Coca Cola's Vending Machine of Friendship

This large Size Coca Cola vending machine is an advertisement created by Ogilvy Argentina Agency to celebrate Argentinian friendship day. I translated the text from the ad using the Google translator and this is what it said: The Machine of Friendship. On the day of the friend we invite friends to celebrate with a 2x1 Coca Cola. To do this we placed a Coca Cola vending machine with a higher than common coin slot, so that the only way to reach the button is with the help of a friend.
Turns out, that if you and your friend(s) can figure out how to get up high enough to place your coins into the machine, you will be rewarded with an extra bottle for free... for your friend of course!

2010 Olympic Coke Bottles

I went to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and all I got were these Coke bottles. That's OK though, as that was pretty much the reason we went in the first place.
The 2010 Winter Olympics are happening here in Vancouver, BC, CANADA and one of the big sponsors is Coke. LiveCity is an area they have set up with sponsor pavilions, live music etc. Coca Cola has a pavilion there titled "Open Happiness". My wife had seen that they were giving out free light up, color changing Coke bottles so we decided to make the trip downtown and battle the crowds to visit the Coke Pavilion and get our own light up, color changing Coke bottles. After about a 1 1/2 hour wait to get into LiveCity and another 45 minutes in line for the Coke Pavilion, we finally got inside and got to see the exhibit that they had put on - full of vintage Coke bottles and cans, lots of advertising, a short movie and some interactive games etc. After the short movie, they handed everyone an ice cold Coke, and then, if you did any of the interactive events, you got a sticker on the bottom of your Coke bottle which could then be traded in for one of the light up, color changing Coke bottles. You were supposed to trade in your empty bottle for the light up one, but we asked if we could keep the empties and they let us keep them.
We didn't get a chance to do any of the other stuff in LiveCity as we didn't get in until around 10 pm and things closed around 11 pm. We did get to watch the Sam Roberts concert while we waited in line - too bad it wasn't actually somebody I actually knew or liked.
Pictured here are 3 different Olympic Coke Bottles. The first one (far left) was purchased at my local SafeWay grocery store. The Second (middle) was given out in the Coke Pavilion, filled with ice cold Coke. The third bottle (right) is the light up, color changing bottle. It has a button the the bottom to turn it on and off. Pictured at the far right is the back of the light up bottle. It is a limited edition. This one is 28,714 of 50,000.

Coca Cola 2009 Christmas Bottles

I found these cool Coca Cola Christmas bottles at my local Walmart recently. There are two different (plastic) bottles which both look like round Christmas tree ornaments. One has Santa drinking a Coke and the other has a mother and baby polar bear also drinking a Coke. They look pretty small, but are actually 400 ml, making them slightly bigger than a traditional Coca Cola can. People were snapping these up like crazy, and I heard a few of them talking about giving them to family members etc as stocking stuffers. They have certainly made a great addition to my Coke collection.

Coca Cola: Original Great Taste, Since 1886

I have been collecting Coca Cola ads from magazine for years. Thankfully my mother knows this, as she is always finding Coke ads in her magazine like this one she found in the October 2008 issue of Canadian Living magazine. It's a great two page ad with the tag line "The Bottle Has Changed, The Original Great Taste Hasn't." With no added preservatives or artificial flavors, since 1886. Look for them in the "100 calories of refreshment" aisle. Original great taste, since 1886, and only 100 calories.
Seeing all those bottles in the ad got me thinking... I don't know about you, but for me, a Coke tastes so much better from a glass bottle than it does from a can. Some time a few months ago, I had purchased a few bottles of Coke while in Washington State. They were the tall 335 ml bottles that had been imported from Mexico. I drank one and have been using the bottle ever since. I put it in the dish washer after each use. Then, about 20 minutes before I want an icy Coke, I will put the bottle in the freezer, and and then use a funnel to pour a can of coke into the bottle, and voila, an incredibly refreshing retro Coca Cola!

Coca Cola King Size bottles

I went down to Seattle, WA on Saturday for the Seattle Comic Convention and had a great time (More about that in a day or two). On the way home we stopped at a 7-11 for some snacks and I found these great Coca Cola King Size bottles in the cooler alongside all the other Coke products. They have a sticker stuck to them which says that they are a product of Mexico. Here in Canad we have had the Coca Cola stuby bottles available on and off for many years, but I have have always wished they would bring back the old 355 mil King Size bottles that I remember from the 70's, so seeing these for sale at a 7-11 made my day. I bought a bunch and put them in the fridge when we got home. Today I popped one open and had it with my hot dogs and chips for lunch. And its true... things go better with Coke!

