The Vault

The Coca-Cola Partnership in Disneyland Paris…it works!

As one of of the official partners of Disneyland Paris, you may have noticed that Coca-Cola is an ever present brand in and around Disneyland Paris. It’s the soft drink of choice in all restaurants and snack outlets and has an even bigger presence in places like Casey’s Corner, as can be seen in this picture of the Coca-Cola light shade taken by Dan over at Character Central:

Coca-Cola branding at Disneyland Paris

A while back I read over at the Magic Forum that Disneyland Paris don’t pay a penny, or a Euro in their case, for the Coca-Cola in the resort. Instead, Coca-Cola provide all the drinks for free, and this is presumably seen as a marketing expense. When you think of the huge quantity of Coca-Cola that must be consumed at Disneyland Paris in a day, and then day after day, it seems like a very large amount of product to be giving away for free. However, the majority of the people visiting Disneyland Paris will be having a great time, probably the best time they’ll have that year and for some the trip of a lifetime.

Many people associate tastes and smells with happy memories, and bad memories in some cases. There will be lots of visitors to Disneyland Paris who will associate being happy in Disneyland Paris with a cool refreshing Coca-Cola, whether it be with their meal in the evening, at Casey’s Corner for lunch, or even just mid afternoon whilst watching the parade.

Some people may doubt this kind of subliminal marketing but it does work, and I personally have experienced this from our last trip. While we there I drunk Coke Zero with most of my meals and it was a few months later, after I’d being buying regularly, that I made the connection and realised that my new found love for Coke Zero came from having it at Disneyland Paris and enjoying it so much while being in my favourite place on earth. Now you may say that that is just a coincidence and that I could have tasted Coke Zero anywhere and then found I liked it, but that’s just it, I had drunk it before, but it wasn’t until I had it at Disneyland Paris that it became a favourite of mine and a regular part of my diet.

It’s not just Coca-Cola that has worked its magic on me in this way as we had some Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream a few years ago at Disneyland Paris and even though I’d had it before, it wasn’t until having it at Disneyland Paris that it became a particular favourite of mine. Since then it’s been my ice cream of choice and largely because it reminds me of happy times in Disneyland Paris.

Think about it, is there something that you now eat and drink regularly because you enjoyed it in Disneyland Paris?