Red was everywhere with Coke as its sidekick: the omnipresent red vending kiosks wherever fans turned, the 65-foot-tall red Coca-Cola bottle in the middle of Olympic City, the "Red Hot Summer Olympics Promotion" that swept the country. The Coca-Cola Company was aware of the psychological effects of the color red when developing its first creative strategy. Some would argue that this color has been as important to Coca-Cola as its recipes! According to the Pantone Color Institute, the key words associated with red are winner, achiever, intense, impulsive, active, competitive, daring, aggressive and passionate. Desire is the crucial word, a hunger for fullness of experience and living. All that red embodies symbolizes the Olympic Games and the spirit of the Coca-Cola Company. The color red was a significant asset to the partnership of the spirit of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and the creative strategy of Coca-Cola. Coke used four main strategies in advertising as a sponsor of the 1996 Games: a home-based strategy, a fan-based strategy, a global growth strategy, and the Olympic Torch Relay.

One tool Coca-Cola used as a part of its creative advertising strategy was its tie to the city of Atlanta. Because Atlanta is the main headquarters of Coca-Cola, having the 1996 Olympic Games there was an automatic advertising plus for it. The soft-drink company's connection to Atlanta was no secret to the city's residents and visitors, especially because of the Coke Museum, as well as the countless Coca-Cola souvenir shops and paraphernalia already in place there. When developing the creative strategy for Coca-Cola's Olympic advertising campaign, this hometown advantage was incorporated into the integrated marketing communications plan. Some of the Coca-Cola advertisements in Atlanta that were added just for the 1996 Olympics were 70 new billboards, 325 street-pole banners, numerous kiosks selling Coke products throughout the city, and signs in 9 MARTA stations (the city's public transportation system). Another integrated marketing communication technique that was used in connection with Atlanta was the creation of the Coca-Cola Olympic City. The purpose of this theme park was to build on the spirit and excitement of the games while also bringing refreshment and brand placement of Coca-Cola to the fans. The park had activities and games designed to give fans a hands-on experience of what it is to be an athlete in the Olympics. For example, a visitor to the park could walk on a balance beam, shoot a basketball against a virtual Dream Team, or run in a virtual 10-yard dash against Florence Griffith Joyner. Strategically, there were Coca-Cola products for sale throughout the park. There were also countless different Coke advertisements, including a 165 ft. Coke bottle in the center of the park. The company's signature color, red, was the main color seen throughout the Coca-Cola Olympic City. The Coca-Cola Olympic City was described by Steve Murray of The Atlanta Journal Constitution as "A soft drink ad disguised as a theme park." Also, because of Coca-Cola's advertising domination in Atlanta and the Olympics in 1996, many people have nicknamed the Atlanta Olympics as the Coke Olympics.

Coca-Cola used the fan-based strategy in an attempt to differentiate itself from traditional Olympic advertising, which used athletes. The "For the Fans" campaign went into action with a series of ads featuring actual photographs of fans drinking Coke at Olympic Games from 1928 onward. The first two commercials aired during the week of March 6, 1996 and featured black and white photos from previous Olympics showing fans in Switzerland holding Coca-Cola bottles. In the next step, Coke focused on a series of ads highlighting real life stories about how Coke has made a difference to young aspiring athletes. Finally, for the third step, Coke used commercials, print ads, and posters that addressed whether the enthusiasm of the fans makes a real difference to the outcome of the sporting event. The answer was resoundingly yes.

Six commercials followed using this approach. The Coca-Cola creative team believed it was important to highlight fan/athlete interaction. One ad featured the crowd urging a pole-vaulter to clear the bar. The narrator said, "Some athletes are born great...and some athletes are forced into greatness by...50,000 screaming maniacs who aren't going to take no for an answer...For the Fans."

Another commercial had a camera strapped to the athlete's head and back. It showed the female swimmer as she swam laps in front of a screaming crowd. The voiceover said, "What makes a swimmer carry on her lung capacity and yours...for the fans." The main goal of the creative team was to take viewers from merely watching to experiencing. This is evident in its fan-based creative strategy.

Coca-Cola also used the strategy of being a cornerstone of global growth during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The Olympics was certainly a good event through which Coca-Cola could do this. What better to emphasize the company's globalization than an event that encourages worldwide participation?

Coca-Cola tackled this strategy in three main ways. The first of these is what the company refers to as "emotional branding." This provides consumers with an experience instead of just a product. This concept hinges on the brand's key ingredient being connection, and it focuses on the shifting demographics that make marketing to the masses a strategically weak concept. This notion also recognizes diversity and individuality the world over, making it apparent to all consumers that the Coca-Cola Company is especially aware of its global status.

Another way Coca-Cola tackled this strategy was through art. With Coca-Cola bottles as the canvas, artists from 53 different countries created works of art using local materials while capturing the spirit of their native traditions and cultures. Among the works, a six-foot-tall replica of Stonehenge from England and a ten-foot bottle made of rattan, wood and grass from the Philippines. The artwork received amazing reviews as many of the bottles went on world tour. Some of the bottles have even been put on permanent display at the World of Coca-Cola in Las Vegas to demonstrate the global power of the Coca-Cola Company that parallels with the international Olympic Games.

The third way the company embarked upon this global growth strategy was with "Just In Time" advertising. Coke screened 88 separate television commercials, and over the 17 days of the Olympic Games, none of them was repeated. Each spot was also carefully bought to target that particular program's specific audience. The 17 commercials, one for each day of the Games, reflected the theme of the day and the latest Olympic news to the 135 countries the advertisement ran. These three global growth strategies proved very successful for Coca-Cola.

The final creative strategy was the Olympic Torch Relay. The 84-day, 15,000-mile relay through 42 states marked one of the most effective strategies for gaining exposure in advertising history, and Coca-Cola took center stage as the proud sponsor.

At least one-quarter of the torchbearers were selected by Coca-Cola and escorted by a representative wearing a uniform emblazoned with "Coca-Cola" on the left breast. Logos and billboards lined the route, and onlookers were encouraged to buy Coca-Cola products. Coca-Cola sponsored celebrations in the towns along the way, both before and after the torch passed. However, exposure was not limited only to the US. As presenting sponsor of the relay, Coca-Cola chose 2500 torchbearers from 68 countries around the world.

In order to hold the right of the relay's only "presenting sponsor," Coca-Cola paid $12 million. Marketing experts say, "the torch's coast-to-coast route, which began in Los Angeles on April 27, 1996 and ended July 19, 1996 at the Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta, was an advertiser's dream: a continuous 84-day commercial affecting people on an emotional level that Coca-Cola hoped would cement a lifetime bond." Coca-Cola's relationship with the Olympics was solid. The torch path assured exposure of Coca-Cola to millions, coming within 90 percent of the entire US population. An added bonus was the free exposure of Coca-Cola on NBC's nightly torch relay updates. According to the senior vice president, Coca-Cola North America, "the Olympic spirit is unique and unites people from all over the world, and nothing symbolizes that spirit better than the Olympic flame...Coca-Cola is proud to bring people all across America that magical moment when the flame passes through their towns."

We have found that all of these strategies combined to make the Coca-Cola Company's advertising for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in its hometown of Atlanta, Georgia very successful. As the Summer Olympics came to a close, the Coca-Cola Company saw its investment pay off big time. Thanks in part to the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Coke expanded to over 200 countries and increased its market share by 40%.