Coca-Cola to send 'Happiness Ambassadors' around the world

Coca-Cola are planning to send three bloggers around the world to find out what makes people happy, as part of their "Open Happiness" campaign.

These bloggers will visit 206 countries, spend just one or two days in each one. The project is being dubbed "Expedition 206". Expedition 206 adds another major-brand to the social media venture. Currently there are 3 teams of 3, battling for the chance to go on this wonderful journey. At the moment it is very close, you can vote who goes on this trip via the Expedition 206 website here.

The travelers will meet with locals, and document their stories on the Expedition 206 website. They will even get a chance to be part of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Adam Brown, director of Coca-Cola's Office of Digital Communications and Social Media explains why they have decided to take on this project.

"It's not about having the Coca-Cola brand first and foremost, center of the screen... It's about telling the story that involves Coca-Cola, that involves the attributes of what Coca-Cola is about, optimism and joy."

The trip begins on the 1st January and begins in Madrid, and finishes on December 31st at the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta.

I think this is a great idea by Coca-Cola, it is exciting and although the concept of sending bloggers off on their travels is not new, the enormality of sending bloggers around the entire world is new. Coca-Cola is the perfect brand for this type of trip as they have held a global presence for years and years. You will find someone drinking Coca-Cola is any country in the world most likely.

The one problem with this task is whether or not they will be able to keep people interested in the travelers blogs across an entire year. The content that they post will need to be extremely strong. I think pictures will play a huge part. Photographs of different cultures and scenery is always interesting and if the bloggers can add interesting stories to the imagery, Coca-Cola could offer something truely original and appealing, whilst stealthily promoting the brand.

Voting ends November 6th, so start voting!

UK chart stars looking for social networking site sponsors

A new website set up to market girl group, The Saturdays new album seeks fashion retailers to sponsor the individual band members (Una, Mollie, Frankie, Vanessa and Rochelle) pages.
Fans will be able to click through the sponsored pages to fashion retailers with transactional sites where they can find clothing that will help them dress in the style of the band.

The social networking site is the first of its kind for record label Polydor and has been designed by digital creative agency Clusta.

Fans sign up and create their own profiles, following this they will be able to add concerts they plan to attend to their calendar and leave comments and reviews. They can also make friends with other fans and upload related content.

The individual band member pages will hold personal diary entries.

Aaron Bogucki, Senior digital campaign manager for Polydor says:

"The girls were already really proactive in providing content for their site and getting involved in social media.... With the success of the first album we wanted to make sure our digital strategy led the launch of the second so we decided to launch a fan networking site".


The article where I sourced this news in MarketingWeek doesn't say how much interaction there will be between the girls and their fans. I have a feeling that the band will post diary entries and fans will comment and interact with fellow fans on the website. Brands, actors (Verne Troyer) and now Popstars have seen social media as an opportunity to form closer relationships with the public/fans.

I believe if this is going to work then Popstars etc. can't just make a half-arsed attempt by just setting up a site and posting content. The most successful sites will be the ones who interact with the fans and make them feel special and valued in doing so. As I said I do not know if The Saturdays are planning on doing this, but if they do then they are more likely to see a far more positive response.

The new album titled 'Wordshaker' will be released on 12th October.

Internet ad spend grows during recession

In the first half of 2009 internet advertising weathered the recession and grew by 4.6% to £1,752.1m, despite the entire advertising sector contracting by 16.6% during the same period. In doing so, online advertising has overtaken TV for the first time.

The UK remains the world leader in terms of market share for online, with the medium accounting for 23.5% in the first half of 2009. The results signal a significant restructure of marketing budgets as advertisers follow their audiences online and look to the internet for even more measurable and accountable methods (via IABUK.net).



The IABUK outlines a number of key factors for growth: (link)

1. Advertising networks boosting the market - Alongside the major portals, advertisers are increasingly turning to networks to book their online campaigns. According to Econsultancy research, 70% of online advertisers and their agencies work with three online advertising networks or more. Almost half (46%) the say they are working with more ad networks than a year ago, an average of 31% of online display advertising budget is believed to be spent on online advertising networks.

2. Online as a direct response medium - This year has seen marketing budgets being stretched to their very limits, and online has proved its worth. With improved planning and insight tools which mean more advertisers flock to the medium to take advantage of its targeting, accountability and measurability.

3. Growth of new display formats - With the proliferation of video, the internet has become a highly engaging entertainment medium. Alongside tried and tested methods such as rich media, pre and post roll online video advertising is showing strong growth (a 195% increase year-on-year). This indicates advertisers’ willingness to experiment and invest in more engaging and interactive multimedia content.

4. Ecommerce booming - In a time of recession, people buying and shopping are taking to the internet for the best deals, making online the best place to reach bargain-hungry consumers. The continued annual growth in the online retail market is evidence that online is withstanding the challenges of the economic downturn and the retailers that continue to expand and improve their online presence.

5. Faster, cheaper broadband - 92% people now have a broadband speed on over 2MB and 56% of home broadband users now have wireless broadband driving audiences online and allows advertisers to provide consumers with richer branded content (BMRB Internet Monitor May 2009).



This is some great evidence to highlight the benefits for using online marketing and advertising during a recession. The popularity of the internet amongst the public has risen vastly as we all know over the past few years or so.


A possible reason for the internet's growth above TV might be down to the TV advertisments themselves. Commercials have been shown to be the most disliked aspect of watching 'live' TV by consumers. The internet can offer programs to watch at users leisure (BBC iPlayer, 4od etc) and often shows one or two adverts maximum per show.