Expedition 206 is a massive global program from The Coca-Cola Company that will see three Happiness Ambassadors travel a total 206 countries, where Coca-Cola is sold, and 150,000 miles over the course of one year. Their mission will be to find out what makes people happy.

Coca-Cola launched the search for three Happiness Ambassadors in late October 2009 and announced Antonio Santiago, Kelly Ferris and Tony Martin of team The Mix as the winners in mid-November. Coke fans were offered the opportunity to select and vote for their favourite three ambassadors via the digital campaign.

“Expedition 206 gives us an opportunity to celebrate that optimism and happiness on a global scale in a very personal way. Sharing stories about what makes people happy is a unique way we are bringing our “Open Happiness” campaign to life,” said Shay Drohan, senior vice president of sparkling beverages, The Coca-Cola Company.

The Expedition 206 journey is set to begin on January 1, 2010 in Madrid. Every adventure and story will play out online with content for fans to follow via the campaigns main website as well as social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Flickr.

Fans will be able to take part in this interactive trip through a crowdsourcing approach. Participants in different markets will literally help the Happiness Ambassadors decide where to go and what they will be doing.

“We are looking to create compelling content and associate our brands with it,” explained Michael Donnelly, Group Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company. “Our strategy is to be everywhere our consumers are, but as a member of the community.”

The expedition will make stops in cities big and small and will take part in such global events as the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. Expedition 206 will end on December 31, 2010 with a celebration at the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia.