Gadget Ads

Coca-Cola

Concept: Active User Action

Situation Profile

• The Coke Music Network, a grassroots initiative, began in August 2006. To promote the initiative in 2007 and to establish the brand as a consumer and community supporter, Coca-Cola launched Coke Music and utlitised one of Google’s advertising formats: Gadget Ads.
• Targeted at music lovers and trend setters, the Coke Music site allows new, emerging and unsigned artists of all genres to upload music, videos, and bios. Users are then able to listen to the content that has been uploaded to the site and rate it. Coca-Cola’s aim is to help undiscovered and emerging musicians gain exposure. Artists can be discovered by industry experts or featured on Coca-Cola’s monthly podcasts – or even get a chance to play on stage at a local gig. The best way for artists to achieve this was to be placed on the Top Ten Chart, a key feature of the campaign.

Campaign Marketing Objectives

The gadget ad campaign ran for seven weeks starting in June 2007. Coca-Cola’s key objectives were to:

• Boost awareness of Coke Music.
• Establish the brand as an active supporter of emerging European music talent.
• Enable consumers to explore new artists, genres and bands.

Campaign Strategy

The ads appeared on several music and entertainment sites, including YouTube, as an MPU-sized screen. Users were able also to upload the ads to their iGoogle homepages, enabling them to explore and devise content that interested them. Karolin Madel, Account Director at AKQA says: "One of the reasons the gadget ad was so successful was its relationship with iGoogle. Users could add the gadget ads to their iGoogle homepages and customise them to their specific styles and tastes. This capability offered massive appeal to our target market."

Songs were rated by fans and panels several times a day so the chart in the gadget ad was often updated. If successful, the musician and their song would be featured on the Top Ten Chart, which was available online.

Results

The Google Gadget Ad campaign generated 3.3 million impressions with more than 1 million unique users viewing the ad. It achieved thousands of song downloads from emerging artists across Europe.

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