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.

Terms of the deal remain unknown, but the Wall Street Journal’s Suzanne Vranica reports, “The price tag is relatively small: The company’s annual revenue is just under $10 million, people familiar with the situation said.”  There are some big corporations involved with SearchRev and AKQA, however.

Coca-Cola is a customer of both companies.  The SearchRev site also lists Yahoo, Shutterfly, and CafePress among its clients, and AKQA mentions Microsoft, Dell, and Visa.  Moreover, this whole deal is reminiscent of the Microsoft-aQuantive acquisition.

As for the future, “SearchRev and AKQA combine to offer companies superior online marketing solutions from technology-intensive search engine marketing to creative-inspired web experiences,” according to a statement from Eduardo Llach, SearchRev’s co-founder, EVP, and chief marketing officer.

Llach then continued, “It’s a great synergy for SearchRev’s SEM technology to drive users to websites with AKQA’s award-winning interactive experiences to keep users engaged and to improve post-click conversion rates.”

Lastly, regardless of the “synergy” (and it’s been a while since I’ve heard that buzzword), SearchRev will operate as a separate unit of AKQA.