Avoiding nuclear armageddon is great but avoiding nuclear armageddon with an icy cold Coca-Cola is better. As the saying goes, "Things go better with Coke."

The latest entry into the historical record of branding campaigns is Coca-Cola's new endeavor "to break down barriers and create a simple moment of connection between two nations—India and Pakistan."

On the sincere surface, it's a genuinely heartfelt message that creates an emotional bond with the brand. A more cynical reading is that it's a genuinely heartfelt message that creates an emotional bond with the brand in two markets in which Coca-Cola's market percentage lags.Continue reading...

Mondelez International is about to find out if it can keep the advertising momentum going around its Oreo brand, arguably the most important individual product line for the global snack giant that was spun off from Kraft last year.

Oreo campaigns have scored one hit after another over the last several months, culminating, of course, with brand stewards' savvy in turning the Super Bowl blackout in New Orleans into an impromptu social-media marketing occasion.

Now, Mondelez is counting on its recently demonstrated advertising chops to create a great reception for its new campaign for Oreo, dubbed "Wonderfilled." It employs new positioning as well as TV commercials with original songs, print advertisements, a strong social media presence and pop-up choral mini-concerts in major US cities next week.

"It starts with a very simple premise, about how something as small as an Oreo cookie can bring about a positive change in perspective," said Janda Lukin, director of Oreo, according to Advertising Age.Continue reading...

Isolation and loneliness may seem like an odd foundation for a Coca-Cola campaign, but in China, the brand is aiming to bring the smile associated with Coke to a generation afflicted with such attributes as they try to find their way in suddenly booming metropolises.

Coca-Cola's "Friendship Experiment" aims to capture moments of "happiness creation" by inviting "complete strangers to come together and share a moment of connection." It's an effort by Chinese photographer Kurt Tang to combat what he saw as the "dispiriting sense of isolation and loneliness" found today in China's cities.

"We even date through virtual social networks instead of more intimate, human close-in-person communications," Kurt Tang, the photographer and 'Happiness Creator' of the Friendship Experiment, told brandchannel. Tang's photo and video collection, a project that used Coke to bring urbanites together, recently showed at the Fei Gallery in that same city. Notably, the photo exhibition does not contain Coke bottles or products, although some of the videos do.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola has been getting very serious about its "Open Happiness" campaign. Now it may even be ready to try to beat swords into plowshares—or at least into vending machines.

Ad Age reports that a big announcement "is coming soon" about a "major project" for the brand, possibly involving vending machines that will virtually connect consumers in India and Pakistan, two countries that long have had sectarian, sometimes bloody, differences. As depicted in a teaser video that Coke released in December, the machines would use video technology so that users in the two countries could see each other and "touch hands virtually," the magazine reported.

"The idea," Ad Age continued, "is that it could roll out to various countries in conflict."Continue reading...

Following the US TV debut of its anti-obesity campaign on cable news networks Monday night, Coca-Cola revealed its new anti-obesity commercial in primetime broadcast TV, with the "Be OK" 30-second commercial (watch below) debuting on FOX's American Idol Wednesday evening and shared on Twitter. According to the Associated Press, this latest commercial will also run before the Super Bowl on CBS.

The spot aims to debunk notions that a can of Coke is high-calorie, with the message that one can of Coke "= 140 happy calories to spend on extra happy activities: 25 minutes of letting your dog be your GPS + 10 minutes of letting your body do the talking [shown over dancing] + 75 seconds of laughing out loud + 1 victory dance. Coca-Cola: 140 calories."Continue reading...

The Coca-Cola Company on Monday evening began airing a two-minute spot (watch below) on U.S. cable news networks. The subject, in a first for the company: America's obesity debate, in a bid to defend its brands ahead of looming beverage size controls in New York City and Cambridge, Mass.

The world's biggest beverage company debuted the "Coming Together" commercial during a prime-time ad buy on the highest-rated shows on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC "in hopes of flexing its marketing muscle in the debate over sodas and their impact on public health," the Associated Press reported. The theme ties into the company's "Live Positively" and "Open Happiness" campaigns.

"The well-being of our families and communities concerns everyone," Coca-Cola describes the spot. "And finding a solution will take continued effort from all of us. Watch to learn more about how we can all make a real difference. At Coca-Cola, we believe when people come together good things happen." A URL at the end of the spot promotes a website, coca-cola.com/cometogether, for more information.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola is famed for its Open Happiness campaign, committing random acts of kindness with surprise giveaways and pop-up brand experiences in local markets.

Now the reigning Best Global Brand is inspiring people to commit their own random acts of happiness in a pro-social campaign that invites you to "Go crazy and do good for others."

The "Let's Go Crazy" theme was introduced last year during the brand's UEFA Euro 2012 European campaign. This campaign's theme song: Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit." Watch more of the stealth acts of happiness in the new campaign below.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola’s "Open Happiness" global marketing campaign kicked off in January 2009, when Cee Lo Green and Janelle Monae appeared in a music video that exclusively debuted on FOX's American Idol.

A year later, the "Open Happiness" theme took a tangible, and unforgettable form — a vending machine that appeared in the common room of St. John’s University in New York. It was rigged to dispense flowers, pizza and a six-foot sub resulting in a viral swish of happiness, generating more than 1 million views in the first week and still attracting comments 2 million views later.

The campus Coke machine stunt migrated to London, and morphed into a Hug Machine at the National University of Singapore in a gestural marketing stunt where a squeeze yielded a soda. Since then the Coca-Cola Happiness machine has popped up in local activations around the world, in markets including India, Buenos Aires, Indonesia, Tokyo, Istanbul for a special Valentine's Day stunt, and back to Singapore, this time promoting recycling in June.Continue reading...