At a time when building web-creds is getting more and more important in connecting with their target audience, Coke Zero launches this website that they hope will go viral, and hope bloggers like me write about it and give free exposure and buzz.

The website has videos where they bring in several lawyers and ask for their opinion if Coke can sue Coke Zero for “taste infringement.” Apparently some are real lawyers and others are actors, playing a lawyer. The reaction on some of them are priceless.

And some of them corporate lawers are plain scary, except for the bewildered immigration lawyer who got lost and ended up in a viral…

While many will undoubtedly dismiss this as a lame attempt, Coke Zero will get the coverage, they will get the buzz and they will get a free link here because this is indeed the type of thing that a web-surfing, short attention spanned, instant gratification, cool hunting pro-sumers are looking for. On top of that, they get the message out in a clear and convincing way - that Coke Zero, unlike Diet Coke, doesn’t suck. That is of course, if you are a Coke regular.

While the website has some issues - the color (yeah, I know it is based on the Coke Zero colors) and the flash heavy interface (sigh), it is worth congratulation the team who came up with the idea, and the clients who had the guts to approve such an execution. Tip; get a new web-designer for the next project.

Oh, and the TV ads they have on the site? Not half bad, but the fake calls to the supposedly “real” Coke customer service line are hilarious.

Perhaps a bit of an “over claim,” but is Coke finally back? Is Coke finally connecting with the younger crowd that is has been trying desperately to reach since mid 80s?

Well after “I want to buy the world a coke TVC,” things kinda went downhill as far as it’s brand image goes. Of course being born in the late 60s, I never really appreciated the ad, but in the advertising circles, execs talk about this ad in hushed tones and reverence. Sticking a bunch of people who could be part of the 60s version of the United Colors of Benetton on a hill, while singing a sentimental song was not my idea of a great ad. In comparison, the “Where is the beef?” grandma was great!!

After many years of struggling around with Polar Bears and Max Headroom, Coke seems to have gotten it’s Mojo back.

How?

Three letters : G.T.A.

If you went huh??? then you are not the target audience and shouldn’t bother checking out the commercial here.

But for those you know GTA : Grand Theft Auto and have actually experienced it, you would probably go - cool. Starting off like a typical game of GTA, accompanied by a somewhat corny song and sappy ending with the the most recent tagline of “The Coke Side Of Life,” this ad manages to do what Coke ads haven’t done in a long time. It has managed, once again connect with it’s youth target audience.

Using games as an advertising has been done to death before, but GTA as a game is not only cool, but has a bit of anti-establishment attitude (and content). If it was Zelda, it would have been cool, if it was Lara Croft, it would have been hot - but only GTA can bring an attitude. While I personally never finished the game, I spent long hours exploring the various virtual cities, jacking cars, going on rampages and making insane jumps. I am too old for this, but somehow the ad appealed to me, just because of that.

Whatever insane amount was spent on sponsoring the recent World Cup, this ad is worth many times more in connecting with it’s target audiance. Now, I only hope they have enough budget to support the media side of the campaign. Admittedly I have not had the chance to see all the Coke ads in the last couple of years, but if any ad can re-connect Coke with it’s target audience, then what better ad than this one.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZsssYePi7k]

 I never really watched Miami Vice on TV, heard a lot about it, but was busy watching other shows, so this is where my review is coming from.

Why they wanted to call this movie Miami Vice is beyond me, it could have easily been called Another Kick Ass Movie From Michael Man and I would have been perfectly happy with it. Make no mistake, this is Michael Man through and through, and it is all good.

If Collateral appealed to you in any shape or form, then you will like this. It has shades of Collateral throughout the movie, especially with it’s grainy, monocromatic look and feel. Unfortunately it is missing Collateral’s dramatic tension - where you are really rooting for the Tom Cruise character, but feel that you shouldn’t. That kept that movie going.

Miami Vice on the other hand almost plays out like a TV show where the cop goes undercover, falls for the wrong women and at the end .. I will not spoil it, but if you are familiar with the undercover cop formula, then you can guess how it ended.

But then that is not why we go and see Michael Man’s movies, is it? We go there for the cool action scenes, the shoot-outs look realistically nasty and noisy, we go there for the perfectly framed shots - Sonny in the background, on a speedboat, hair streaming, Rico, in the foreground looking worried, another scene - close up of Jamie Foxx’s face as he is caught in a standoff where his girlfriend is being held, a panoramic shot of the Miami skyline at dusk. Visually it is as distinctive as Collateral was, although the tone and manner is not as consistent.

Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx do their thing and they do it well. They are believable as Crockett and Tubbs, but the only problem I had was how their characters were too similar. Both can be bad asses when they want to be, and be Mr. Sensitive the next, but there was noting that really differentiated the Crokett and Tubbs characters..not in a tangible way that is.

Gong Li, despite her previous work was spectacularly, unspectacular. Perhaps because she was playing against Farrell, or perhaps the way her character was written. She does add some color, so to speak, but that was all she did. And somehow the chemistry was missing between the her character and Crockett despite the screen time.

Another quibble; somehow the bad guys don’t seem that bad, perhaps they were a bit too understated!! SO yes, there are things that bother me, but overall I enjoyed it.

Ultimately is it worth seeing? Fans of Collateral should not miss it, fans of good action movies should not miss it either. Let me put it this way, of all the summer’s movies, this is the one with the attitude, and for that it is worth seeing.