News

Coca-Cola Helps Media Outlets Share Something Real - Instant Access To Olympic Photos On the Web

Using Wieck Photo DataBase, Coke Adds Life To Its Press Kit at www.coca-colamediacentre.com

DALLAS (Oct. 3, 2000) - The Olympics may be over but an innovative Internet photo service that gave media outlets around the world immediate access to the Olympic "sport" of pin trading is still up and running.

By logging onto www.coca-colamediacentre.com, media outlets can download high-resolution digital pictures of visitors at Coca-Cola's popular Pin Trading Center.

To add photos to its news kit during the games, Coca-Cola turned to Wieck Photo DataBase, a Dallas-based company that provides photo distribution services to some of the nation's largest companies through its ImageLink system.

"We wanted to make it easy for journalists to quickly obtain high-quality photos of a popular spectator activity during the Games, any time, day or night," said Kari Bjorhus, director of interactive global communications for Coca-Cola.

Since the service began on Sept. 15, Coca-Cola posted 76 images and captions on its media page through the Wieck database. Its site has recorded tens of thousands of hits and hundreds of high-resolution downloads.

Companies using the ImageLink system typically allow only media access through a name/password system to the site but Coca-Cola opened its on-line press kit to the general public.

"Although our primary purpose was to serve the media, we thought visitors to our Web site might enjoy these photos, too," Bjorhus said.

"We are thrilled that Coca-Cola has chosen to display its images via the Wieck Photo DataBase," said Jim Wieck, president of the company. "The combination of one of the world's most popular and best-known brands and the world's most watched sporting event makes a great showcase for the power of on-line photo-sharing technology."

Wieck Media

Wieck Media specializes in Web delivery of multimedia files — text, graphics, photos, audio and video — to media organizations worldwide.

Wieck utilizes Internet and Web technologies to distribute the news reports, columns, photos and graphics for The New York Times News and Syndicate Services, as well as the daily Times Digest and the daily and weekly crossword puzzles. The company also distributes the daily photo reports for Kyodo News Service, LAT Photographic in London and Newhouse News Service.

Wieck’s corporate clients include American Honda Motor Co. Inc., American Suzuki Motor Corp., AT&T, The Coca-Cola Co., DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co., General Motors, HIT Entertainment, Kmart, Pinehurst, Toyota Corporate Services, Verizon and Weber Shandwick.

Information: www.wieck.com

Kris Hoover-Kozamchak
214.536.1098

Contact Wieck for more information.