It looks like a page out of damage control 101. They’re trying to disarm the public.Michael Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, on whether or not he believes the Coca-Cola Company’s new ad initiatives that remind audiences of its “record of providing drinks with fewer calories,” implying that soda is not the sole cause of obesity in America.
Last week, Coca-Cola took an intriguing approach to the growing trend of “brands as publishers.”
Calling it Coca-Cola Journey, Coke married the staid, static philosophy of a corporate website with the dynamic, fluidity of a blog. While the Atlanta-based soft drink company has its footprints all over the digital world — it has a robust presence on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn — it also wanted to build its own online home, a welcoming place for its fans.
While it may be a great PR move, there’s also value for its 1.2 million monthly unique visitors. There’s a wide range of content topics — entertainment, brands, business, community, environment, health, history, innovation, sports — that Coke employees write about and curate from around the Web. The stories themselves either discuss the company or issues that the company cares about.
Coke is now firmly entrenched in the storytelling business, minus the whole ad selling aspect. And keep in mind that these are Coke-focused stories, and not journalism, which, some say, is exactly the point. One agency executive, who requested anonymity because his agency represents a competitor, told me that “this is content that is meant to be discoverable and shareable, optimized around topics that Coke feels shows their brand in the best light.”
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How you do social media when your main product isn’t content: Build lots of content anyway.
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What Happens to the Coke in Coca-Cola?
The United States (and most other nations) expressly prohibits the sale and trade of coca leaves. But to this day, Coca-Cola needs coca leaves to make its drinks. In order for the drink to continue to exist in its current form, the company has a special arrangement with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Remember, when you’re big enough to drive the economy, you get to set the rules in a lot of cases.
Because, let’s face it, the one thing that the world needed was Daft Punk’s motif all over a couple of Coke bottles, right? Awesome, yes, but we’re not even sure if Moby would’ve gone for a sellout opportunity this calculatedly commercial. Good work, French guys. source
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