Dr. Pepper and Yahoo Do Valentine's Day in Vegas

Cadbury Schweppes has created a Sin City marriage-themed campaign with Yahoo to promote its Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper drink. The effort includes Web-streamed weddings from Hard Rock Hotel’s three chapels and a 24 hour long reception for the newlyweds.

The online component is anchored to a microsite hosted by Yahoo. Visitors can propose to someone, book their wedding and send e-card invitations, crash another’s wedding, or watch live weddings streamed to the site on February 14.

Cadbury has links to the event page from the Dr. Pepper Web site, and will support it before and after Valentine’s Day with keyword, banner, and rich media buys. The soda bottler bought Yahoo’s front page for February 15, the day after Valentine’s Day, to keep the momentum going. “It’s about reminding people what happened, engaging, building awareness,” said Brian Zeug, category development officer for CPG at Yahoo.

As the events unfold, Yahoo will package highlights from select weddings and the continuous reception for viewers to watch on the site. “It allows them to connect with the right consumers at a scalable level, and allows us to bring engagement and connections along the way,” said Zeug.

Highlights from the festivities include comedy from comedian and actor Pauly Shore, who will host. Tay Zonday, who became YouTube famous for his original song “Chocolate Rain” and who later recorded a “Cherry Chocolate Rain commercial follow-up for Dr. Pepper, may also make an appearance.

During the holiday season in December, Yahoo worked with the Gap on a campaign and microsite that similarly included live streaming.

Search and display ads are key pieces of the Dr. Pepper promotion, Zeug said. “It’s playing off that starting point of search, creating media buzz around it, behavioral responses, and building off it the next day,” he said.