Coca-Cola - 2nd Lives

Sustainability is a hot topic these days.  More and more companies are realizing that they can play an active role in alleviating some of the big problems that face the world while also using sustainability initiatives to contribute to the growth of their business.  Unilever is the most prominent in this space as they recently committed to halving their environmental footprint while doubling the size of their business by 2020.  One of the issues with sustainability initiatives is that they can often come across as either greenwashing or too worthy/preachy.  It's a classic case of 'show me, don't tell me,' while the 'show' part is often difficult to pull off.

Coca-Cola, who have also been active in the sustainability arena have cracked the 'show me, don't tell me' problem in their latest campaign.  Coca-Cola - 2nd Lives encourages the reuse of Coca Cola bottles by introducing a range of 'innovative caps intend to transform used bottles into fun and useful objects and encourage consumers to reuse and re-purpose plastic.'  The program recently launched in Vietnam and will be rolling out across other Asian markets (and hopefully beyond).  The idea is quite simple, the bottle caps can be fitted onto empty Coke bottles thereby giving them new life as either toys (think water gun) or useful objects (think hot sauce or shampoo dispenser).

It's a wonderful idea that I would love to see other brands embrace (not to mention Coke rolling it out across more markets).  It also plays perfectly into the trend around Lifehacks.  Just scrolling through this Tumblr of 99 Lifehacks inspires dozens of ways that other brands could encourage consumers to reduce and reuse their products after they've been consumed.