• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, November 8, 2006

Several weeks ago, Coca-Cola embraced Eepybird--the viral production studio behind the Diet Coke-Mentos explosion videos. The deal included Coca-Cola's use of an Eepybird clip in a contest calling on consumers to submit their own video.

The move was seen as unusual for a brand with the type of name recognition as Coke; after all, companies as well-known as Coke aren't known for having a sense of humor about their images. Why did Coke take this step? Much of the talk of user-created media has focused on "engagement," or the vague idea that viewers will somehow pay more attention to a marketer's message if they also think about the brand, even if that attention comes in the form of playing a branded game. (And, really, is dropping a Mentos in a Diet Coke to cause an explosion anything but a type of game?)

But John Stichweh, director of global interactive marketing for The Coca-Cola Company, this morning cast doubt on whether the company thinks engagement is a goal worth pursuing. The measurement that really matters, he said, is sales. "How many more cases of Coke am I selling? I don't know," he said at the Ad:Tech conference in New York.

In fact, Stichweh proposed that the concept of "engagement," as well as other metrics like "brand awareness" that serve as proxies for sales, fall far short of what marketers require. "What am I getting for the shareholder?" he asked, rhetorically. "I don't know."

Fellow panelist (and MediaPost "Online Spin" columnist) Cory Treffiletti, vice president of media services at Real Branding, pointed out that when marketers like Coke calculate the cost/benefit of using consumer-generated media, they should consider that outsourcing campaigns to users means that marketers don't have to pay big bucks to professional ad agencies.

But Stichweh again challenged that premise. "This medium overall is actually a lot harder than other media," he said, adding that it was harder to plan and buy interactive media. "Although the execution can be cheaper, there is a cost element in terms of internal labor."

Nonetheless, Stichweh said, Coke intends to continue to experiment online. The alternative, he said, is to fall behind to rivals that are willing to take chances with interactive marketing.

It's that time of year again! You're invited to enter OMMA magazine's Agency of the Year awards for 2006. Click: https://www.mediapost.com/aoysub/ to submit your entry. Thank you.