Kick that Blog Ball!!!!

Building on my earlier post regarding Coke's blogging platform, I had the opportunity to interview a key manager at Coke about the initiative.  This is captured in my ClickZ column this morning entitled "Kicking the World Cup Blog Ball."   It way too early to hoist this up as a "best in class" case study, but I do believe Coke is pushing some innovative ground here.  Worth noting that much of the content being produced by a the video bloggers is very good, and reminds me of some of the programing on "CurrentTV." I think the key here is to keep the branding and/or sponsorship pushed as far to the background as possible.  The brand gets the credit either way.  On other fronts, it's worth noting that Coke appears to be pushing a number of creative branding strategies as part of the World Cup sponsorship, including coloring some of the in-stadium boards to match team colors and ultimately using this "offline" tactic to drive traffic to the main brand website. Again, this is where events get so interesting for brands, and we got a good feel for this while monitoring the Olympics for NBC last February.  The traditional notion of "sponsorship" is being expanded in new ways, and in some respects is allowing the sponsors to reap incremental benefits beyond the typical "rate card" menu. Put another way, creativity is the cornerstone of ROI when marketing models are being shaped for the first time.

Comments

[Brian Kropp]

Pete,

I'm sure you have seen this, but it is quite impressive.

http://www.sharkle.com/video/87687

[David Armano]

Getting mixed messages from Coke. On one hand, they jump in head first with some "blog marketing" as reported here and on the other, they shy away from the whole "coke-mentos fountain" thing.

from the spokeswoman: "We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it.". She adds that the "craziness with Mentos ... doesn't fit with the brand personality" of Diet Coke."

But maybe the World Cup is just a better venue for the brand...