Now, another person has come forward with what they believe to be the world’s most sought-after formula. According to an NBC 11 report, a Ringgold, Georgia man named Cliff Kluge states that the has “accidentally” found the formula.

The man told reporters that he and his wife bought a box of letters at an estate sale. The box contained a cola recipe that Kluge believes is the real deal. He states that it is very similar to the recipe uncovered by This American Life.

Kluge is now auctioning off the formula on eBay, asking for a starting bid of $5 million and a Buy Now price of $15 million.

Coca-Cola has stated, as it always has, that this formula is another in a series of failed attempts to recreate Coca-Cola, and that the only copy of the real thing is locked in a vault in Atlanta.

Twitter data scientist Edison Chen recently started pouring over the use of these three words in order to ascertain where, precisely, they are used the most. He collected the data by first searching for pop/soda/coke-related messages containing the user’s location. After making sure these words weren’t being utilized for something specific (Coke as a brand, for example) or in reference to something else, Chen began mapping out the results.

According to the data, Midwestern residents tend to favor the term “pop”, while “soda” seems to be more popular with individuals who live on the coasts. Using “Coke” generically is typically a Southern activity. If you’re the sort who enjoys messing with people’s heads, ask a waiter/waitress at a swanky New York City restaurant for a pop and see what happens. When your back has been properly turned, chances are they’re going to laugh at you.

For a visual interpretation of Chen’s data, take a look at the maps below. For a more detailed analysis with bigger images, take a trip to Edison Chen’s blog.

According to Harc: “A convex logo substitutes colorfully sprayed can. Naked can help to reduce air and water pollution occurred in its coloring process. It also reduces energy and effort to separate toxic color paint from aluminum in recycling process. Huge amount of energy and paint required to manufacture colored cans will be saved.Instead of toxic paint, manufacturers process aluminum with a pressing machine that indicates brand identity on surface.”

The original design won the Biennale Internationale Design award at the end of 2010, but was never picked up by Coke. It’s a shame. This design would have caught on, or at least would have been popular as a promotional tool. At least for a short time.

It’s a fascinating question and the series delivers the delightful and inspiring answer. In the first project, Google approaches the legend, Harvey Gabor, one of the members of the creative team that developed the “Hilltop” coke commercial that has become a part of advertising, brand and coca-cola history. Google asks Mr. Gabor to talk about the how the idea came to him and the agency and then a team from Google brainstorms with the legendary creative to develop a concept that might work today and on the web.

Gabor then has the opportunity to present his concept to the marketing team at Coke and the whole process is captured and recorded digitally for everyone to see and experience. Mr. Gabor explains that the essence of the idea for the classic “Hilltop” television spot was to “connect with people” and “buy or share a coke with the world.” Gabor and the agency communicated this idea originally by showing one person, alone on a hilltop singing a song and slowly joined by more people, also singing (and drinking cokes) to represent the world. As you know or hopefully remember, the spot ends with a birds-eye view, arial shot of a huge group of multi-national people all singing the famous Coke anthem, “I’d like to buy the world a coke….”

The idea he develops and presents to Coke is amazing and the marketing team at Coke loves it. The idea is for people to be able to actually “buy a coke and send it to a vending machine anywhere in the world.” The Coke team actually moves forward with the idea and the documentary captures and demonstrates how they actually have Engineers develop a vending machine that can execute this wish to “buy a Coke” in real time for anyone in the world.

It’s a brilliant solution and shows that the strength of a great idea and how it can be applied not only to any variety of mediums but holds up even after some forty years. A great idea is a great idea and Google helps us to see that great advertising can be created online and in our new digital world. It’s a very thought-provoking question to ask and an inspiring project. So in the same spirit as the idea, “to share a Coke with a friend,” I wanted to share it with you.

The end result was a single called “Is There Anybody Out There?” that is available for a free download from Coke. Aside from being an amazingly creative campaign idea, this could spark more brands to consider a new form of co-creation where consumers are invited not to create content themselves, but to be the spark for professionals to create content. In a sense, this is no different than real life where artists often take their inspiration from their fans.

Though Coke’s efforts have cause some to raise valid criticism about whether the campaign can be considered all that successful since the views and audience seems small by Coke standards, sometimes the most forward thinking ideas aren’t the ones which go viral right away. To me, the real power of this campaign is that it imagines a world where brands can help connect people with the artists they love in a way that empowers them to contribute to what the artists are creating.