New Aluminium Coca-Cola Bottles

Here are a couple of great new Coca-Cola bottles my wife picked up for me at the T & T Asian Market. They are silver aluminium cans with a shiny red outside coating and white Coca-Cola logo. These are 250 ml bottles. As usual, the cost is about double that of a regular bottle or can of Coke, but somehow they always seem to taste better when not from a plastic bottle or regular can. I have not seen these for sale anywhere else so far, but if I do, I will be sure to buy enough to fill the fridge!

It looks like we've got another mystery on our hands

I blogged previously about the fact that Coca Cola BlaK had finally arrived on store shelves in my area. And then yesterday I mentioned that I got a bunch of free samples of Coca Cola BlaK at the cranberry festival in Ft. Langley. Well, tonight I noticed something curious. The original bottles that I purchased say "Cola Coffee Fusion Beverage" on them, and the bottles I got yesterday say "Carbonated Fusion Beverage". Everything else about the bottles is exactly the same.
I used to love playing the game "Clue" where you had to solve the mystery of who done it, in what room, with what object. I also used to love watching Scooby Doo (actually I still do) as they solved all those great mysteries. Well gang, it looks like we have another mystery on our hands.
Let's pretend this is the end of the game and/or the end of the Scooby episode. Here is my explanation of what happened:
First, Coke came up with the brilliant idea of fusing Coca Cola with coffee, two of the most widely consumed beverages. What could be better than mixing them together to make one super money making drink. Next they came up with the packaging, a nice Coke shaped bottle with the name Coca Cola BlaK, and the slogan "Carbonated Fusion Beverage". They then started shipping them to store shelves. As consumers began to find these bottles in their local shops, they began to wonder just what fusion had been added to their beloved Coca Cola? After some initial confusion as to just what this new Coca Cola BlaK was, Coke does a quick tweak to the packaging, and "Cola Coffee Fusion Beverage" bottles begin showing up on store shelves, to which consumers happily buy up all the bottles of this new coffee cola concoction. That explains why Coke was giving away the original bottles of "Carbonated Fusion beverage", to get rid of the remaining stock of non "Cola Coffee Fusion Beverage" bottles, and also why they had the 'Coke Team' there to hand them out, and answer everyone's questions of "What is this stuff?".
And there you have my friends, mystery solved... or is it?

Coca Cola BlaK

Tonight at my local 7-11 I picked up a new addition for my Coca Cola collection called Coca Cola BlaK. It says its a 'cola coffee fusion beverage'. I don't know what that is, but since I don't drink coffee, I don't think I will enjoy this drink. I do plan on trying it just so I know what it tastes like, but not tonight, as its too late at night to be trying some cola coffee fusion beverage.
It comes in a cool classic shaped glass coke bottle, which has a plastic covering over the entire bottle. The only place you can actually see the glass bottle, is at the very bottom where there is no plastic covering the bottle. It has the traditional Coca Cola logo with the name BlaK, and a brand new logo which looks like a leaning zero with a small swoosh / slash through it.
If this is like most other odd ball flavours Coke has come out with, this will become a great collectible in a year or so, as it becomes yet another soon to be forgotten flavoured Coke product.

Coke Side of Life

I found this posted on the Cartoon Brew web site.
"A couple weeks ago Coke unveiled the second CG ad in their new "Coke Side of Life" campaign, which is essentially a parody of the videogame GRAND THEFT AUTO. It's directed by British duo Smith & Foulkes of Nexus Productions. These guys have one of the best track records in recent years and possess an uncanny ability to take simple, even mundane, agency concepts and execute them to perfection. Take for example their Abba to Zappa spot for the Observer Music Monthly, the 'black ink' obstacle course for the VW Touareg, or Motorola's "Grand Classics" spot—conceptually, none of these ideas is particularly special yet Smith & Foulkes somehow make each one work. The same can be said of their current Coke spot which manages to turn video game parody into great art."
It's a very clever ad. Check it out here