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| Visitors inside the 11,000-square-foot Coca-Cola Center can pose with the Olympic Torch. |
Sponsors are sparse at Rio’s suburban Barra Olympic Park, mostly choosing to activate elsewhere in the city during the Games. But Coca-Cola says its tried-and-true on-site showcase is working well.
Tucked in a far corner of the 3.8 million-square-foot park, the 11,000-square-foot Coca-Cola Center had steady lines for entry in the first three days of the Games despite its remote location.
On the exterior, Coke-endorsed athletes are portrayed on backlighted squares that make up the front façade. Inside, fans can pose with the Olympic Torch and the Coke-branded bus that followed the torch around Brazil, get a printed-on-site gold Coca-Cola bottle (imprinted with the official pictogram of each sport contested at the park) and read about the history of Coke’s Olympic sponsorship.
Coca-Cola has the exclusive rights to host Olympic pin trading booths inside the park.
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| Carol Lord of Vancouver trades Olympic pins inside the Coke store. |
Pin-trading enthusiasts from around the world sign up for time inside the Coke store, where they eagerly do deals with visitors. I traded with Carol Lord, a Vancouver resident who got into pin trading when the Winter Games visited her hometown in 2010 and now hands out business cards for her collectibles business. She gave me a worn Team Great Britain pin from the ’84 Los Angeles Games in exchange for a Coca-Cola 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games pin.
From the pin trading to the selfie stations that come with two torches, the point is to encourage socializing, said Amanda Daniels, senior vice president for Ignition who manages Coke’s experiential marketing in Rio. “Instead of doing a photo by yourself, the Olympics and Coca-Cola are all about bringing people together,” Daniels said.
Experiential marketing agencies Dream Factory and Super Uber helped develop the space.
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| The colorful center is situated in a corner of Barra Olympic Park, but still manages to draw big crowds. |
