Naturally sweetened food and beverages are gaining popularity for consumers around the world, and 'The Sweet Story Challenge' is a way for Coca-Cola to mine that worldwide population in finding new natural sweeteners to include in its products. The crowdsourced challenge asks anyone around the world to submit stories in both video and written format that describe the use of a plant-derived sweetener and its significance in life, culture, and community.
In the same way that sweet tea evokes memories of sitting on a porch swing on a summer afternoon, Coke is hoping to find sentimental stories about natural sweeteners and the food and drinks associated with them in cultures and communities around the world.
The Sweet Story Challenge will award up to five individual or team winners, and those winner will receive $100,000 in total.
What's Driving This Trend
- Naturally Sweetened Food and Beverages
- Opportunity for businesses to innovate and develop new naturally sweetened products to meet the growing demand.
- Crowdsourced Challenge
- Disruptive opportunity for companies to tap into the collective creativity and knowledge of a global community to find new innovations.
- Sentimental Branding
- Opportunity for brands to connect with consumers on an emotional level by associating their products with nostalgic and culturally significant stories.
Who This Affects Most
- Food and Beverage Industry
- Companies in this industry can use the crowdsourced challenge to discover and incorporate unique natural sweeteners into their food and beverage products.
- Technology Industry
- Tech companies can build platforms and tools to facilitate and scale the crowdsourcing process for challenges like 'The Sweet Story Challenge'.
- Marketing and Advertising Industry
- Opportunity for marketers and advertisers to leverage sentimental storytelling to create compelling brand narratives and connect with consumers.
