Coca-Cola rolled out the details of its Super Bowl advertising on Thursday, and compared to what else we've seen, it looks pretty good. At first blush, the campaign, by Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., is just another take on the brand's classic arctic mascots—the polar bears. But the whole concept is built out around tying into the game itself, in real time—aiming to enhance the overall experience by adding a little topical extra entertainment value. The TV work focuses on two polar bears, chilling out on their "snowfa" and watching the game, rooting for opposite teams. Each sports a colored scarf that denotes its wearer's allegiance—red and white for the Giants, blue and white for the Patriots. A 30-second ad in the first quarter will introduce them. One of two different versions of a 60-second ad will air during the second quarter—which, exactly, will be a game-time call based on how the drama between the two teams is unfolding.
The idea extends nicely across digital and mobile media with a second-screen social campaign: A live stream housed on CokePolarBowl.com and in rich-media banners on sites like ESPN.com will feature animated versions of the bears reacting to the game and the commercials as they play out. (The bears will be controlled by a pair of W+K creatives.) Coke's Twitter account and Facebook page, meanwhile, will be churning out notes to fans in the voices of characters designed to represent the bears, and clips extracted from the live stream. For technical reasons, the brand's marketing team—which also includes 360i and Framestore—won't extend the live stream to tablets and smartphone executions, which will stay focused on the social elements. Sure, most viewers won't be glued to their laptops during the game. But the brand is hoping fans will check in for a minute or two here and there—and promising enough Easter eggs to make it worthwhile.
