The Coke Zero regional project follows the launch of the brand in Hong Kong and Taiwan last month, and will support earlier launches in Korea and Australia. Key roster agencies for Coca-Cola's carbonated drinks business are believed to be involved, which include McCann Erickson and Ogilvy & Mather. However, other Coke roster shops - M&C Saatchi, Euro RSCG, Lowe, Publicis and Leo Burnett - have not been invited to pitch.
Agencies have until to the second week of April to prepare presentations, to be made at Coca-Cola's regional headquarters in Hong Kong.
To date, launch campaigns for Coke Zero have varied considerably by market. The brand courted controversy in Australia last year when it used an unbranded blog named 'The zero movement', while in the UK Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy fronted the launch TV campaign.
Coke Zero is Coca-Cola's sugar-free brand targeted at men who avoid Coke Light because of its association with dieting women.
The development comes as brand Coke pitches a China activation project around its sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Olympics torch relay.
The Coke China activation pitch is believed to involve several mainland activation agencies, including an unlikely partnership between JWT partner Always, and Ogilvy Action. Coke's current activation partners include Momentum, which sits inside its dedicated Red Lounge unit in China, and US agency Ignition. It is further believed that Ignition played an integral role in the R3-managed pitch selection process, which reportedly concluded as Media went to press.
Additional reporting by Arun Sudhaman
