CLOSE-UP: LIVE ISSUE - Mother's main hurdle is to cut through Coke's UK ads clutter.

Mother's take on the 'Real' campaign must speak for itself, Rachel Gardner says.

When Coca-Cola revealed its new advertising strategy 'think local, act local' the global ad industry knew a shake-up was on its way.

More than three years later, Mother last week was appointed to handle advertising in the UK for the Classic Coke brand.

The creative shop has already injected some British fizz into Lilt, Oasis, Dr Pepper and Schweppes, so it seems logical that the company would want some of that local energy for its flagship brand.

The 'think local, act local' philosophy, thought-up by the chairman and chief executive, Douglas Daft, was inspired by the realisation that what seemed like a good idea at its Atlanta headquarters might not translate across Europe, South America or Africa. Coca-Cola had come to accept that one size does not necessarily fit all.

However, the company's way of acting local is limited, for not only does it use a multitude of international ads at the same time as its local executions, it also uses a global strapline. Mother's brief is to develop a UK version of the global 'Real' campaign that launched in the US earlier this year using celebrities including the actress Courtney Cox-Arquette. It has been running in the UK since the start of summer.

Coca-Cola is circumspect with the press, so comment was restricted to: 'All we can say at this stage is that we're bringing to life the Coca-Cola 'Real' strategy here in Great Britain.