Coke has always been a brand skewed toward youth, but it's always been popular with the baby-boomer cohort and Generation Y that aged along with the brand. Now, Coca-Cola is attempting to repel itself away from its aging base in two dramatic ways—with a heavily teen-skewed new digital advertising campaign, and with a changing of the guard on its relatively ancient board of directors.

First, the exciting stuff: Coke has launched a new overall ad strategy for this year, and for years to come, under the tag line "The Ahh Effect," created by Wieden & Kennedy. The idea is to emphasize digitized content on mobile screens, as well as some crowdsourcing, to engage younger consumers in a myriad of ways in the experience of what it's like to drink a Coke—and say "ahh."

"Coke is the ultimate in refreshment, and ... your first response when drinking Coke should be a hearty 'Aah,'" Pio Schunker, Coca-Cola's vice president of integrated marketing communications, explained to reporters, according to Advertising Age.Continue reading...

When this year’s Digital Content Newfronts start on April 29th in New York City, 18 distributors will be attending, a 200 percent increase over last year, along with scores of advertisers looking to online as a cost-effective content cornucopia. 

The first DCNFs last year featured flashy sales pitches, stars like Jay-Z and giveaways—a car from AOL's Tim Armstrong. But more importantly, real deals got done to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in the inaugural event whose objective was to woo a bigger slice of marketing dollars from TV to online video and digital content hubs.

Launched in 2009, Newfront was billed as "an industry-leading event bringing together content creators, distributors, talent, and brands to harness content opportunities in a post-advertising marketplace."Continue reading...

Google’s latest project, Art, Copy & Code, is an experiment in creativity and technology to re-imagine advertising with some of "today's most iconic brands and innovative marketers,” such as Volkswagen, Burberry and Adidas.

In addition to well-known brands, the project will also collaborate with filmmakers, creative directors and technologists, leveraging the full range of digital tools from ads and mobile apps to social experiences.Continue reading...

Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP Group CEO, says Twitter is a “PR medium,” not an advertising one (and neither is Facebook). His comments follow Twitter’s launch of its advertising API touted as a booster for marketers to manage campaigns.

"If you look at the Olympics in London, the big winner was Twitter. It wasn’t Facebook. It wasn’t even Google. We did analyses of the Twitter feeds every day, and it’s very, very potent. But—and this is the old fart speaking—I think because it’s limited in terms of number of characters, it reduces communication to superficialities and lacks depth.”

Undaunted, Twitter is forging ahead and fashioning itself as an ad platform. Its API launch partners include Adobe, HootSuite, Salesforce, SHIFT and TBG Digital. Aside from creating a larger revenue base for Twitter, the API could lead to more ads on the site and apps which is worrisome to users.

“Launching an ad based API does not mean we’ve changed our philosophy or that a user will see more ads in their experience,” said April Underwood, product manager, revenue at Twitter.  “From a user standpoint it doesn’t mean we’re becoming more aggressive in terms of ads or altering the user experience at all. This is all about giving marketers more choice as well as a broader set of tools in their arsenal that they can use in how they want to work with us.” Continue reading...

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is amping up its digital engagement with KLM Must See Map, a friend-sourced destination map that combines social and print. 

Users create a map for a destination and ask friends for travel tips via Facebook, Twitter and email. Facebook check-ins show which friends have already visited the destination, their tips on favorite places and their locations. You can add your own tips, then order a copy of the map in print and receive it for free.

Up and running in 24 countries, the application comes from Dutch agency Code d’Azur. “One of the biggest challenges was to ensure that the physical map was a perfect representation of the destination, with the tips provided by friends,” said Nik Nieuwenhuijs, Code d’Azur.Continue reading...

Heifer International is entering the digital age. Just in time for the holidays, the nonprofit organization that lets you give the gift of a goat, chickens or other livestock to help provide a source of income and related agricultural training for those in poverty and hunger, has released its first ever table app.

The free app, for iPads and Android-powered tablets, will allow users to engage with the stories, images and videos from around the world as featured in its World Ark magazine — making it the first NGO to create a digital publication.

"World Ark serves as a window into our work here at Heifer International and this interactive tablet edition will bring our supporters along with us to the field to see how their support changes lives every day," stated Heifer International President and CEO Pierre Ferrari.

"Keep Good Going" is the tagline and rallying cry for New York Life's new campaign. The Facebook announcement includes a Twitter hashtag and the call to action, "What inspires you? There is good all around us, and at New York Life, we believe in perpetuating that good. The people, words, videos and stories on this page have touched and inspired us. #KeepGoodGoing"

The Facebook and Twitter push promotes to a microsite featuring "found" video and photographs in "Snapshots" that highlight a cross-section of ages and customers. The digital hub for the campaign also invites visitors to ponder life lessons such as "#27 Be the man your dog thinks you are" and then share the life lessons that means the most to them.Continue reading...

Remember Google's Agile Creativity Pitch to agencies? It's now amping up its own digital creativity to attract ad agencies to come and play in its Creative Sandbox, an "open platform to surface and celebrate" inspiring new campaigns and digital creative.

The name is no doubt familiar to digital types, as Creative Sandbox was the banner under which Google hosted events, dating back to San Francisco, Chicago in 2008, and more recently popping up as events to inspire creatives in Cannes, New York, London and Shanghai.

Now the party is moving online with the launch of a virtual gallery to share and showcase new creative work .Continue reading...