GLOBAL, JANUARY 2011 – In January of last year, Coca-Cola set out to find what happiness is in different countries. The soda brand’s fans picked three netizens as happiness ambassadors to embark on a journey across 186 countries, including the Philippines, to look into of what happiness means in each place. The campaign, called Expedition 206 after the 206 territories where Coke is available, is touted as Coke’s most ambitious social media project ever.
The happiness ambassadors took on the world armed with laptops, video cameras, smartphones and other gadgets for documentation purposes. The ambassadors documented their journey via Facebook, Twitter, and the Expedition 206 website. Their journey came to an end on New Year’s Day, 2011.
Local bloggers in the territories visited were encouraged to follow their journey, and to post their own search for happiness. Coke chose representative bloggers from each country to host the happiness ambassadors during their trip. The representatives were also invited to Expedition 206’s closing ceremony held at World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia last Wednesday. From the Philippines, the official blogger representative was radio personality DJ Mojo Jojo, who documented his trip on the Dona Victorina blog.
“We have been extremely pleased with the success it’s had in the different markets,” Anna Carelli, Coca-Cola’s Senior Communications Manager for Digital told Marketing Canada, “It’s really provided a platform for the different markets to activate as they see fit.” Expedition 206 gave Coca-Cola more visibility in places such as China.
