



In an ambitious bid to dominate social media conversations around the Super Bowl Coca-Cola is rolling out a campaign in which its polar bear mascots will react in real time to the big game, even the ads.

The two animated bears, one sporting a red scarf signaling his support of the New York Giants, the other wearing a blue and grey scarf for the New England Patriots, will be featured in a microsite, CokePolarBowl.com, that will show their reactions to the game. If the Patriots score a touchdown, for instance, the Patriots bear might raise his hands for the touchdown sign, while the Giants bear will hold his head in his hands.

The bears' reactions, manipulated by two employees at Coke ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, will be done on the fly. Even a TV spot running during the game will be updated depending on who is winning. Called "Catch," the ad will show a bear leaving the ice cave to seek a break in the tension with a Coke before starting an impromptu football game on the ice.

If the Giants are winning, the Patriots bear will be featured (however, the real-time feed will show the other bear who stayed behind.) If the game is tied, the bear will represent the team that has had the tenser time, says Pio Schunker, vice president of creative excellence for Coca-Cola.

The team, which includes digital agency 360i, has prepared for other eventualities as well. If there's a racy ad or a Janet Jackson moment, for instance, a bear will cover a cub's eyes.

"Catch" is one of two spots that will air during the game. A commercial earlier in the game called "Superstition" will show the two bears sitting down for the game. The Giants bear has his fingers, toes, arms, legs and even his scarf crossed to bring his team luck. (The Giants were chosen because they are the underdog.) The bear will then attempt to grab a Coke offered by his friend without uncrossing anything.

The ad, like the campaign breaking on Thursday, is designed to get viewers to check out the microsite or other online places they can check in with the bears, including Twitter, Facebook and on rich media ads running on ESPN and other sites on via mobile apps. Schunker says he doesn't expect many people to watch the bears for four hours, but to "dip in and dip out." While they're doing that, Coke hopes they will also pass along snackable content in the form of short videos showing the bears' reactions to action in the game. If the Giants are winning, for instance, a fan may want to rub it in by passing along a video of the celebrating Giants bear to a friend who supports the Patriots.

Wieden + Kennedy came up with the idea after the last Super Bowl, in which Coke ran a few spots that were well-received, but didn't address the issue of how to integrate the brand into social media conversations around the game. Schunker cited research that showed about 60% of people watching the game plan to have a second screen running — whether it's a laptop, tablet or a smartphone.

In this day and age, big events like the Super Bowl represent rare opportunities to amass a large audience — some 100 million people are expected to tune in — but also to find a moment in which many of them are discussing an upbeat topic at the same time. Coke has experimented with injecting itself into such conversations before with a program last March called "Perfect Harmony" that let fans try to write a song for the American Idol finale, but has done nothing on this scale.

Schunker says that the Super Bowl program will serve as a template for future events like the Academy Awards. The object is to have consumers associate the brand with the good feelings they have around the event. Says Schunker: "It's not about selling Coke. It's about selling moments."