Inspiration as a form of co-creation is not just a great marketing concept, but one which offers musicians and even filmmakers a new way to engage their audience on a deeper level and also get better ideas and inspiration to make their work better.  The only downside is that it leaves a lot of people to thank from the Grammy/Oscars stage …

Originally published on the Influential Marketing Blog

The animated live wallpaper app features a snow globe. The Google+Mobile+Ads+Blog%29″ title=”admob coke snow globe”>Google Mobile Ads Blog offers more details. “Coke’s live wallpaper takes the user into this snowglobe experience.”

“You can visit scenes from the video and tilt your phone to move the characters, just like Santa. Shaking your phone twirls the snow around, turning your Android phone into the snowglobe Santa interacts with in the holiday commercial!”

Coke said it will be promoting the wallpaper app via mobile display advertising campaign on the AdMob network.

Google (#4) saw a 36 percent increase in value over last year, bringing the brand closer to rival Microsoft (#3). HP (#10) enters the top 10 for the first time, having increased brand value under a new business model and brand platform. For the 11th year straight, Coca-Cola (#1) retains its top spot as the number one ranked brand on the list.

Technology brands continue to lead the pack, with IBM (#2), Microsoft (#3), Google (#4), Intel (#7), and HP (#10) earning top rankings. Apple (#17) increased brand value 37% through carefully controlled messaging and an endless wave of buzz surrounding new product launches.

Despite a challenging year, HP made smart additions to its product portfolio and swiftly expanded the HP brand to protect its ranking on the list. With 32% brand value growth, BlackBerry (#54) remains the most popular smartphone for business users, despite pressure from Apple as it edges into the corporate world.

“2010 was the beginning of a long road back towards economic recovery,” said Jez Frampton, group chief executive at Interbrand.

“From real-time customer feedback through social media to increased transparency about corporate citizenship, brands were faced with a profound change in the way they relate to customers and demonstrate their relevance and value. Despite this new paradigm of brand management, the advantages of building a solid brand remain the same.”
 

Carol Kruse, Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing, first told Tim Bradshaw at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, "The amount of impressions in such a short period of time around our whole World Cup campaign, to me it was a phenomenal time."  Which was a reference to 86 million impressions in 24 hours, if you’re curious.

Kruse then continued, "It made this emotional connection at the time, it was great."  And that observation stems from the fact Coke saw an engagement rate of six percent when a rate of 0.2 percent is more typical.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to call Promoted Trends a complete success, because no one knows how much Coke paid for its Promoted Trend.  Those big numbers wouldn’t be bargains if the price was high enough.

The Promoted Trends platform appears to have gotten off to a great start, though.  An endorsement like Kruse’s in fact sounds like something Twitter should have paid for.

Count on seeing a lot of other companies try to follow Coke’s lead, then, perhaps to the point that Twitter will be able to raise its rates (whatever they are) and make even more money.

Eduardo Llach saw how well a branded keyword strategy worked in the context of global beverage giant, Coca-Cola. The chief marketing officer of SearchRev said not enough brands follow Coke’s example.

After optimizing for a brand keyword campaign, Llach said conversion rates and click-throughs increased. This happens because the campaign closes the loop on marketing to an audience through its various methods.

Coke is a high-profile example of this, with some of their terms going to American Idol, or for Heidi Klum’s awareness promotion of women’s heart health at the Oscars. Advertising inspires an act by visitors, Llach said.

But when a brand already ranks #1 organically, the decision makers may wonder why they should pay for the traffic they already receive for free. Llach suggested buying branded keywords leverages a campaign better.

One interesting point came up when we discussed Coke itself as a branded keyword. With several beverages under the Coca-Cola umbrella, product marketers for Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Coca-Cola all want the valuable Coke keyword for their campaigns.

That indicates one of the issues facing those who would promote brand keyword buys for their company: who gets to use it? Llach said it takes work from the top marketing executives on down to get everyone lined up for campaigns, and the keyword’s role in them.

This achievement led Steven Starr, the founder and chairman of Revver, to state, “The time and place to be an independent creator is right now, online.  Smart advertisers are financing an online economy that supports these creators, and the top talent will build fortunes.  This is historic: It is the birth of a sustainable art form, and it’s happening before our eyes.”

Doug Bresler, the creator of “Doogtoons,” would probably agree – he tossed some complimentary words into the official press release, and it was his brand that actually received Revver’s one millionth dollar.

Also, let’s not forget the lads at Eepybird – NewTeeVee’s Jackson West reports that they “have earned over $50,000 to date for the nearly 11 million views garnered by the Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments clip.”

So give Revver a cookie for its revenue-sharing achievement, or better yet, a cake with one candle – the company just had its first birthday, as well.