Coca-Cola used music to hit all the right notes in latest campaign

Published October 8, 2013 at 7:53 am

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

William Shakespeare might have made that phrase famous, but Coca-Cola is taking all things mentioned in it to a new level. We’ve previously discussed the popularity and success of Coca-Cola’s marketing campaigns, but its recent foray into advertising for major sporting events found a way to use music to draw in customers.

The soft drink giant is creating global and local marketing campaigns for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. For the World Cup, Coca-Cola is working with Brazilian musicians for the new song “The World is Ours.” Essentially, feeding off of Coke’s “Open Happiness” campaign from 2009, the company wants the same optimistic feel, connecting to viewers.

Music Dealers is an international music licensing agency that works with Coca-Cola, and VP-global account director Joshua Burke told AdAge about the company’s plan for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in Russia. According to Burke, the campaign is focused in Russia and they want to use outside collaboration and even a consumer remix to “bring people together on a more emotional level.”

The company found Russian artists who will create an anthem for the Olympic Games.

Music Dealers CEO and co-founder Eric Sheinkop also spoke with the news source about the localized marketing project.

“The focus is to get it right in Russia and then to get it right in the rest of the world,” he said. “We usually keep the emotional relevance by bringing in local artists that consumers have a connection with, not a global pop star. It’s a song that’s built to travel and get you moving.”