Coca-cola collectors Club
Refreshing changes for the coca-cola collectors club

Coca Cola is a powerful piece of American culture that has reached all corners of the globe from completely reinventing Santa Claus imagery to becoming the catch all term for all soft drinks in many regions. The Coca Cola Collectors Club is an international organization for collectors of the brand’s memorabilia. The Club’s mission is to educate members on Coca-Cola Collectibles, provide a marketplace to buy, sell and trade as well as networking opportunities.

Within the community itself, there are many diverse interests, from advertising, signage, bottles, and other types of paraphernalia.

Andrew Love, secretary at the Coca Collectors Club National level, began his own love affair with the iconic brand in his teens. His parents were frequent travelers and would often bring home Coca Cola bottles from their far-flung destinations. When he set about decorating his bedroom at 15, he used Coke crates for furniture and then decided to display the bottles. And he accelerated from there.

Andrew would eventually attain the office of President for the MC-DC-VA Chapter of the Coca Cola Collectors Club and then move up to the National level.

In 2018, the Club faced a challenge with registration for their annual event. Like many organizations, the Club was relying on spreadsheets and physical payments to keep tabs on registration and payment. Many members would pay by check either via mail or in-person and were not comfortable writing their credit card information on a mail-in form. This process was time consuming and inefficient. They began working with ClubExpress to better organize their event registration and payment process and found the member management and other tools incredibly popular among their membership.

Automations like ensuring only current members can register for events and automatically calculate fees have streamlined the registration process and secure, online payments have made it easier and safer for attendees to pay their fees.

Automations like ensuring only current members can register for events and automatically calculate fees have streamlined the registration process and secure, online payments have made it easier and safer for attendees to pay their fees.

As the site went live in 2020, so did the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation of the 2020 annual event. Thanks to ClubExpress, Andrew says they were able to easily issue refunds and cancellations, something that would not have been possible with spreadsheets and receipt books. In the ensuing time since the beginning of the pandemic, many chapters, especially those whose membership includes older or medically at-risk members, have moved to entirely online meetings and events.

Andrew and other Club leaders are pleased with the all-in-one nature of the ClubExpress platform, creating a seamless flow of data and communication. They are also looking to the future to include a younger demographic in the Collectors community through completely online experiences and features like the Collectibles Module. Providing a hybrid experience for members gives the younger generation the benefit of the wisdom of the older collectors while also considering preferences in how and when members interact.

One of the biggest boons the Club has experienced is data integrity, allowing their database and information to be updated in almost real time without waiting for someone to send a spreadsheet with the updates. Since most members and chapter leaders also balance work and personal responsibilities, taking the record keeping duties off their plates and into automation means a better user experience and more accurate data.

Andrew is excited to expand the Club’s use of ClubExpress and its modules to keep up with the ever-changing trends and needs of its membership. From improving the website experience for chapters – especially internationally – and increasing reach, Andrew says the Club has a lot of ideas and goals moving forward.

“I see a lot of possibility,” he says.

For more information about the Coca-Cola Collectors Club check out their website! https://cocacolaclub.org/