ATLANTA: Coca-Cola, the soft drinks giant, plans to increase its use of social media around the world, as it seeks to put consumers "at the heart" of its business, according to Jonathan Mildenhall, the company's vp of global advertising strategy and creative excellence.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Mildenhall said the chance "to have consumers genuinely at the heart of our business is something that truly excites me."

However, he added that like many other major advertisers, Coca-Cola was initially reticent about using the rapidly-expanding range of social media tools available to advertisers, meaning it has fallen behind some of its rivals.

"We've been really nervous about user-generated content and, in terms of other brands in the space, we're playing catch-up," he argued.

Despite this, the company has enjoyed considerable success on Facebook, the social networking website, via a "fan page" that was set up by two brand advocates, and now has over 4 million "friends".

While the rules of the portal demanded some official involvement from the company in the administration of the page, Coca-Cola decided to "partner" with its creators, and then take a hands-off approach.

Speaking about this development, Mildenhall argued that "at first we were unsure, but we've seen another world in the sense of the creative community love for the brand."

Indeed, Coke's popularity on Facebook has "helped build confidence in handing over brands to user-generated content and we're putting that into a lot of our plans," he said.