Coke scored big in the 2009 Super Bowl with "Video Game," which depicted a "Grant Theft Auto"-esque hellscape turning to peace thanks to love (and Coke). In 2009, its "Avatar" suggested that Coca-Cola could close the distance that digital identities create. The marketer returned to the theme in 2015, now neutralizing internet bullying: When a guy toiling in a server farm spills a bottle of Coke, it seeps into the social-media universe, spreading love and harmony. A bottle of Coke will do no such thing, but the brand has always liked to teach the world to sing (starting with "Hilltop" in Super Bowl VI). This touching spot by Wieden & Kennedy is true to that heritage and resonated with anyone spending much time in the swamps of the web. Compare it with the optimism about the internet's social impact in a pair of earlier Super Bowl spots, MCI's "Emoticons" and "Space Kids" from 1997.
Coke's "Open Happiness" theme would wrap a year later, when new Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto replaced it with "Taste the Feeling." That tagline got its first Super Bowl play in a lighter 2015 spot starring Marvel's Ant-Man and the Hulk ("A Mini Marvel").
This is a 60-second version of the 30-second ad that ran in Super Bowl XLIX, Coke's ninth consecutive big game. Instead of revealing the spot early, the brand released three teasers on TV and at cinemas. It also posted four vignettes on social channels, featuring "testimonials from teens and celebrities who have experienced online negativity, including race car driver Danica Patrick and football player Michael Sam, as well as those who make it a mission to spread happiness online, like Kid President," the company said then.
Director: Peter Thwaites. Production company: The Corner Shop. Director of Photography: Joost van Gelder. Executive producer: Anna Hasmi. Producer: Jennifer Barrons.
Executive creative directors: Mark Fitzloff, Joe Staples. Creative directors: Antony Goldstein, Hal Curtis, Jeff Gillette. Art director: Gianmaria Schonlieb. Copywriter: Neil Ramadan. Account Director: Thomas Harvey. Producer: Julia Lafferty.
VFX: The Mill. Design: Mill+. Senior executive producer: Sue Troyan. Executive producer, design: Reno Robertson. Senior VFX producer: Chris Harlowe. Shoot supervisor: James Allen. Executive creative director: Angus Kneale. Creative directors: James Allen, Lisha Tan. 2D lead artist: James Allen. Design lead artist: Lisha Tan. Production Coordinator: Karina Ford. Editorial: Work Editorial. Editor: Neil Smith.
BRAND: Coca-Cola
YEAR: 2015
AGENCY: Wieden & Kennedy
SUPERBOWL: XLIX
QUARTER AIRED: Q2