Growing up, I always knew I wanted to work in advertising. There was something so exciting and alluring about creating an ad that made people actually feel something. I had to be a part of that. I imagined myself creating one of those brilliant spots running during the Superbowl or being part of the team that made it happen. I wanted to bring the world the next “Herding Cats” or create thirty seconds of something so memorable, it would become part of our regular conversation like McDonald’s “The Shootout.” (“Over the second rafter, off the floor, nothing but net.” If you ever played basketball, you know you said this at least once). Coca-Cola knows exactly how it feels to be the advertising great I had dreamed of. In 1979, it aired “Mean Joe Green” that to this day remains in the top Superbowl ads of all time.

When we had a chance to interview Johnathan Mildenhall, VP, Global Advertising Strategy & Content Excellence for The Coca-Cola Co. at Advertising Week, I couldn’t wait take a peek into how such a huge global brand develops these campaigns and how they plan on transforming the user experience in the future. Take a look at what Jonathan Mildenhall had to say on innovation, creativity and so much more just after he took the stage at IAB MIXX:

There are many useful marketing tidbits in the interview, but my favorite part? “I think it’s really, really important that everybody feels very, very comfortable with change and very comfortable with innovation.”

I don’t know about you, but that statement alone gets me excited to see how Coca-Cola will be integrating new technology with advertising to bring us creative, all-new experiences in the future. More interactive ads on Xbox? Connected experiences with our TVs and PCs? We’ll have to wait and see, but you can believe I’ll be glued to the TV and sharing the videos online come February 5. How about you?

Stay Curious!

Shelby Healy – Microsoft Advertising