Through a new Facebook application, users will be able to choose from one of four underwater settings and place a photo of themselves into the setting of their choice. For every person who uses the underwater photo app, Coca-Cola will donate $1, up to a total of $200,000, to support Ocean Conservancy’s marine debris program identifying policies to prevent trash from reaching the ocean and waterways.

Also, via the company’s MyCokeRewards points program and a direct donation-matching program through LivePositively.com, Coca-Cola will contribute up to an additional $50,000.

Facebook users will be able to share and embed the underwater image within their own profile and also via the site’s newsfeed. The underwater images can be saved to a "Let’s All Join Fins" photo album, which can be share with Facebook friends.

Using this entertaining, unique social media campaign to partner with Facebook fans, creating a full interactive communication program to support

"Ocean Conservancy is just one of the many ways we are engaging people to lessen their climate footprint — not just during Earth Month, but all year long," said Celeste Bottorff, Vice President, Living Well, Coca-Cola North America
 

While I sometimes wonder why people get so attached to brands and think it’s a little weird, I have to admit that I am almost over the top with my Coke addiction (go ahead and snicker and insert silly drug reference here). I actually refuse to drink other soda products unless there is literally no other choice. Also, I just like the logo and the sense of Americana it carries. Of course, with the amount of aspartame I have ingested drinking Diet Coke for years I will likely prove those lab rats correct but, hey, everyone has to check out of here for some reason, right?

Anyway, back to the marketing stuff. Posterous has teamed with Coke but there is a unique business spin on this one for Posterous which is a free “blog service” to consumers. You see, Coca Cola is actually paying Posterous for it being the platform for a contest they are running that will be part of the NCAA Basketball Tournament this year.

TechCrunch provides the overview

One of Posterous’ first “clients” is Coca-Cola, which is definitely a good first start. Coca-Cola is using Posterous for its NCAA “Dept of Fannovation” where people can come up with ideas to improve the experience of being a fan, and a chance to win $10,000.

Coca-Cola’s use of Posterous revolves around the “post moderation” feature. Any Posterous site can be enabled so that anyone can email post@sitename.posterous.com. The site owner can then moderate those posts, and publish them with a single click. This feature can be used to crowdsource images, video, and text from users.

I have not followed through on the idea submission process on this one so I have not seen this in action. I do see though that on the “Dept. of Fannovation “site” which is a very dark site in its theme because the actual Coke product for this is Coke Zero, there is a nice yellow Posterous tab that could do quite nicely to make the service more well known to a crowd (college hoops fans) that is young enough to understand it and get it.

So it looks like Posterous is taking the same tact as Twitter and deciding that the money to be made is in the corporate market. Keep it free for the regular folks so they can be herded for companies to pick apart and market to the ones they need. Sounds cold and analytical but marketing can be that sometimes, can’t it?

Comments

The campaign called "Expedition 206" is part of the beverage makers Open Happiness marketing effort launched at the beginning of the year.

Coca-Cola has selected nine finalists and is allowing fans to make the final decision by voting for their favorite candidates on the Expedition 206 website through November 6. Fans can vote once each day during the three-week voting period.

Beginning in Madrid on January1, 2010 and ending at the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta on December 31, the story of the bloggers travels will be available on the Expedition 206 site, as well as on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and other social networking sites.

Adam Brown,
Digital Communications,
Coca-Cola

"This mash-up of social media — online photo galleries, video clips, blogs, microblogs, social networking — combined with an amazing journey, enthusiastic travelers and a theme of happiness is a great way for us to connect with people around the world," said Adam Brown, director, Office of Digital Communications and Social Media, The Coca-Cola Company.

"The global adoption of social media has given us a way to deliver a year-long reality TV series without the TV."

Fans will be able to interact with the three bloggers via the Expedition 206 website and offer suggestions on where they go, what they do and who they visit in each country. Stops along the way include the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
 

Facebook Loses Advertisers As Concerns Deepen

Coca-Cola, one of the largest flagship partners in the program when it launched early last month, not only bailed on Beacon, saying they’d adopted a "wait and see" attitude, but agreed with New York Times blogger Louise Story that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had originally described Beacon as an opt-in program.

Even more disturbing than gradually taking away that ability – there was a point where Facebook users could opt out of all of it, rather than just one site at a time – was Facebook spokesperson Matt Hicks’ response to Story:

Mr. Zuckerberg had meant that users would be given the opportunity to opt out of having information sent out by Beacon, and the company had assumed that anyone who didn’t say no meant yes. 

And by that logic, if I don’t say no to you using my bathroom, I’m saying yes to you rummaging through my medicine cabinet.

