72andSunny Amsterdam

Client: The Coca-Cola Company
Product: Coca-Cola
Title: Open Like Never Before
Media: Film
Country: Europe
Date Of Campaign: Aug 1, 2020

Background: In the midst of COVID, Coca-Cola wanted to uplift and unite people out of the dividing times of the pandemic. But there was also an overarching objective of positioning Coke’s core values of connection, togetherness and optimism in a post-COVID world. As a global brand, addressing a global pandemic, Coke wanted to demonstrate thought leadership to an audience that included humanity at large.

Idea: Coming out of lockdown, Coca-Cola invites us to challenge the so-called new normal and stay open to change with a poem, co-written and performed by British artist George The Poet. To the sound of a rendition of the iconic 60’s track “San Francisco”, George performs his words, but as the film progresses, he’s joined by different people, from all walks of life and parts of the globe. Each one makes the poem their own, challenging the old notions of work, family, body and race awareness, gender, immigration, sexuality and female leadership, all in one continuous, poetic flow. As a last statement of optimism George ends with “We’ll weather this storm. So I’ll be open like never before”.

Results: Produced remotely in 6 weeks during lockdown, the global campaign ran in +40 countries as TVC and on Youtube. Supporting the global blackout against hate speech, it did not run on social media. The work ran in WEBU for 6-8 weeks before it rolled out in LATAM in late 2020. A YouGov BrandIndex survey, compiled exclusively for The Grocer, found the campaign was one of the most effective FMCG campaigns of the year. It was also selected by Contagious Magazine among the most contagious of 2020. With 100 million dollars donated to COVID relief efforts, the campaign supported more than 13.000 bars, restaurants and shops, with over €4M donated directly to Horeca partners.