button on one machine sends a Coke to the machine on the rival side. Rivals can only receive Cokes from each other.

How do Small World Machines relate to this?

They use the same principle. A machine becomes a bridge, enabling people in opposing contexts to interact and complete shared tasks that lead to a reward.

What does “constraint” mean in experience design?

It is a built-in rule that limits options so the intended behaviour is the easiest one to choose.

What is the main design lesson for brands?

If you want behaviour change, build the rule into the experience. Make the cooperative action the trigger for the reward, and keep it simple enough to understand instantly.

Metro Trains Melbourne: Dumb Ways to Die

Metro Trains Melbourne: Dumb Ways to Die

Accident rates on the Melbourne Metro were rising due to an increase in risky behavior around trains, and a rail safety message was the last thing people wanted to hear.

So McCann Melbourne turned the message people needed to hear into a message people wanted to hear, by embedding it into a song and an accompanying music video. Dumb Ways to Die.

Entertainment-first safety communication

The mechanism is a deliberate format swap. Replace shock tactics and lecturing with an original song, a playful animated world, and a chorus that makes the safety points memorable enough to repeat.

In large urban public-transport systems, the most effective safety communication often feels like entertainment first, with the message carried by repetition and recall rather than warning language.

Why it lands

It works because it respects audience resistance instead of fighting it. The real question is how you make a safety message travel when the audience does not want to hear a safety message at all. For resistant audiences, entertainment-first is the stronger safety strategy because it earns voluntary attention before it asks for behavior change. People who tune out safety ads will still watch and share a catchy video, and the refrain makes the cautionary points stick through rhythm and humor. The legacy write-up reports that the campaign quickly moved beyond advertising into social currency, with very high sharing in its first month.

Extractable takeaway: When your audience actively avoids the topic, make the format shareable enough that people choose to spread it for the entertainment value, then let repetition do the behavior-change work.

The proof of spread

By using entertainment rather than shock tactics, the message is described as transcending advertising to become something people shared. Here is the case video.

What safety communicators can borrow

  • Start with a format people opt into. If attention is the barrier, do not begin with a PSA tone.
  • Write for recall. A chorus and simple phrasing can outperform “important information” copy.
  • Build a visual system. Distinct characters and repeatable scenes make the idea remixable and memorable.
  • Package the case story separately. A dedicated case video helps the idea travel in marketing circles without diluting the original film.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Dumb Ways to Die?

A rail-safety campaign for Metro Trains Melbourne that delivers the safety message through a catchy song and animated music video instead of traditional PSA warnings.

Why use humor for a serious safety topic?

Because the target audience resists conventional safety messaging. A humorous, musical format earns voluntary attention and repeat viewing, which increases recall.

What made it spread so widely?

A simple hook, a memorable chorus, and highly shareable animation that people could pass along as entertainment, with the safety message embedded inside.

What is the case video for?

It explains the strategy and rollout behind the campaign, and it packages results and rationale for marketers and stakeholders.

What is the main risk with “entertainment-first” safety work?

If the humor overwhelms the behavioral point, the audience remembers the joke but not the safety action you want them to change.