The challenge was to create a bit more happiness on the streets of China, in light of the coldness and indifference of people living in the cities.

The communication objective - drive awareness of Coca-Cola's role as the 'happiness creator'. Chinese consumers already view Coke as a popular brand, however there's a big opportunity for Coke to stake a claim and be something more meaningful than a carbonated drink. The Friendship Experiment introduced total strangers to one another, creating new friendships over a few bottles of Coke. And we photographed the happy encounters.

The happiness didn't stop there. We wanted to spread it further and share it with everyone. The photos were published online and at a gallery exhibition event, where 35 Media Companies was invited to view the photos.

The positive PR coverage allowed the campaign to reach over 13.5 million people to date.

The idea was to turn total strangers into friends. We called it "The Friendship Experiment". The idea went live on the streets of Guangzhou. The media team engaged a photographer to approach different passers-by and got them to pose with each other, sharing a few bottles of Coke to break the ice. The resulting photos were then placed on a website and at a gallery exhibition. Press/Tv and Online media companies were invited to view the Experiment and promote the campaign. The target was to reach 5 million consumers.

Thanks to the positive promotion by the Media Companies, over 13.5 million people have seen the Experiment to date. The campaign exceeded the target of 5 million viewers by 170%. The Friendship Experiment generated nearly US$1.4 million of free media value. This was a massive ROI of 1,166% on a modest budget of just US$120,000. Coca-Cola certainly profited from this campaign. This allowed the reinvestment of traditional media budgets to campaigns like this that drive more value. The plan now is to implement more Friendship Experiment campaigns beyond Guangzhou and into the other cities of China.