Another "Brilliant" Promotion - With Issues

Coke has introduced a specially labelled product built around the idea of "share a Coke" with a friend.  The special labeling involves putting individual names on the bottle ... i.e. "Share a Coke with Frank."

Now I'm sure the promotion folks (sitting in their cubicles) thought that this would be a terrific way to bring the concept to life.  But marketing only works when all of the elements of marketing work together.  In this case, the "brilliant" promotional idea is fraught with issues for the sales force and distribution system.

How are they going to stock this?  What if someone wants six bottles of "Chris" and "Alex" doesn't sell any?  How do you handle product returns?  Do the names reflect actual consumer names in different geographic areas?  (Hawaii, for example, has lots of unique names that I'm sure aren't on the bottles ... Kimo, Malia, Lei, etc.; African American names may be absent or under-represented).  Are consumers going to be unhappy or disappointed if they can't find the right name to share?

I can just imagine the sales force and store clerks muttering under their breaths when they have to deal with stocking issues in the supermarket.

The very best marketing is when all of the players - brand managers, promotion managers, sales managers, distribution managers - get in a room together to figure out what works in the real world.  Not in an isolated cubicle.