Well, whatever the initial understanding of how Beacon worked, advertisers are bailing as user-backlash increases. Overstock.com let it go shortly after MoveOn launched its campaign, followed by Travelocity the next week.

That may have been just in time to avoid possible legal hassles coming out of New York and California. As William McGeveran pointed out on a Harvard Law blog when Facebook’s Social Ad program launched, such wrangled user-endorsements from Beacon could be a violation of privacy laws:

Privacy law, as it should, treats advertising uses differently from other uses. One of the four common-law privacy torts forbids “appropriation.” Specifically: “One who appropriates to his own use or benefit the name of likeness of another is subject to liability to the other for an invasion of his privacy.” (Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 652C) Even more significantly, several states including New York and California have statutory provisions that are similar. New York’s well-known statute creates both a misdemeanor and a civil cause of action for “[a]ny person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained.”

As this issue was also brought up in the New York Times at that point (the first week of November), it appears that Facebook ignored all warnings about privacy concerns, and did not attempt to address them until MoveOn made a proper stink about it.

What’s also not helping Facebook’s case is that Beacon is still sending information to Facebook even when users opt out or are logged off. Stefan Berteau did his own investigation, just a day after Facebook announced they would be "evolving" the Beacon program. Berteau found that Beacon was using cookies to silently track Facebook user actions:

"Despite the fact that I was not logged in, Facebook just received enough information to tie the activity I took on their affiliate to my individual account, which combined with the social data they already have, such as circles of friends, level of education, communication patterns, and geographic locations, would allow them to profile individual consumer behavior on a nearly unprecedented level of detail. "

Facebook eventually admitted that was going on, but said it was not using the data:

"When a Facebook user takes a Beacon-enabled action on a participating site, information is sent to Facebook in order for Facebook to operate Beacon technologically.  If a Facebook user clicks "No, thanks" on the partner site notification, Facebook does not use the data and deletes it from its servers. Separately, before Facebook can determine whether the user is logged in, some data may be transferred from the participating site to Facebook.  In those cases, Facebook does not associate the information with any individual user account, and deletes the data as well."

It begs the question, though, why is sending the information to begin with?

It looks like the troubles are just beginning for this program

Harris’s poll reflects that, too, as it there was no list of options given to respondents; the poll appears to have been open response, asking "Which three brands do you consider best."

While Coke landed on top, up from the seventh spot a decade ago, Pepsi was seventh this time, up from the 10th spot – perhaps proof positive that branding works. Then again, with the influx of pharmaceutical ads on television – you know, where there used to be Pepsi and Nike spots – it’s a wonder nobody chose Pfizer or Zoloft.

"Top of mind association with being ‘best’ is a good position for any brand," said Robert Fronk, Senior Vice President, Brand and Strategy Consulting, Harris Interactive.

"For a truly successful brand relationship though, the objective is not just awareness, but to foster the ongoing process and outcome of brand engagement, which requires more custom and sophisticated measures based upon the interaction of the brand and its desired audience."

I think he’s talking about sales.

Four brands have remained on the top ten list for the past ten years: Ford, Sony, Coca Cola, and Pepsi.

A noticeable absentee from the list is Google, which has been chosen the top brand by branding professionals and market experts in various polls over the years. The difference here is that Harris’s poll did not focus on professionals, but rather, over 2100 consumers.

Here are the top ten brands:

1.    Coca Cola
2.    Sony
3.    Toyota
4.    Dell
5.    Ford
6.    Kraft
7.    Pepsi
8.    Microsoft
9.    Apple
10.    Honda

A report yesterday in Dutch business magazine Brisk includes an interview with Orlando Ashford, head of HR at Coca-Cola’s US headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, who says that Coca-Cola can be one of the most respected companies in the world only when it’s clear to employees what the company stands for. Ashford said this is necessary if Coca-Cola wants to remain as the world’s best-known brand.

Brisk’s report says that Coca-Cola’s top 150 managers met last year and decided on the seven principles which describe Coca-Cola’s culture. These seven principles make up the company’s strategic Manifesto for Growth comprising Mission and Vision and Values.

Says Ashford:

Now we need to make these principles tangible. Take such a term as responsibility. What does it mean in practice? I would say: look not only to your own work, but consider how you can help Coca-Cola grow outside your own task description. Now it is up to the people of Coca-Cola to present their views.

The employee blog will be open for a week with one principle for discussion on each day – seven principles, seven days – and enables each employee anywhere in the world to participate.

Brisk’s report says that the method of this employee survey (a blog) is not unique, citing IBM’s experience early last year. Ashford says he wants to see Coca-Cola management everywhere in the world setting an example and participating in blogging: “Leaders first, who are a main point for everything.”

(Via Marketingfacts.nl)

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Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.