As part of a beloved Christmas tradition, Filipinos living abroad often send Balikbayan boxes filled with special treats to their loved ones back home. This holiday season, Coca-Cola wanted to be part of that tradition by transforming one of Toronto’s oldest Filipino stores into a full-size Balikbayan box. The brand is also handing out free, pre-paid personalized boxes in select Filipino stores.
The company started the campaign a year ago to honour the custom and highlight how it aligned with Coca-Cola, which focuses on fostering happy and meaningful moments, particularly for families that are separated by distance, Stephanie Eaddy, sr. director, multicultural marketing North America at The Coca-Cola Company, tells MiC.
“Recognizing the importance of sharing holidays with family and friends, Coca-Cola proudly celebrates the deeply important cultural tradition of sending Balikbayan boxes to connect loved ones separated by distance over the holiday season,” Eaddy says. “This program, along with many others, allows us to continue our commitment to celebrate and promote meaningful moments of connection.”
Last year, the brand distributed boxes and created a short film about a Filipino international student who shared her family story and their connection to the tradition. For this holiday season, Eaddy says the company wanted to shift its focus to highlight other key members of the Filipino community, such as business owners who distribute Balikbayan boxes, and celebrate their commitment to keeping the tradition alive. The brand has also released a short film featuring the store owner transformed into a life-size box. In the video, she talks about the importance of Balikbayan, while pointing out how hard it has been for them to ship the boxes in recent years due to the high cost of shipping.
Due to demand and positive response from last year’s campaign, Eaddy says that Coca-Cola will be also tripling the amount of designed Balikbayan boxes available (600 in total), which will be distributed by nine participating, Filipino-owned stores (Sari-Saris) across the GTA. The brand will also continue to collaborate with a Filipino cargo courier and remittance company in Toronto for door-to-door delivery of the custom-made boxes.
To share the activation with a wider audience, the short film is being shared on Canadian social media platforms and traditional media outreach is underway in the Philippine and Toronto media. The campaign was devised and produced by the brand’s partners at WPP’s Open X, led by VML Canada. The PR agency for this initiative is Weber Shandwick.
