Share The Feeling
The Coca-Cola company started the share a coke campaign in Australia in 2011, they brought the campaign to Nigeria in January 2014, you can even go to their website and design your own customized picture of a Coca-Cola bottle with your name. This idea took the coca-cola company a step further in their goal of being the highest selling bottling company.
I thought about it for a long time and it occurred to me that all this company did was to give their customers a feeling of importance. It is true that the sweetest word to any person is the person’s name. Little wonder, that excitement you get when you see your name on a bottle of coke. I could remember the day a friend of mine saw her brother’s name on a bottle of coke she bought that bottle with the last #100 on her, even though it took couple of months before she could take it home and show the brother. There are also stories of similar incident all over the nation, some had the names of their loved ones inscribed on a bottle of coke while others went ahead to get their own customized bottle and even took celebrated pictures with it. A bottle of coke made them feel special.
All people need from you is a feeling of importance, a feeling that they are special to you. No matter who that person is, everyone wants to feel loved and that exactly was the feeling Coca-Cola gave you and I. “Make people in your life feel important and do it sincerely”, it changes the playing field for you and makes it comfortable to be around you. Imagine if everyone in the world wants to be around you, wants to listen to you, or maybe eager to associate with you. That feel right, yeah? So when next you want to start a conversation with your friends call them loveable names, tell your folks they are special to you, encourage your neighbors and make your siblings feel appreciated.
It was Disraeli, one of the shrewdest men who ever ruled the British Empire, who said “Talk to people about themselves and they will listen for hours”. Everybody feels important in their own little way, so all you need to do is to praise them and give them that sense of uniqueness. A lot of people are going through emotional pains and hurts you can help them with your words of encouragements. Help someone cross the road, put a smile on somebody’s face, a gentle touch shows you understand, tell someone you believe in them, whisper encouraging words and in return somebody will do the same for you.
Admit your faults when you are wrong, saying “I’m sorry” does not mean you are weak, it shows how matured and how much you value that relationship. Keep your pride when others need to be celebrated, don’t always keep the focus on you. When a subordinate has done well don’t take the glory, when you celebrate people they become more loyal to you. Give credit to whom deserves it, encourage people who haven’t really measured up by identifying things they are doing right. Emphasize the positives and watch people strive to keep getting better for you.
When next you come across a bottle of coke with your name or your loved ones name remember that Coca-cola has given you a feeling of importance, it will be so unkind of you not to share that feeling. Don’t just share a coke share the feeling!
I love you!
By Omodara Oluwabunmi Onome
