The 2010 Winter Olympics came to a close tonight with giant inflatable beavers and moose, an unexpected selection of Canadian artists, and more stereotypes than you thought we could possibly cram into a three and a half hour program. The past 17 days have been an incredible experience that I really didn’t see coming and I’m very thankful that I was able to take part in the festivities in my home town. Thank you to all the smurfs and smurfettes who’ve worked so hard to make this Olympics a great one in Vancouver!

Ang and me at the Coca Cola Pavilion with our 100% recyclable neon Coca Cola bottles

While the thousands of blue uniform volunteers were working long hours and sometimes ridiculous back-to-back shifts (hearts out to Angie and Bee), SFU and UBC students had a couple weeks off of school to “study” since Transit would be off schedule servicing the games. I hope one of the requirements for all Marketing students was to visit the Coca Cola pavilion!

“Damn” is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Coca Cola. They are MASTERS at Marketing!

Ang and I waited for an hour and a half to get into the Coca Cola Pavilion at LiveCity Yaletown and we weren’t the least bit unhappy about it. The lineup was well maintained by Coca Cola staff, and when we finally got inside they herded us like little happy sheep past the Coca Cola posters, bottles and past Olympic torches. After that, we were all assembled in groups to watch a short film about Coca Cola’s history with the Olympics (brainwashing at it’s finest — I had that Coca Cola ‘Open Happiness’ song on replay in my head for the next three hours), and the screen wall opened to reveal a Coca Cola party room. The first thing they did when we got in? They gave each of us a free chilled bottle of Coke! Smart.

The Coke pavilion really played on their green initiatives from the recycling game (you literally try to catch the virtual recyclables with a recycling box), to the green t-shirts made from recycled Coke bottles, and the final recycling bin where each person received a 100% recyclable neon Coke bottle that lights up for recycling their Coke bottle.

The place was fun, had lots to do and look at (you could get your picture taken with a real Olympic torch), and was incredibly well organized. Of all the Olympic houses and pavilions I visited over the past two weeks, this one was by far the best. Great job Coca Cola! You get an A+.

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The Coca Cola Open Happiness Music Video

Sidenote: Kids, if a guy in a pimpin’ zebra suit motions that you should follow him into an unknown alley, don’t. The real world is no Coca Cola commercial.