May 13, 2008 6:04 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Brian Quinton

Next Monday Coca-Cola will kick off an integrated promotional campaign around the 2008 Olympics, using new packaging, spokesperson athletes and shareable online games to persuade customers to get their heads in the games.

The campaign will represent Coke’s 20th outing marketing against the Olympic Games—an 80-year relationship.

On the retail side, the beverage giant will start releasing limited-edition Olympic-themed collectible cans and refrigerator packs with the well-known Coke logo in different languages, including Ethiopian, Russian, Thai and Mandarin. At the same time, new packaging for 20-ounce Coke will display the logo in the native tongues of Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, South Korea, Nepal and Sri Lanka, among others. (English will be part of the new design for all product sets.)

The new packaging marks the first time international Coke logos have been used in the U.S. A different set of designs will appear in stores every two to three weeks until the start of the games on Aug. 8.

Coke will also feature a six-pack of past and current U.S. Olympic competitors on collectible packaging and in-store materials. These include gold medalists Natalie Coughlin (swimming), Steven Lopez (taekwondo), and Sanya Richards (track and field), as well as Olympic alums LeBron James (basketball) and Andy Potts (triathlon) and games newbie Shawn Johnson (gymnastics).

The athletes will also be featured in special NBC vignettes that will air over the summer to promote the new packaging. They will also serve as “Ambassadors of Active Living” in programs that help promote active, healthy life habits.

“By combining Coca-Cola cans in different languages with six amazing athletes, we’ve created a program that celebrates global communities coming together,” Hendrik Steckhan, president and general manner of sparking beverages for Coca-Cola North America, said in a statement.

Online, visitors to the main www.MyCoke.com Web site will get to design their own version of the iconic Coke bottle and share their creations with friends. They can also see video profiles of the six Coke athletes; download Olympic-themed wallpapers, screen savers and countdown clocks and enter a sweepstakes to win a snowboarding excursion with Olympic medalist Gretchen Bleiler.

The site will also be the home of “we8”, a collaborative project that will pair up eight visual artists and eight musicians to create limited-edition designs for the aluminum version of Coke’s bottle packaging, and downloadable songs to go with them. The bottles produced will be distributed at participating Simons Malls across the U.S.

Finally, MyCokeRewards members will be able to go to www.MyCokeRewards.com to redeem their product points for Olympic gear, see the video interviews with the Coke athletes and enter for a chance to win a tour of a U.S. Olympic Training Center with an Olympic athlete.

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