"Our goal is to communicate even more closely with Swiss young people"

After months of development and even longer planning, the Coca-Cola universe now has a digital addition. The platform WOAH.com was specially designed for generations Y and Z and offers local and international articles on lifestyle, travel, food, music and entertainment. The app also offers price deals at the supermarket or restaurant around the corner, competitions for festival tickets and much more.

The videos and blogs are produced both locally and in collaboration with international partners such as Vice. The aim is to offer young users a versatile platform with global flair and local relevance. For example, traditional city guides or concert and festival reviews are reinterpreted in a way that is tailored to the target group. "Behind the Scenes" stories with stars and starlets are also offered.

Special attention is also paid to influencers on WOAH. Youtubers and Instagrammers of the millennials tell us, for example, which city they have just discovered, where to get the best burger or which backyard party is not to be missed. WOAH has been available online at WOAH.com in German and French since Tuesday.

Werbewoche interviewed Matthias Schneider, Head of Corporate Communications at Coca-Cola Switzerland, about the new portal.

Werbewoche: Is Switzerland waiting for another portal with lifestyle articles?

Matthias Schneider: We created WOAH because we want to take a new perspective with this platform. A perspective that allows our target group, Swiss teens, to be entertained and forget the serious issues of life for a moment. We know from many conversations with Swiss teenagers that there is a great deal of interest in this. WOAH is not a news portal that claims to report on current events in the world in real time. We also make no claim to completeness in our selection of topics. WOAH concentrates on topics that make you laugh, inspire and arouse curiosity. No more and no less.

What are the objectives - from a marketing perspective - of launching the portal?

With WOAH, we have created a platform on which we can get in touch and communicate directly with Swiss teens. Our aim is to communicate with Swiss young people even more closely and on a more relevant topic.

What makes millennials particularly interesting for Coca-Cola?

Coca-Cola is a soft drink for everyone. However, millennials are a clear focus for us alongside others. They stand for a general open-mindedness, optimism, inspiration and the desire to try out new things. These are precisely the brand values of Coca-Cola. That's why we want to cultivate the dialog between us and millennials and expand it further with WOAH. In this way, we believe we can bring them closer to the brand values of Coca-Cola and other products in our portfolio.

At first glance, the contributions visible so far do not appear to be Coca-Cola-related. How does the link with the brand work?

Occasional contributions from our brand world, such as our presence at a festival or the Coke truck tour, will also be featured on WOAH. In other contributions, the link takes place through classic product placements. However, the strongest link results from our shared brand values such as optimism, inspiration, the desire to try out new things and a general open-mindedness.

Are local articles created by your own editorial team or do you also work with content partners?

This depends entirely on the contribution. We work with internal resources, local influencers and partner agencies. This gives us the flexibility to decide on a case-by-case basis how to prepare the most interesting content for WOAH visitors.

Does Switzerland serve as a kind of test environment for other countries?

We are the first country in German-speaking Europe, number three worldwide - after Italy and Poland. Each country has the freedom to design WOAH in the way that best suits the local market. However, special attention is being paid to Switzerland, as our multilingual market provides many insights that will be important in the further development of the platform.

Interview: Thomas Häusermann