Coca-Cola and FCB have released 'Beatnation', a consumer-led engagement campaign that seeks to celebrate the youth by connecting them through music. The campaign released a collection of 40 new Coke cans and bottles with unique phrases on them, representing the four main components of music (beat, melody, effect and lyric).
The duo says that the phrases were created in a way that all one needed to unlock the music was a Coca-Cola and their mouths. This aimed to highlight the simplicity of making music with your crew.
FCB Joburg assisted Coca-Cola in leading an online series, which saw them collaborate with individuals in the music industry like:
- Big Zulu
- Costa Titch
- Paxton, and
- Dee Koala.
The duo also partnered with leading South African online music platform SlikourOnlife and popular radio stations.
Karen Alexander, integrated marketing communications manager at Coca-Cola, says, "With the Beatnation campaign, we have an opportunity to celebrate our youth and encourage them to creatively share their own musical expressions with us. This is simply by using the various Coca-Cola cans and bottles and collaborating with their friends to make their own unique tracks."
The campaign was developed by the FCB Joburg creative team comprising:
- creative director Jonathan Wolberg
- art director Naledi Manama
- copywriter Marvin Mpanda, and
- business unit director Pascale Oswald.
"South African youth are the heartbeat of the nation. They are very progressive and continue to set global trends with music, through genres like Amapiano, Gqom, Afrobeat and Hip-Hop," says Wolberg.
"So, with this campaign, our aim was to go beyond the brief and create something that would deeply resonate with them, inspire creativity and perhaps unearth the musician in all of us," adds Wolberg.
To launch the campaign, Coca-Cola leveraged tactical radio placement, digital and OOH as well as social media. The brand encouraged youth participation using the hashtag '#RefreshWherevs'. There was also an online tutorial series created on the brand's website to help teach and inspire teens how to make all the different sounds.
Coca-Cola reports that its campaign has inspired the creation of incredible user-generated content. It has resulted in the brand receiving double brand love mentions and seeing the campaign trend on Twitter during its first week of launch.
For more information, visit www.fcb.co.za.