YOU CAN GIVE FOLKS WHAT THEY TELL YOU THEY WANT OR TRY TO GIVE THEM WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO WANT:

After The Viral Explosion, A Tale Of Two Brands (Adweek, Sep 6, 2006)

Thanks to widely circulated Web videos of the stunt, the soft drink and candy were joined at the hip this summer. In the aftermath, the companies took divergent paths: Perfetti Van Melle, maker of Mentos, quickly moved to align itself with the consumer phenomenon, while Coke kept a studied distance.

The reactions are illustrative of the uncertainties advertisers face in the new world of consumer-generated media, where they need to define what, if any, role they should play when consumers assert control of their brands.

Mentos reacted to the interest in the geysers with its own consumer video contest, in conjunction with YouTube, for the best combination of Mentos with soda. The candy maker has even overhauled its Web site to center on the effort. Coke, on the other hand, chose not to associate with the viral video, focusing its attention on its own, separate foray: The Coke Show, a transformation of Coke.com into a YouTube-like destination for consumer-generated content.

While it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, it is safe to say Mentos' effort has gotten more traction. Mentos has attracted over 300 submissions, which have been viewed more than 400,000 times. The Coke Show, which wrapped up its first contest last week, got only 35 videos, with none getting more than 2,000 views.

Tim Kopp, vp of global interactive marketing, said despite inital reports saying Coke was displeased by the videos, that wasn't the case. Instead, it simply decided to continue in its planned marketing direction. "We're not trying to take advantage of it and commercialize it," he said.

Rather than jump on the bandwagon, Kopp said Coca-Cola continued to focus on The Coke Show, a Web site refresh that was already in the works, as its test bed for tapping into consumer media. For the second challenge, it partnered with video blogger Ze Frank for another contest that plays off the theme of a current Coke commercial. Subsequent contests will involve uploading photos and music, he said.

"We want to learn before we blow this out," he said. "We don't pretend to have all the answers."

For Mentos, on the other hand, the viral videos were a godsend, said Pete Healy, vp of marketing at Perfetti Van Melle, as the brand was in the midst of shifting its marketing emphasis from broadcast media to a more diverse array of channels. The contest has succeeded in extending the buzz around the experiment, he said. The confectioner is also working with a software company in Canada that hopes to use the chemical reaction (and 25,001 Mentos) to launch a bottle of Diet Coke into space.

"We know if it's the same old thing, it will die," said Tom Baer, director of promotions strategy at Launch Creative Marketing, which developed the geyser contest.