Coca-Cola, Walgreens and Mom: Retail Media Promotion That Worked

Executive Editor Tim Binder describes his personal experience with the Share a Coke campaign this spring.

4/21/2025

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We editors at the Path to Purchase Institute come across countless commerce marketing activations daily. Our inboxes are full of them, whether from industry newsletters, press releases or direct pitches from brands, retailers, agencies and solution providers. Many others we simply notice as we go about our jobs — and our lives.

Whether or not we pursue them for editorial coverage, that’s another story. We pick and choose.

Here’s one that picked me:

Recently, as I went about my life, I came across some promotional activity that resonated with me, not as an editor, but as a person. It led to a purchase — exactly what the brand marketers (and the retailer) intended.

It was an April email to my personal address from Walgreens — a retail media activation by Coca-Cola. So you know, I’ve been buying 20-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola products at Walgreens for years.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Share a Coke campaign, which originated in 2011 in Australia before coming to the U.S. The manufacturer turns its bottles and cans into personalized keepsakes by swapping out the logo with popular first names.

Honestly, though, when I’ve shopped for one, it has always been a challenge finding a bottle with the name of someone close to me.

But this time, in this email, the name jumped out to me: “Share a Coke with Mom.”

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You see, my mother just recently passed away. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why seeing that name on the bottle affected me. You get it.

I decided to follow through with the promotion, which promised a Mother’s Day gift set. Buy three 20-ounce products at Walgreens, receive an exclusive “Share a Coke with Mom” bottle.

So, I headed over to my local store, found a rack dedicated to the campaign, and bought Coke Zeroes for me and my son, and two Diet Cokes for my wife. (Why two? Walgreens sells one for $2.99, but two for $5.)

I went back home, hopped on the computer, and submitted my receipt at ShareACokeWithMom.com.

Seven days later, it arrived. A commemorative “Share a Coke with Mom” glass bottle.

I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Like me, neither my wife nor my son want the sugar that comes in a regular Coca-Cola. I bet my mother would have drank it, though.

I’m just happy to have it. I found a spot for it on a shelf in my office. (See the photo above.)

Thanks, Coca-Cola and Walgreens!