Devoted to the Multi-level marketing (or MLM) industry

If you haven't seen the Diet Coke meets Mentos video, check it out now before you read on.

Here are the basics, take a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke, add Mentos and BOOM!,  you have yourself a 6 foot plus geyser of Diet Coke.

Mentos estimates that 800 videos of the science experiment are making their way across the Internet, amounting to roughly $10 Million in free advertising for the candy company.

Meanwhile Coca Cola, (whose Diet Coke sales happen to be flat) doesn't quite understand the value of the buzz.

WSJ.com:

Coca-Cola Co. is much more blasé. "It's an entertaining phenomenon," said Coke spokeswoman Susan McDermott. "We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it." Coke could use some extra buzz right now. Sales volume of Diet Coke in the U.S. was essentially flat last year, as consumers switch from diet sodas to bottled water and other noncarbonated drinks. But Ms. McDermott says that the "craziness with Mentos ... doesn't fit with the brand personality" of Diet Coke.

How can Coke be so stupid?

When your "brand personality" stymies your sales and pours water on a viral marketing fire, it might be time to change your brand personality visit a branding Psychiatrist.