The Coca-Cola polar bears that pop up on everything from soda cans to television ads each holiday season will be getting a new platform. This year the company is trying to bring them to life through augmented reality.
"We know that the landscape around us is changing, our consumers are evolving," explained Oana Vlad, brand director at Coca-Cola. "This year we really wanted to take holiday magic to the next level."
This is Coca-Cola's first large-scale augmented reality activation, but that doesn't mean it hasn't done its homework on the tech.
"A.R. is something that we've played with through different pilots and different tests, and it has really helped consumers connect to the brand in a really meaningful way," said Vlad.
"We felt like we're now ready to test out this technology on a national level, and bring it to life in a really big way," she added.
With the Coca-Cola app, fans can scan the icon on new holiday Coke cans and bottles to activate the animations. The can or bottle will become the polar bear’s arctic home and each design will unlock a different experience from the bears — from making music to snowball fights.
"It's not just about aesthetic or a visual representation of the bears, it's truly about being able to bring them to life," explained Vlad.
Grace Harry, a former entertainment executive and author of "The Joy Strategist," joined Cheddar News to discuss her goal of helping people redefine the meaning of joy and happiness.
The chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has admitted he beat the young Alabama woman to death on a beach in Aruba after she refused his advances. New details in the killing emerged Wednesday as Joran Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to extorting Holloway's mother, resolving a case that has captivated the public’s attention for nearly 20 years.
The trial of a Fugees rapper, who was convicted this year in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies, stretched across the worlds of politics and entertainment — and now the case is touching on the tech world with arguments that his defense attorney bungled the case, in part, by using an artificial intelligence program to write his closing arguments.
Israel said Wednesday that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the first crack in a 10-day siege on the territory. Palestinians reeled from a massive blast at a Gaza City hospital that killed hundreds the day before and grew increasingly desperate as food and water supplies ran out.
