By Louisa Hearn
A viral marketing campaign launched by Coca-Cola Australia to promote its new Zero brand to the youth market has spawned a number of spin-off blogs that have cast its latest publicity spree in a less-than-flattering light.
Coke Zero is essentially a new sugar-free version of the soft drink geared towards young men and its launch early this year will be supported by an $18 million year-long marketing campaign.
The company decided to kick off its campaign using non-traditional viral marketing channels, launching the zero movement on the streets via a series of posters, coasters and chalk drawings and a website with the same name.
The zero movement website features a manifesto, downloads of its branding material, and blog-type entries on topics that pose wistful questions like: "Why can't every weekend be long?" and "why can't I still get toys for Christmas?"
Although the goal was to tease the market and create some buzz among the web-savvy "neos" in the twenty something age-bracket, the blogging community has issued its own verdict.
Those searching out blogger commentary on the zero movement are likely to find posts along the lines of: "How many ad agencies does it take to patronise a demographic?"
A spoof zero movement site suggests readers take the money they would usually spend on soft drinks, and give it to charity, while spin-off blog The Zero Movement Sucks has begun selling T-shirts that say: "I joined the zero movement and all I got was this lousy brain tumour".
Successful viral campaigns like the Carlton Draught "Big Ad" seek to gain publicity by using the general population to spread the word about a particular product. To achieve this, they must engage with their audience in a way they perceive more as entertainment than advertising.
In his blog, Tony Kelly of marketing magazine B&T writes: "Not a small number of bloggers have hit out at the Zero movement online marketing work as a cynical marketing ploy abusing the high level communication and trust established between bloggers and the communities that gather around them."
Gary Buttriss, a lecturer in marketing at the Australian National University, said employing a viral strategy on such a sceptical market sector presented a double-edged sword for companies like Coca-Cola.
"I think businesses are attracted to it because they think of it as a new and inexpensive channel to the market. But it is still in its infancy and the big brands are most at risk from the possible negative consequences," he said.