Coca-Cola returned to the Super Bowl this year to plug its new energy drink with a little help from filmmaker Martin Scorsese and actor Jonah Hill.
The 60-second spot from Wieden & Kennedy Portland focuses on a text conversation between the pair, with Scorsese urging an unenergetic Hill to save him from an awkward costume party. After a tense period of “dotting” (when a three-dot text bubble pops up to show another person is typing), Hill cracks open a can of Coke Energy and makes it to the party, refreshed and ready to mingle.
“[Hill] and his team came back immediately and said we should work with my buddy, Martin Scorsese,” Geoff Cottrill, Coca-Cola’s senior VP of strategic marketing for creative, told Ad Age. “It was very clear to us that they are friends, they do have a relationship, and it came together.”
The commercial for Coca-Cola’s new energy drink was part of a larger investment in the product as it looked to compete with established rivals in the category including Monster and Red Bull.
Coke Energy’s “Show Up” spot aired in the Super Bowl’s second quarter and revived its long-standing presence in the game. Coke ran an in-game ad every year from 2006 to 2018, though the company sat out last year in favor of a pre-game ad.
BRAND: Coca-Cola
AGENCY: Wieden & Kennedy Portland
QUARTER AIRED: Q2
SUPER BOWL: LIV
YEAR: 2020