Coca-Cola wonders in the past and in fantasy

Unbelievable Double Take

The “Unbelievably Delicious” effort highlights Coca-Cola and its zero-sugar variety with cherry, vanilla, cherry vanilla or orange vanilla flavors, per information emailed to Marketing Dive. The brand’s “Unbelievable Double Take” spots digitally insert images of Coca-Cola flavors into footage of memorable moments from the NCAA Men’s College Basketball tournament, including North Carolina State’s famed buzzer-beating victory over Houston in 1983. The ad is using video tech to play on nostalgia at a time when ad production is still limited by the effects of the pandemic. Coke bills as first-time, cutting-edge 3D technology to render product models into into iconic sport scenes.

TV ratings for the college basketball tournament have slipped from two years ago, a decline attributed to pandemic disruptions, but it still generates significant viewership as a sporting event.

Werewolf girl buys cherry vanilla

The brand also is running two spots titled “Pit Stop” and “First Time” that show mythical half-human creatures trying the flavors and which extend across OOH, social, mobile, online, retail and in-person at the NCAA tournament. It tapped a different thread of nostalgia, for 80s movies of werewolf stories to broaden the appeal beyond sports fans.

Flavor curators

Further extending the reach is an influencer campaign starring identical twin sisters Vanessa and Veronica Merrell as “flavor curators” who demonstrate their favorite pairings of cola flavors and snacks on Instagram. The Merrell Twins have 1.6 million followers on Instagram, and another 4.4 million combined on TikTok, per details shared by email.

Europe dances

As one of the world’s biggest advertisers, Coke has been active with a variety of campaigns aimed at younger viewers. Its recent “Open That Coca-Cola” effort for its reformulated Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in Europe included a social media activation with music and dancing to encourage consumer participation. The campaigns come as the company seeks to rebound from the pandemic, which adversely affected sales in out-of-home settings like restaurants, bars and sports stadiums, projects ahead the postcovid new norm.