DIGITCOOL

Sprite’s Green Eyed World

This week, Coca-Cola announced the launch of Green Eyed World from Sprite.

Green Eyed World follows the life adventure of Katie Vogel, a talented girl with a green guitar, killer tunes and big dreams. Each week, the new episode is your backstage pass into the music business as Katie travels through different cities and countries in search of fun, freedom, fans and friends.

Powered by Sprite, Green Eyed World is an exclusive, one-of-a-kind social interactive show in which you get the chance to tell Katie what you think through simple vote and comments. Whether or not she listens to you is yet to be seen, but her decision combined with your input inspire her real life choices.

One of a kind social interactive show? I’m not so sure about that - we’ve all seen the success of Bebo’s Kate Modern, however its true innovation lies in being the first channel to integrate Facebook Connect with YouTube. Visitors can comment and vote using their existing Facebook accounts instead of YouTube’s own commenting system. It work’s pretty well, though it does leave me thinking YouTube’s involvement in this campaign exists solely because Facebook is yet to provide a decent platform for advertisers and branded content.

“With this show, Sprite shifts from creating the perfect branded content to content that perfects the brand,” explains Stafford Green, Head of Digital Marketing Europe for the Coca-Cola Company. “Instead of repeating single messages in traditional media, Sprite supports these new experiences and deep storytelling to communicate our core brand values over time. It’s a fresh advertising model. And everyone wins: the Artist, the Brand and the especially the audience — getting free on-demand, truly interactive content without commercial interruption.”

‘It’s a fresh advertising model’ - Hmm, again this has been done time and time before. Sprite’s announced marketing plan below suggests this will be a significant activity for them in 2009.

- Pan-European YouTube Partnership with homepage presence in five languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian and German) with expected reach of millions of contacts

- Outdoor/Indoor displays (Billboards, Point of Sale…)

-Special packaging on Sprite cans in selected European countries

- Global diffusion of the series (mobile, legal peer-to-peer sharing, social networks, potential traditional television broadcasts & related TV commercials)

- Live Events/Artist Showcases (London, New York, TBA…)

- Green Eyed World promotional merchandising

Despite the substantial marketing investment, I can’t help but think this campaign will have more impact and value for Katie than it will the brand. However, this is fine by me. I’ve quitely followed Katie’s career over the last few months and she is incredibly talented. This activity provides a massive platform for her to grow her global fan base - an awesome opportunity for any upcoming artist!

Good luck Katie…

Check out the channel and Katie’s songs here.