Coca-Cola announces one brand global marketing approach

PARIS, FRANCE—The Coca-Cola Company chief marketing officer Marcos de Quinto revealed on January 19, 2016, a new ‘One Brand’ global marketing strategy that, for the first time ever, unites Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life under the iconic Coca-Cola brand positioning in one global creative campaign, “Taste the Feeling.”

The ‘One Brand’ Strategy:

• Extends the global equity and iconic appeal of original Coca-Cola across the Trademark, uniting the Coca-Cola family under the world’s number one beverage brand;
• Comes to life in a global campaign – “Taste the Feeling” – that uses universal storytelling and everyday moments to connect with consumers around the world;
• Features the product at the heart of the creative, celebrating the experience and simple pleasure of drinking a Coca-Cola, any Coca-Cola;
• Underscores the company’s commitment to choice, allowing consumers to choose whichever Coca-Cola suits their taste, lifestyle and diet.

“Every day, millions of people around the world reach for an ice cold Coca-Cola,” says de Quinto. “The new ‘One Brand’ approach will share the equity of Coca-Cola, across all Coca-Cola Trademark products, reinforcing our commitment to offer consumers choice with more clarity. This is a powerful investment behind all Coca-Cola products, showing how everyone can enjoy the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola, with or without calories, with or without caffeine.”

Adds de Quinto: “More than ever, we recognize people want their Coca-Cola in different ways, but whichever one they want, they want a Coca-Cola brand with great taste and uplifting refreshment. Through the ‘One Brand’ strategy we will move away from multiple brand campaigns, to one single iconic brand campaign that celebrates both the product and the brand.”

The “Taste the Feeling” campaign will roll out at various times across all markets globally in 2016 and will come to life through a number of elements, including:

• 10 Television Commercials;
• 100+ Campaign Images;
• New Visual Identity System;
• New Music Anthem and Audio Signature;
• Shareable and Customizable Interactive Digital Experience

The creative campaign <http://www.coca-colacompany.com/tastethefeeling>  is anchored in the fundamentals of the Coca-Cola brand – the Spencerian script, the red disc and the iconic glass bottle – but with a modern take, featuring authentic and real moments with the product at center stage.

Coca-Cola gathered global creative minds from 10 different agencies to begin the development process, and ultimately the 10 television commercials created for the campaign were produced by the following four: Mercado-McCann, Sra. Rushmore, Santo, and Oglivy & Mather New York.

The spots give the viewer momentary, but intimate glimpses into everyday stories, feelings and experiences that people share while enjoying an ice-cold Coca-Cola. At the close of each commercial, the family of Coca-Cola trademark products unite as one under the famous red Coca-Cola disc.

Says The Coca-Cola Company vice-president of global creative, connections and digital Rodolfo Echeverria: “The campaign creative was designed to celebrate the notion that the simple pleasure of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola makes any moment more special. The universal moments and storytelling depicted in the campaign were created to resonate with our consumers globally. The same images and television creative in Japan will also be seen in Italy, in Mexico and around the world.”

At launch, five of the 10 spots will be released. The lead television spot, “Anthem,” (Mercado-McCann) comes to life through a series of ordinary moments linked by a Coca-Cola, such as ice-skating with friends, a first date, a first kiss, and a first love. The spot will run in all markets in 2016.

The soundtrack to “Anthem” is an original song <http://www.coca-colacompany.com/tastethefeelinganthem> created for the campaign and titled “Taste the Feeling.” Coca-Cola worked with Music Dealers to write and produce the song. In select markets, the song features the voice of newcomer Conrad Sewell. Sewell, a London-born, Australia-raised singer was featured in the breakout single “Firestone,” which produced 300 million Spotify streams and 3-million-plus worldwide sales. The anthem includes a new audio signature, inspired by the sounds of the experience of enjoying a Coca-Cola – the pop of the cap, the fizz, and ultimately the sounds of enjoyment.  The new audio signature will be used throughout the campaign.

“Break Up” (by Santo) follows the journey of a young couple’s romance from the first date and early feelings of excitement and love to an explosive break-up and ultimate reconciliation over an ice-cold Coca-Cola. The spot features a new song titled “Made for You” by new artist Alexander Cardinale.

“Brotherly Love” (Santo) captures the universal story of love and conflict between family, highlighting the unique and challenging relationship experienced between two brothers. When the younger brother finds himself without his ice-cold Coca-Cola, his big brother comes to the rescue. The spot features a new version of the hit song “Hey Brother” by renowned songwriter and producer Avicii.

Following a partnership that started in 2014, Coca-Cola has also tapped Avicii to produce a remixed version of the “Taste the Feeling” campaign anthem featuring Conrad Sewell, and he will produce versions of the anthem for the UEFA EURO 2016 and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games campaigns.

The additional television commercials available for launch include:

• “Under Pressure,” (Ogilvy & Mather) tells the story of every day pressures that we all face. The spot highlights the importance of taking time to pause, release tension, and enjoy the moment;
• “Supermarket,” (Sra. Rushmore) tells the story of a young female cashier mesmerized by a handsome male consumer who pauses to enjoy an ice-cold Coca-Cola;
• “What is a Coca-Cola For?” (Sra. Rushmore), “Professor” (Sra. Rushmore), “Arctic Summer” (The Cyranos-McCann), “Empty Bottle” (Mercado-McCann), and “Real Enjoyment” (Mercado-McCann) will be released later in 2016.

The new campaign features 100+ campaign images <http://www.coca-colacompany.com/tastethefeeling>  shot by noted fashion photographers Guy Aroch and Nacho Ricci capturing people from around the world enjoying ice- cold Coca-Cola in a variety of everyday moments. The new campaign imagery will be used in print advertising, out of home billboards, in-store as well as digital media. Some examples are spread throughout this article.

The shareable and customizable interactive digital experience <http://www.gifthefeeling.com>  is made up of different GIF scenes that reflect feelings associated with drinking Coca-Cola set to the “Taste the Feeling” anthem.  The experience allows users to pull a GIF scene directly from the microsite, personalize the scene with real-time feelings, and share it on social platforms with #TasteTheFeeling.

For more information, to see the commercials and view the campaign images, please visit www.coca-colacompany.com.

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company, with more than 500 sparkling and still brands.  Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable and recognizable brands, its portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands including, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, POWERADE, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia, Dasani, FUZE TEA and Del Valle.

For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo, visit the blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com  or find the company on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/the-coca-cola-company.