Major international brand uses bloggers to rally clients

It seems as though Coca Cola—undoubtedly one of the most recognized brands throughout the world—has come to realize that hiring public relations staff and sending out dry press releases on new products is no longer enough for twenty-first century, net-savvy consumers. Coca Cola has decided to send out three experienced bloggers in order to travel the world and find out what consumers like the most and, indirectly, market their products and brand.

This project is the most prominent and wide-reaching effort on the part of any major corporation to use blogs and social media tools in order to raise the popularity of their products and connect with consumers. Coca Cola’s bloggers will be sent out to a total of 206 countries around the world, where the firm’s soft drinks are sold. They will then meet with “ordinary” consumers to find out what bring joy to their lives, as part of Coca Cola’s so-called “Open Happiness” campaign.

Coca Cola will announce later this week who the three lucky, world-trotting bloggers will be, based upon an online voting system that the company has set up. As such, Coca Cola has clearly found a way to use the internet, in order to engage consumers in their decision-making process and thus raise the status of their brand. Once the three bloggers have been voted in, they will travel the world for a full year and will spend no more than one or two days in each of the 206 countries. While the schedule will undoubtedly be hectic—as they will produce blog entries in each state, as well as post Twitter updates and engage in video blogging—absolutely all of their expenses will be covered by Coca Cola.

The selected bloggers will start travelling on January 1, 2010 and will visit a staggering total of 17 countries during the first four weeks of their trip.