From Businessweek:
Music industry executives have been making an unusual pilgrimage to Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters, a telling measure of the company's successful World Cup soccer marketing blitz. They want to learn how Coke turned a song called Wavin' Flag by a little-known Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist into a World Cup anthem and No. 1 iTunes hit in 17 countries in less than a year. "They are getting on planes from New York, from U.K., from Los Angeles," says Joe Belliotti, Coke's director of global entertainment. "Word of mouth is a great thing in the music industry."
Initially, Coke had hoped only to create a World Cup song good enough to entice stadiums full of soccer fans to sing along. To get there, it forged an unusual partnership with singer-songwriter K'naan and his label, A&M/Octone Records, that has ended up changing the way Coke works with entertainment companies.
The song was the musical centerpiece of Coca-Cola's largest marketing campaign ever, reaching 160 countries. A smaller effort four years ago at the World Cup in Germany helped boost volume sales of drinks in Coke's largest markets an average of 6 percent, says Emmanuel Seuge, who runs worldwide sports and entertainment marketing. Coke's goal was even higher-volume sales gains during the 2010 World Cup campaign, he says. Coke also expects gains in consumer perception scores.
Being able to tie the campaign to a song that easily crossed borders was critical. Coke had hoped the use of a single global marketing theme (it used 13 different ad campaigns in 2006) would save $45 million in costs. Seuge said Coca-Cola may have nearly doubled those savings, in large part because of the effectiveness of Wavin' Flag across cultures.
...The real coup for Coke, says Seuge, is discovering a new way to tie its brand to things young consumers care about
