The overall diet Coke advertising strategy was to establish diet Coke as the beverage of choice for an “irresistibly uplifting break”, making the diet Coke brand an integral part of that break experience.The overall communication objective was to establish the diet Coke “Break” proposition.The Internet objectives were to extend the brand experience of an uplifting break in a uniquely engaging & interactive way, bringing the diet Coke brand alive online, in a fun, personal & engaging way. The agreed measure of success for this campaign was to achieve click through rates above industry norms.Internet objectives were achieved with diet Coke on its way to becoming synonymous with “break time”“Launching Livealittle.com.au with a new creative format allowed diet Coke to increase brand involvement with the target market in a dynamic and interactive way” Di Jaksic Diet Coke brand manager Through UM initiated focused groups, Cognito, we identified a trend that women choose one or two credible sites that they go to for catch up on their celebrity gossip, star signs, fashion and so on. Based on the above insight, and utilizing sites that were “ Sexy, Spirited, Confident & Uplifting, we selected She said, The Lounge, Femail, Cleo, Sex & the City, Getaway and New Weekly.On the Cleo, Sex and the City, New Weekly & Getaway sites, we performed an Australian first – THE REVEALING BANNERTargeted into key women’s interest sections, this new format invited the user to interact with a “Sexy Male” with each click revealing more of his naked torso, before then going through to the diet Coke web site. The click throughs for these executions exceeded 5%, which is well above the industry average of 0.26%.She said site – THE FLOATING DIET COKE CANAs the user entered the She said site, a floating diet Coke floated across the homepage before resting in a diet Coke button. This provided an impactful, yet unobtrusive device, which reached our target. This was the first time the creative was executed on She said, with the click through results being 4 times the industry average click rate.Femail site – VERTICAL BANNERSThrough our negotiations with the site, a new vertical banner was implemented on the homepage of Femail. Additionally a link was placed on the navigation bar of the site, which went straight to the diet Coke website. This positioned the brand as actual part of the sites content, and was a key mechanic in driving traffic to the site.We INNOVATED THE INTERNET and reaped the rewards. Universal McCann understood, through proprietary research, that the internet played a crucial role for diet Coke in developing emotional connections with Women 18-39 during break time occasions. The break time represented “time out” in their busy day.

We were responsible for the development of a groundbreaking internet campaign driving new media and creative on-line platforms. Innovation, resulting in impact, was crucial for diet coke given the small time frame in which diet Coke had to connect with women in their break time on the Internet.We worked tirelessly with the major Internet partners generating a series of online firsts, we joined forces with VCD- the creative team in driving the creative development process, as well as establishing benchmarks for on-line planning in Australia. Historically, diet Coke relied on off line channels to form emotional connections with women during break time. 2001 represented the first year whereby the internet was a recommended component of the media mix.This submission is special because we knew from our conversations with internet users that banner burn had set in. Internet users were turned on by innovation, not by the same old banners! To break through women’s break times the answer was to push the boundaries and develop innovative ad formats! Introducing The Revealing Banner & The Floating Diet Coke Bottle. These innovative formats lead to our target interacting with the brand and then being sent to the diet Coke Livealittle.com.au website.In collaboration with not only creatives but also the chosen site partners, we ensured that the usage of these formats reflected the brand values - Sexy, Spirited, Confident & Uplifting. We teased them with The Revealing Banner – clicking on a partially naked man and we intrigued them with The Floating Diet Coke Bottle in watermark format floating across the screen.The results for the campaign were outstanding with a click through of over 5% (industry average is 0.26%). The close relationship established with the site partners also saw massive added value-150%. Most importantly we created an emotional connection with women and increase in diet Coke sales over the campaign period.

Universal McCann understood, through proprietary research, that the internet played a crucial role for diet Coke in developing emotional connections with Women 18-39 during break time occasions. The break time represented “time out” in their busy day.

We were responsible for the development of a groundbreaking internet campaign driving new media and creative on-line platforms. Innovation, resulting in impact, was crucial for diet coke given the small time frame in which diet Coke had to connect with women in their break time on the Internet.We worked tirelessly with the major Internet partners generating a series of online firsts, we joined forces with VCD- the creative team in driving the creative development process, as well as establishing benchmarks for on-line planning in Australia.