Virtual Thirst

Coke is working on expanding its brand awareness through the internet. They are primarily using the virtual world Second Life. Coke has an online campaign which includes a contest called Virtual Thurst. The concept of the contest is for consumers to design a new Coke machine to be used in Second Life. Coke knows that Second Life is big and is getting bigger. They want to be a big part of this phenomenon. New brands are appearing on Second Life by the day because it reaches so many people. The audience reach is huge and companies are willing to spend advertising dollars on this strategy.

The contest is being promoted on some of the most popular site on the Web including MySpace and YouTube. These sites have also been integrated into the contest because they too have a huge audience reach. People who enter the contest must visit these two sites. Coke has set up pages off these sites for the contest. This strategy constructs a "socially integrated marketing strategy." People who belong to these sites belong to a community. They share interaction, experiences, and interests while logged onto these sites.

With respect to the contest, Coke encourages people who enter to be as creative as possible and not limit their ideas to their technological abilities. They want to generate as many ideas as possible. This works out well for Coke. They get tons of ideas for their virtual Coke machine, they get consumers involved, they create buzz about the brand, and they are understanding their consumers better. There is no better way to give consumers what they want than by letting them design it themselves. The main goal of the contest is to create a Coke machine that will generate brand awareness in Second Life. However, the contest is already creating brand awareness from the buzz alone. They are reaching a much larger audience using the contest than by simply placing a company designed machine in Second Life.