Digital happenings this week from Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, and more

Coca-Cola leads the social media popularity rankings in comparison to official Olympic sponsor McDonalds, which is currently at the bottom of the charts, according to The Mediacom Sport Olympics tracker via Twitter within the UK.

After speaking with 1,709 CEOs and senior public-sector leaders worldwide for its fifth biennial Global CEO Study, IBM has projected that within the next five years, social media will be the most effective form of communication between businesses and customers, after face-to-face communication. 

Microsoft's partner engagement lead, Kevin Jennings, was let go in part of an effort by Microsoft to eliminate "several hundred jobs, mostly in advertising sales and marketing, as part of a review of staff tied to the start of a new fiscal year".

Social media marketing agency Vocanic has launched a new shop in Bangkok, in response to a significant interest in social media along with social media marketing among brands in the Thai market. Liam McCance will be named as country manager of Thailand for Vocanic.

ZenithOptimedia Philippines and Dual Action Blender have collaborated to integrate digital and non-digital expertise into their global initiatives. With this collaboration comes Google certification along with extensive digital training in social media, mobile, interactive experience and content creation for all staff members.

Demand for smartphones has risen by 408 per cent in the Philippines due to a sharp 23 per cent drop in price, as reported by market research company The GFK Group. However, in comparison to Singapore and Malaysia, the total smart phone penetration is low, having reached 90 per cent in those countries but only 29 per cent in the Philippines.  

Aegis Media, following its announcement of a joint venture with Adsit and an acquisition of Catch Stone, has collaborated with local Chinese marketing firm PinZhong (PZoom) to expand their overall digital scale. PZoom and Aegis Group have an understanding in which both hold the goal of "acquiring businesses with digital capability and reach in China's second tier cities."

Mediacom's China Apps Study showed that "nearly 80 per cent of youths download apps and 45 per cent spend more than an hour on them each day," concluding that apps are slowly "becoming a key battleground for brands" all around.