PORTLAND, OR--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 26, 2006 -- As the 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM) tournament heats up, so too has the world popularity of Coca-Cola's "Rivalries" commercial featuring animated characters created by LAIKA/house (http://www.laika.com/house/), a leading commercial animation studio in the United States. Currently being seen by fans at the start of each World Cup game in Germany, the commercial is also being broadcast, in various incarnations, to TV audiences worldwide, and has spawned a growing online following of its own. Download the Spots, Images and Credit List at http://www.laika.com/pr/coke_futbol

The commercial's enormous popularity began in South America, and has since been duplicated around the world. Devised by the Argentine agency SANTO in 2005, "Rivalries" features natural adversaries (a timber-logger and a tree, a balloon and a cactus, a chicken and a knife-wielding chef, an unfaithful wife, her lover and her husband) who forget their differences and joyously celebrate after their team wins a World Cup game.

"Rivalries" has now been reproduced by Coca-Cola regional divisions around the world (including China, Korea, Trinidad, France, Great Britain, Dubai, Poland, Egypt, China and Hungary, amongst others). Slight adaptations have been made to the spot to better reflect the respective cultures of different countries.

In the British version, titled "Postie," Coca-Cola's UK advertising agency Mother replaced an original scene with a new vignette of a postman celebrating with an angry-looking Rottweiler. These two characters have transcended the screen and made the leap into tangible life-size mascots -- Postie and Titch -- a visible presence among the crowds during England's matches. Their adventures are recorded on video and appear online daily at their own blog, http://themascots.typepad.com created by Coke interactive agency AKQA. "We are currently getting 5,000 visitors a day to the Postie and Titch site. We hope this will improve as it becomes more viral. It is only two weeks old," said Sophie Dobson from AKQA.

According to LAIKA/house President Lourri Hammack, "Fans are smitten with 'Rivalries.' You can't see a match or walk around Germany without seeing the smiling face of one of the characters."

In the cyber world, fans of the commercial are sounding off on high-traffic sites like adcritic.com, blogcritics.org, Dailymotion.com, and boardsmag.com. On the popular vlogging (user-generated video content) site YouTube.com, World Cup fans have uploaded more than 50 versions of the Coca-Cola ads in multiple languages. Animated stop-motion characters designed by LAIKA/house are appearing on computers and television screen around the world.

The "Rivalries" characters now extend to online games played at Coca-Cola's World Cup website (http://www.football.icoke.com/).

The spot won a Bronze Lion at the 2005 Cannes International Advertising Festival and "Special Distinction for the Best Commissioned Film" at the 2006 Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival.

According to SANTO's Creative Director Sebastian Wilhelm, "The charm of stop motion animation combined with a simple, funny idea made the 'Rivalries' campaign very successful. The concept was spot-on and a fresh departure from the rest of futbol-related spots, and really stood out during ad breaks."

Following the success of "Rivalries" in Latin America, SANTO commissioned LAIKA/house to create a six spot package exclusively for the 2006 World Cup. This additional campaign focuses on a bacteria, "Microfans," which makes people, animals and inanimate objects sick with a raging case of national team fever.

The campaign recently won a silver award in the category "Television" at the Iberoamerican Advertising Festival (FIAP) in late April.

About LAIKA - http://www.laika.com.

LAIKA is owned by Phil Knight, co-founder and Chairman of Nike. The company was rebranded as LAIKA in 2005, when it absorbed Vinton Studios, an animation leader and innovator for more than 30 years. LAIKA/house produces animated commercials and shorts for global clients including Coca-Cola, Wrigley's, ESPN and Esure UK.

LAIKA Entertainment has two greenlit animated feature films in various stages of production and was a production entity on "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride." "Coraline," based on the international bestselling children's novel by Neil Gaiman, is being adapted for the screen and directed by Henry Selick and will star Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher. "Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure" is being directed by Jorgen Klubien.

Throughout its history, the company has won 11 Clio Awards, three London International Advertising & Design Awards, five Mobius Advertising Awards, two Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival awards, two Academy Awards®, five Academy Awards® nominations, 11 Prime time Emmy Awards, and honors from the New York International Film & TV Festival, Annecy Awards, Annie Awards, and the World Animation Celebration Festival.

Adding to this prestigious list of awards, LAIKA/house was recently honored with an Annecy nomination, two Annie nominations, two Telly awards, Animation Magazine's No. 1 AniCom Pick and AdWeek's Best Spots for 2005.

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