My Bet is on the “Coke Chase” Showgirls

It's always a wonder what Coca-Cola will come up with from year to year to outdo itself in its marketing around the Super Bowl.

Even though this is Coke’s seventh year in the game, I’ll start with last year because that promotion was an abrupt turnabout from prior years and the response numbers are astounding. It was a live video promotion on Facebook that showed the Coke polar bears cheering for opposing Super Bowl teams. It drew 9 million streams. Nine million!

That promotion marked the brands first major effort to find new ways to connect with digital consumers via every type of small screen it could adapt to. But not to be outdone by a major milestone it set one year ago, Coca-Cola appears to have doubled down on its efforts to attract second-screen, social users by making those very users—and everyone else it can get its message out to—participate in the new “Coke Chase”. And it is giving itself plenty of time to stir up some excitement by starting to market the promotion today, 12 days out from the Big Game, which airs Feb. 3.

Coke continues to rely on TV spots, including during the Super Bowl, to promote “Coke Chase,” but the real push is digital. In a video at CokeChase.com, a cast of characters—the Cowboys, Badlanders and Showgirls—battle in a hot, sweltering desert for ice-cold refreshment—a Coke shimmering in the distance—which always seems just out of reach. We players are put in charge of the outcome through our votes, not only by casting votes for our favorite group, but we are also given the chance to “sabotage” our least favorite teams to try to knock them out of the competition. I sabotaged the cowboys on horseback by making them stop at a traffic light that turns red in the middle of a dusty trail.

“We’re being bolder than ever before, and we’re experimenting with even more second-screen innovation,” Pio Schunker, senior vice president of integrated marketing communications, Coca-Cola North America, said.

To get the word out, a 30-second trailer debuts tomorrow across all major TV outlets. A 60-second spot, “Mirage” can be viewed at CokeChase.com, via a YouTube takeover and during the Super Bowl. Players will learn which group of characters has won through a 30-second spot immediately following The Game.

The social media playbook has also been vastly expanded this year with real-time updates taking place on every major form of digital and social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube.

To keep the momentum going after the winning ad appears, anyone who likes or follows the “Coke Chase” will get access to additional content and the first 50,000 players who registered to play or to join MyCokeRewards will get a coupon for a free bottle of Coke.

The spots, produced by Wieden + Kennedy, are fun to watch, but my bets are on the Showgirls!