More Coke

Teara Joy has graciously offered to flesh out my Coke research whilst I work on the website. Her post follows.

To see the influence Coca-Cola has on the U.S., one doesn’t have to look past their website; they will tell you all about it.
The commercials section on the site is introduced with the following two sentences:

“Whatever is true in your life, Coca-Cola is right there with you. Watch as everybody keeps it real in the latest TV Commercials.”

Coke has now compared itself with everything true in my life.

Which ironically, might be true.

I started a list of Coca-Cola promotional events/subjects/partners:

The Holiday Caravan
Coka-Cola Racing
Coke FM
Youth Achievement Programs
Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Coca-Cola Scholars
Coca-Cola Valued Youth
Boys and Girls Club of America

Worldwide Football Association/ “We all speak football” campaign:
News Release

Time Global Health Summit

Copa Coca-Cola!:
“The most exciting Hispanic youth soccer festival of the year!
Copa Coca-Cola is a rapidly growing community youth soccer program where 13-15 year old boys and girls compete in various tournaments for the ultimate experience of playing against the best from other countries in a World Cup style event.”


But, my list ended here, as I was quickly reminded that Coke is everywhere. In fact, Coca-Cola has broken down their community involvement into 8 categories (according to their website):
Citizenship Repot
Education
Sponsorships
Foundations
Africa HIV/AIDS Programs
Labor Relations.

Moving away from the business side of the web page, the website likes over to another Coke site which is a site designed to be your gateway to the world. The site allows you to have your own blog, create music, play games, send things to your cell phone, find out details about Coke’s film festivals (which shows the winners in major movie theaters across the United States before the featured film is played), go to chat rooms and have place to “hang out” and “perform, find out about coke promotions and Coke “news”, and other things.

I was interested in what else Coke has been up to and I found this article:
Title: Coke's Quest for Cool.
Authors: Caplan, Jeremy
Fulton, Greg
Source: Time; 10/17/2005, Vol. 166 Issue 16, pA19-A20, 2p, 1 graph, 2c

My highlights:

“A multicolor prototype bottle called Love Being is hardly the kind of packaging you would expect from straitlaced Coca-Cola. But with soda sales sagging, the company is showing some new verve, assembling an international team of marketing specialists to create what it hopes will become the shiny embodiment of liquid cool. Coke is introducing a mod series of bottles called M5 to try to perk up its 119-year-old cola while launching some slick new drinks to recharge a business that has been slowly losing momentum.”

“And in pumping an extra $400 million into the company's global marketing budget for its 400 drinks, Isdell has made it clear that he has no intention of letting the world's most valuable nameplate (worth $67.5 billion, according to Interbrand) slip in the eyes of consumers.
Coke is taking an iPod-inspired approach to reviving its flagship cola's appeal with an experimental marketing campaign. The new bottle collection--dubbed M5 for Magnificent Five--will roll out over the next year in 50 to 60 select nightclubs around the world. The icons are intended to draw attention from trendsetters, spicing up Coke's image in the minds of cool hunters and fashionable urban consumers. Don't expect to see M5s in grocery stores; they're much too hip for that. Instead, Coke will try to position the new bottles in fashion magazine layouts and even license the designs for clothing boutiques. A music video will accompany the release of each bottle, a viral-marketing tactic the company thinks will lead to widespread--albeit selective--exposure.
The five new designs substitute a smooth aluminum surface for the contoured grooves of the classic green-glass bottle. Each model also features a "night mode" and can glow in the dark. Instead of using standard labels, the company printed graphics directly on the aluminum. "For the first time, the bottle could be reshaped," says Peter Schelstraete, global brand manager, who credits Apple with demonstrating that consumers reward radically creative design innovation.
To prepare for the M5 project, Coke's global brand manager from Mexico, Eugenio Mendez, traveled the world to see what kids are drinking and what styles and products they favor. Meanwhile, senior vice president Marc Mathieu put together a secret marketing playbook called The Manifesto, highlighting Coke's pop-cultural branding history--from the famous Santa series to its man-on-the-moon ads. Hoping for a more modern hit, the company sought out hot design firms to deliver a new image.”

On that note, now fascinated, I went in search of these new bottles and I have to say… I want to buy one. The website is very modern and I could see myself spending time there.

Website complete with music videos.