Coca-Cola has installed bottle-shaped patches of grass with trees, benches, and vending machines in 13 cities around the world as part of an advertising campaign. While the ads are well-done, some observers criticize Coke for commercializing public spaces and question if cities need the company to make parks. However, Coca-Cola is known for ambitious marketing initiatives, like a previous campaign between India and Pakistan that allowed people to gift sodas to strangers in the other country through a machine to promote happiness.

1. Coca-Cola Rolls Out Portable
Parks
by
Howard Davidson, Arlington, MA
Slide By :- Howard Davidson Arlington MA

2. Coca-Cola Rolls Out Portable
Parks
Coca-Cola, that global monolith of syrupy
salespower, has been known to engage in
unconventionally massive ad campaigns
before. In their latest effort, Coke has (literally)
rolled out bottle-shaped patches of turf in 13
cities around the world. These plots of grass
have been quickly adorned with trees,
benches, Coca-Cola vending machines, and a
conspicuously peppy assortment of park-goers.
Slide By :- Howard Davidson Arlington MA

3. While the Wieden + Kennedy ads are indisputably well-done, many
observers have been scoffing at what they perceive to be Cok e’s cynical
co-optation of urban hipness and “green” development. Some citydwellers balk at the notion that they need Coke to come in and rescue
them from their drab, colorless urban existence. Indeed, the copy under
the ad on YouTube implores viewers to “Join Coca-Cola as we brighten
gray days in cities across the world.” For New Yorkers who frequent the
posh Highline Park (not to mention Central), or San Franciscans doing
Yoga in Alamo Square, this labeling of city squares as inevitably “gray”
might come off as a tad dated, if not outright condescending.
Slide By :- Howard Davidson Arlington MA

4. Coca Cola is well-known for its ambitious
humanistic marketing initiatives, however.
Earlier this year, its “Open Happiness”
campaign attempted to ameliorate the
decades-long conflict between India and
Pakistan. How, you might ask? With “Small
World Machines” that allowed passersby to
gift free sodas to strangers in the opposing
country, so long as they played some
interactive games with one another through
the digital screen. No word yet on a peace
treaty being signed, but one certainly can’t
blame Coca-Cola’s marketing department for a
lack of ambition.
Slide By :- Howard Davidson Arlington MA