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Harry Potter: Coke is it
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February 20, 2001: 7:28 a.m. ET
Warner Bros. picks soft drink maker as sole promotional partner for film
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Warner Bros. studio has picked the Coca-Cola Co. as its sole promotional partner for its upcoming film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," the beverage maker announced Tuesday.
The deal will put about $150 million of Coke marketing support behind the movie.
 "It was tremendously important that we create a partnership that would have the ability to globally support the power and magic of Harry Potter," said Brad Ball, president of domestic marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures.
The agreement calls for Atlanta-based Coke to finance everything from a literacy campaign to a hefty share of the media blitz that will hit the television airwaves about a month before the movie opens Nov. 16.
The film, based on the first of author J.K. Rowling's best selling children's novels, stars 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe as the child wizard and Richard Harris as his mentor, Professor Dumbledore.
Coke executives said the financial commitment behind the campaign is one of the company's largest global marketing programs ever.
Both Warner Brothers and CNNfn are subsidiaries of AOL Time Warner Inc.
Coke (KO: Research, Estimates) stock ended Friday's trading 99 cents higher at $59.36, with a 52-week high of $64 and a 52-week low of 42.87.
Shares of AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates) finished $1.59 lower Friday at $48.36. The stock has been trading in a 52-week range of $74.62 and $31.50.
- from staff and wire reports 
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