Coke Orders Up Another Cheerful Ad Campaign, Hold the Hitler

Coca-Cola is doubling down on spreading happiness, this time hopefully with fewer Hitler references.

Following its Super Bowl spot, which focused on how the Internet can be a sad, angry place, Coke encouraged Twitter users to submit negative tweets with the #MakeItHappy hashtag. The idea was for Coke to take these tweets and transform them into happy images (think puppy dogs and balloons constructed from less-than-positive words).

However, Coke fell victim to media and gossip website Gawker, which used the campaign to have Coca-Cola unwittingly tweet out passages from Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” Coke ended the campaign shortly thereafter.

But now the soft drink giant is giving happy another go, this time in Puerto Rico.

As reported by AdWeek, Coca-Cola Puerto Rico has registered URLs for every emoji associated with happiness. Mobile phone users who enter one of these emojis with a .ws suffix into their browsers will immediately be transported to the company’s website.

While industry observers are free to speculate about what kind of impact this will have on Coca-Cola Puerto Rico’s bottom line, there’s no denying the cola king is making big strides in captivating a growing audience.

More consumers using smartphones to browse the Web
A report from the Pew Research Center showed the number of U.S. mobile Web users doubled from 2009 to 2013. Research found that approximately two-thirds of cell phone owners used their devices to go online, with 1 in 5 relying on their phones to do most of their online browsing.

And Americans are not alone. A separate Pew report showcased how ubiquitous cell phone Internet usage has become around the globe.

“In a remarkably short period of time, Internet and mobile technology have become a part of everyday life for some in the emerging and developing world,” the organization stated. “Cell phones, in particular, are almost omnipresent in many nations.”

So while some may see Coca-Cola’s new emoji-based ad campaign as nothing more than a smiley-faced stunt, the truth is the company is going after a large portion of the buying public that is only getting bigger.

Even if you’re a Pepsi-drinking Gawker fan, you have to admit: Coke is innovating in attracting the mobile phone crowd, and the payoff might just give the brand a reason to turn its frown upside down.