<p>The Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest beverage maker, is trying to make its products more important to people and relevant in their lives in its latest advertising campaign.</p><p>The campaign, dubbed "The Coke Side of Life," will include television ads that begin airing in the United States this weekend during broadcasts of the NCAA Final Four on CBS and American Idol on Fox. There also will be billboards, newspaper ads and online videos.</p><p>The company gave a sneak peak at the campaign Thursday.</p><p>"It's about rekindling why people love the product and why people love the brand at the same time," Marc Mathieu, a Coca-Cola marketing executive, told reporters.</p><p>The campaign is one part of the Atlanta-based company's efforts to increase sales of its core carbonated soft drink brands in key markets.</p><p>"It's only one piece of the overall growth effort," Mathieu said.</p><p>The marketing campaign, which will launch in other markets over the next several months, comes as sales volume of carbonated soft drinks industrywide across retail, vending and fountain channels in the United States fell last year for the first time since 1985. According to Beverage Digest, volume slid 0.2 percent. Excluding energy drinks, it fell 0.7 percent.</p><p>On an individual basis, Beverage Digest said Cadbury Schweppes increased its sales volume of carbonated soft drinks by 0.6 percent in 2005, compared to Coca-Cola, which was down by 0.1 percent for the year and Pepsi, which was down 1.2 percent.</p><p>When the new campaign was announced in December, marketing chief Mary Minnick said the company's advertising goal in 2006 is to make the company's beverages more relevant to consumers.</p><p>She said the company has been studying "the underlying psychology of beverages" to understand "why consumers are drinking what, when and where."</p><p>The goal is to sell the brand, not just the beverage, Minnick said at the time.</p><p>The company's previous slogan was "Coca-Cola: Make It Real," spokeswoman Susan McDermott said. Before that, the slogan was just "Real," McDermott said. Other past slogans have included "Life Tastes Good," "Coca-Cola: Enjoy" and "Always Coca-Cola."</p><p>The company's long-term goal is to increase operating income 6 percent to 8 percent annually.</p><p>The new ad campaign was developed by Wieden+Kennedy, a Portland, Ore., marketing firm that has worked with Nike Inc. and Starbucks Corp.</p><p>In October, Coca-Cola said Berlin Cameron & Partners of New York, which was acquired by WPP Group PLC in 2001, was creating several new television and radio ads for Coke and produced Coke's 2005 holiday ad. McDermott wouldn't say at the time if that firm would be doing advertising for Coca-Cola in North America in the future.</p><p>Coca-Cola spends roughly $2 billion a year worldwide on marketing. Its North America unit is a key portion of that figure.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc350)</p>
