Coke Fails to Block Sprite Blowjob Spec Spot – See It Here!

Just a quick follow-up to my previous Sprite Blowjob Spec Spot kerfuffle post…

While Coca Cola Company has been doing an ok job keeping the ad off of YouTube, below is proof that getting something off the internet is about as easy as stirring your cream back out of your coffee.

That’s via the Russian site TopNews and was the fourth link on a Google video search for “Banned German Sprite Ad.”

I hope Coca Cola is glad they’ve wasted all those resources on a fools errand when they could have been laughing it off and soaking up the free publicity.

Coke Calls Foul on Blowjob Ad for Sprite

As pointed out by Gawker, there is now a somewhat rich history of so-called “spec” ads that get released online and quickly disowned by whatever product was being shilled in such an unspeakable manner:

A spec ad—at least the ones you hear about—is basically an unofficial ad that will never get officially sanctioned by the brand represented. Often because of too much sexiness! For example, that JC Penney pro-teen sex ad that caused such a ruckus last year, on the blogs, turned out to be a spec ad. Ad people make spec ads for many reasons: to audition their work in hopes of winning an account, for ad competitions, or just because they are bored and horny.

The most recent example of this trend is a spec ad for Sprite featuring a popular sexual act.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the spec ad was very popular and was generating plenty of views and mentions online.  While somewhat inappropriate, it certainly did a good job selling the product.

I’d love to show you the ad but Coca Cola Company, in their great wisdom, had the spot pulled from YouTube for violating copyright on the Sprite logo.

Who cares if the ad was popular are likely to put the word “Sprite” back in the minds of many a horny teen?

This approach of squashing what amounts to free publicity in the form of true fan dedication baffles me and makes it clear that old business models and practices have completely failed to take advantage of the opportunities presented in the digital age.

Diet Coke Style Series Coming This Week – A Question of Promotion

Was reading over on TubeFilter about a pretty high-end webseries being sponsored by Coca Cola as a platform to push Diet Coke.

This is not a bad idea on paper.  One might ask what they will offer on their show that I can’t find in a zillion other places but if it is done well and they are able to consistently book big guests (currently Rhianna and Cynthia Rowley are on the debut) it has some small chance.

Of course, will all things web, the big question is how to get noticed.  Coke is taking a very “safe” approach:

“Following the top down strategy of old-fashioned marketing campaigns, the unimaginative Style Series will be heavily publicized and distributed by New York-based Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG), which will promote the show through online video banners on entertainment and lifestyle focused websites across the DBG Video Network, People.com, InStyle.com and Yahoo, newsletters, mobile TV pre-roll spots, WAP banners, and outdoor digital billboards in Times Square. There’s no mention of any social media integration, and there doesn’t seem to be anything on YouTube.”

TubeFilter seems to feel that Coke’s choice is way too conservative and misses out on pulling in establishing web personalities to help prosthyletize on their behalf.  While I usually side with the underdog in these matters, I wonder if TubeFilter is off the mark here.

Coke is going after a very traditional demo with this series, hoping to draw a lot of the same people who might watch this show if it were on TV. These are not they kinds of people the hip, hot, web-personality elite tend to reach – and the people they do reach aren’t the type that would ever watch this show.

By using a much more traditional marketing approach, similar to how one might launch an actual TV series, I think Coke is at least giving the show a chance to be discovered.

Now, how long they will be able to keep marketing and whether or not first-time viewers keep coming back, are bigger questions that only time will answer, but I don’t think they’ve shot themselves in the foot by ignoring the Ze Franks of the world.