Coca-Cola was one of the first companies to recognize the power of coupons for sales promotion purposes. In 1887, one of the companys Partners, Asa Griggs Candler, helped to launch the company into the public eye using innovative and never-tried-before advertising techniques, one of which was a coupon, hand written by the man himself.
Soon, Candler was creating coupons offering complimentary Coca-Cola to people who he believed might ultimately be interested in buying the product. These coupons were mailed out to potential customers and were also placed inside magazines for readers to discover. The advertising worked. More than eight billion free Coca-Cola drinks were given out to people and within eight years Coca-Cola was being served in every single state that was part of the United States at that time.
The tradition continues. In May and June of this year, Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB) carried out a mobile coupon campaign in the UK, powered by digital voucher company, i-movo. Using the PayPoint network, hundreds of thousands of bottles of Fanta, Sprite and Dr. Pepper were distributed free, using secure digital vouchers delivered to mobile phones.
Selected PayPoint stores were given eye-catching point-of-sale material, including door posters, shelf blazers and fridge-top stands, which made clear the simple step required of customers to get their free drink. All they had to do was send a text message with the word YES, followed by their date of birth. Valid voucher requests received a text message reply within a few seconds that included a unique voucher code that was validated by the retailer using the PayPoint terminal.  
Because voucher redemption was performed in real-time using the PayPoint terminal, vouchers could not be used twice, eliminating the risk of fraud. Another immediate benefit was that brand managers could monitor the campaigns progress store-by-store, bottle-by-bottle, eliminating the risk of over-subscription. Retailers were reimbursed automatically, within six days, via PayPoint.
We are very focused towards driving additional footfall and profits for our retailers, and this activity has done both on a significant scale by making customers the compelling offer of free products, says PayPoint Retail Strategy Director Mike Igoe. The real-time redemption solution offered by i-movo and PayPoint makes this type of activity attractive, because it mitigates the financial risks for all parties.
By the conclusion of the eight-week campaign, over 200,000 drinks had been given away to nearly 100,000 consumers across the UK, with the campaign delivering a redemption rate of 87%, according to i-movo, leading the company to describe it as: the most popular and effective mobile coupon campaign the UK has ever seen. 
Coca-Cola Head of Communication, Ed Knight, says: 
We always strive to engage our consumers in an appropriate and exciting manner and this campaign has achieved exactly that. PayPoint and i-movo have created a national marketing network that allows us to activate promotions for specific products in specific stores. In addition, this system allows us to run sampling campaigns across thousands of retailers simultaneously, without any additional staffing costs or impact on the supply chain. The feedback we have received from retailers and consumers alike has been relentlessly positive and the campaign itself has been both a commercial and technical success.”