COCA-COLA X BATA : NOSTALGIA DAMAGE

I got soft drink on my sneakers. Wait what!

In 2019, a global beverage giant launched a collaboration with a footwear veteran. The beverage giant is of course Coca-Cola and the footwear veteran being Bata.

In 2014, Bata celebrated its 120th anniversary, and to mark this milestone the company decided to bring back it’s classic sneakers, which made them the company they are today. Bata Heritage is a wing under Bata, which is dedicated in selling classic Bata sneakers such as Bata Tennis shoes and Bata Hotshots.

Bata Tennis shoes were first launched in 1936, which were worn by school children for their physical education class. This is the shoe that made Bata a household name.

Bata Heritage decided to collaborate with Coca-Cola, to produce a capsule collection. In other words Coca-Cola’s logo is slapped on Bata sneakers. The classic Bata sneakers which we wore back in our days has Coca-Cola written all over it, literally.

But this is not the first time Coca-Cola’s logo will be seen on sneakers. In 2018, the brand collaborated with apparel brand Kith. This collaboration produced sneakers, hoodies, tees, sweatshirts and even swimwear for women.

All this is fine. Now, here starts the problem. A pair of Coca-Cola X Bata sneaker starts from Rs.4000 and goes upto Rs.10000. But the pricing is not the problem, given the global sneaker market, sneaker collectors will most definitely pay this amount of money to get their hands on some fresh pair of sneakers. Then what is the problem?
The design. The sneakers doesn’t look like their price.

First of all, the sneakers are not designed well, it looks the same as it did in 1936, the sneaker has a shape which fits a young foot such as of a school kid and not something a grown adult would wear, the footwear design department didn’t do their job well and it clearly shows. Second, below par graphic design, one of the sneakers has Coca-Cola bottle caps printed over it. Coca-Cola must have paid a huge amount of money to Bata to place their logo wherever required. The logos are placed onto the sneakers without any thought, another sneaker has the tagline of Coca-Cola written over it, which is clearly damaging the aesthetics of the sneakers, well it already had little of it in the first place.

The footwear design is not innovative enough, the logos are roughly placed, to simplify, the entire collection lacks character.

This collaboration is a frustrated marketing strategy that has gone horribly wrong. The nostalgia people had with these classic sneakers is badly damaged. We wonder what is next for both these companies. Perhaps a reverse collaboration, Bata logos slapped on Coca-Cola bottles.