BEHIND THE IDEA: HAPPINESS MACHINE

from: http://dandad.typepad.com/dandad/2010/02/happiness-machine.html

Ben Mooge is Creative Partner at Work Club – a creative agency with a ‘digital spine’.  He recently spotted something on YouTube that he thinks well deserves its 5-star rating.

‘Happiness Machine’ involves hidden cameras, unwitting college students, and a whole lot of Coca-Cola. Interactive marketing agency Definition 6 developed the concept – they secretly installed the machine the night before along with 5 hidden cameras.  It dispenses bottle after bottle of Coke, but that’s not all.  The perplexed, and soon delighted students are handed pizzas, flowers, balloon animals and even a 12-foot sub sandwich.  The film documents the myriad reactions as they share out the booty – two students are so happy they give the machine a hug and say, ‘Thank you, Coke!’ – a spontaneous reaction that will make marketing bosses even happier.

Mooge points out that Coke has been the brand behind famous advertising as far back as the 1970s, when ‘I’d Like To Teach the World To Sing’ hit TV screens but despite, or because of, being one of the biggest brands in the world, Coke can often bear the brunt of everything there is to dislike about advertising. “But when they get it right, they get it right,’ he adds. ‘When they nail the truth of Coca Cola, their particular brand of optimism suddenly feels wholly appropriate.’

The film also shows that good ideas don’t have to cost millions.  ‘It probably cost about the price of a vending machine to make rather than the big bucks of a regular campaign but it’s an instant disposable piece of happiness that’s perfect for the audience,’ says Mooge.  The campaign launched via Twitter andFacebook, and with almost 1.5 million views the since its release in mid-January, it’s clearly spreading happiness further than this college campus.

Aside from the pure entertainment value of the film, Mooge is impressed by the up front approach the brand took.  It’s very clear that this is a film to promote Coca Cola, ‘They don’t try and smuggle the brand into a ‘viral’,’ he says.  ‘This is an unadulterated piece of Coke marketing. The smiles are real, the surprise genuine and it’s one of the times that Coke have managed to make the global strap line ‘Open Happiness’ actually mean something.’