Suppliers…assemble!

Coca-Cola has unveiled a clever promotional tie-in to record-breaking summer blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame.” The soft drink juggernaut has transformed the tabs on its soda cans into collectible pins featuring the heads of a dozen superhero characters, including Ironman, Thor and the Hulk.

Roughly 6,000 pin cans were distributed to “Endgame” viewers at Cinemark, Brazil’s largest theater chain, and to social media influencers. The tabs were also sold on the brand’s e-commerce site.

Coca-Cola partnered with advertising agency WMcCann to develop the campaign for the Brazilian market, Ad Age reported. The cans themselves weren't completely reproduced to incorporate the pin tabs, the agency said. Instead, the pins were created separately by special machines out of Zamak steel and were then attached to regular tabs on special-edition Avengers cans. A Marvel studio illustrator created the artwork on the cans as well as the pin designs. 

With pins being such a staple of the promotional products industry, perhaps suppliers can be inspired by this campaign and consider alternative uses and designs for such a traditional product. Distributors can then market these innovative items as up-sells or accessories to customers in the United States. Movie theater chains aren’t the only customers that would appreciate such a novelty – the tab-to-pin idea could work with sports companies, musicians and even politicians.