Coca-Cola Launches New Virtual Island

Coca-Cola (KO) is going virtual with an Internet island shaped like a Coke bottle were I presume Coke fans from the analog world can express their passion for the brand.

In a New York Times story on the virtual island, called CC Metro, Carol Kruse, vice president for global interactive marketing for Coca-Cola, said, “It’s really bringing the offline world, where you’re drinking our products, and the online worlds together.”

If you love drinking our sugar water, you’ll love to dress up your avatar, furnish your space and mix music with your online CC Metro friends. I don’t get the attraction, but it’s certainly healthier to have virtual Coke than the real thing.

The new CC Metro environment is a more robust follow on to the company’s Coke Studio, which had 112,000 visitors per month each month averaging three visits a week. Worlds in Motion describes the CC Metro universe, which was developed with Makena’s There.com virtual world technology, as follows:

The CC Metro environment will offer activities focused on music, gaming, sports and entertainment, including a hoverboard skate park and a theater presenting Coca-Cola videos. There’s also a “music mixer” tool that will let users develop their own music, and users can chat via text or voiceover IP. The avatar characters are called v-egos and are presented in a cute style (as opposed to high realism); add in the isometric 3D look and the package calls Habbo to mind.

Other brands associated with Coca-Cola, like American Idol, NASCAR and the Olympic Games, will also be part of CC Metro. The virtual world will also integrate Coca-Cola’s My Coke Rewards online rewards program, allowing users to trade reward points for virtual items at a designated online store in CC Metro. Members can also customize their avatar and obtain property, pets and vehicles using Therebucks, the There.com in-world currency.

Coca-Cola’s effort is not much different than other major corporations, such as IBM (IBM), AMD (AMD), General Motors (GM), Starwood Hotels (HOT) and Dell (DELL), experimenting with Second Life. CC Metro has a connection to the drink–you can use reward points found on Coke bottle caps (you have to open the bottle to get the code).