Coca-Cola polar bears to watch, react to Super Bowl live on Facebook

Bears are cute, as we know from this friendly bear that waves back to people and these fun-loving polar bears that mugged for the “Spy on Ice” Polar Bear Cam.

We also know that Super Bowl commercials are clever.

What does one have to do with the other?

For Super Bowl XLVI, Coca-Cola is combining cute with clever by having its popular polar bears watching the game live, and allowing human fans to watch their reactions on Facebook.

Essentially, it’s a continuous, game-long Super Bowl commercial, and it benefits the World Wildlife Fund. Sounds like it’ll also entertain those tuning in on iPads, iPhones, laptops and other devices. Oh, and the polar bears will also be tweeting during the game.

Ah, the beauty of social media. Here’s a preview:





This is how the Coke Polar Bowl is explained on Facebook, where you can also RSVP for the special Polar Bear Super Bowl Party:

On Feb. 5, the Polar Bears are throwing their first-ever Coca-Cola® Polar Bowl Party. They’ll be watching the game and chatting with friends from kick off until the clock runs out. RSVP now to hang out and chat with the Polar Bears during the game. Plus, with each RSVP Coca-Cola will donate $1 to World Wildlife Fund to help polar bears and their Arctic home.

USA Today wrote about the new concept of mixing Coca-Cola’s polar bears, the Super Bowl, Super Bowl commercials and social media to take advantage of today’s Internet and (Name the Device) Age.

From USA Today:

The computer-animated bears will appear in a video stream running throughout the game at CokePolarBowl.com, a site hosted within Facebook. The bears, appearing to watch the game, will respond in real time to the real game’s action, such as touchdowns, turnovers, bad calls and even commercials for other brands. For instance, if a sexy ad airs, an adult bear would cover the eyes of a baby bear.

The bears — programmed with hundreds of reactions — will be “puppeted” by Coke controllers. Coke will also post witty Twitter updates from the bears and encourage viewers to upload photos to be incorporated into the live stream.

“The trick is to be everywhere consumers are,” and that means having a presence on the TV broadcast, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other popular sites, says Pio Schunker, Coke North America head of integrated marketing platforms and content.

What’s next? A phone app to track great white sharks that are tagged? Oh wait, they already have that.

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