And you thought you owned your brand. Think again.

Sometime ago some genius put a Mentos mint in a bottle of Diet Coke. Not quite as life changing as the discovery of penicillin, the chemical reaction creates a fountain spray of Diet Coke that can shot 10 to 20 feet into the air. Fast forward to today and this has become the latest phenomena on the web.

AdAge, June 13, 2006, Move over, Pop Rocks, now there's something fizzier

What makes it so is the multi millions of dollars in free publicity generated by ordinary people without help or encouragement by either Mentos or Coke, through the use of a video camera and the web. It is a perfect example of the result when consumers take ownership of your brand. Scary, to say the least.  According to The Wall Street Journal, Mentos was happy about all the free publicity. Diet Coke, on the other had, was less than enamored, stating that the phenomenon "doesn't fit with the brand personality." How can such an event be so polarizing to brand stewards?

CNBC reporter Diana Olick asked EVP Account Management, Beth Johnson, why this has such profound implications to today’s marketers.

This is the new reality of consumer-controlled media and it only gets worse, or better, depending on your perspective. At Rosenthal Partners our approach is to embrace it, open the brand to the consumer, and be diligent about spotting these kinds of publicity gushers (pun intended).

Of course, you have to take the good with the bad and not expect to control any of it. In the case of Coke, now might be the time to get ahead of the game by claiming Mentos eaters choose Coke over Pepsi…it’s a gas! Just relax and let your consumers have fun. After all, having fun with your brand is a good experience, whether or not it’s on strategy. As long as you are honest and true to your customers, you aren’t going to suffer.