Coca-Cola
Challenge
Coca-Cola, owner of the world’s most valuable and recognizable trademark, found itself in a conundrum. Their brand had become so ubiquitous; the public had become blind to it. Coca-Cola challenged our team to rejuvenate its brand globally.
Strategy
We set out to build an identity for the brand that was both familiar and dynamic. The strategy, “Stubborn Optimism,” spoke to the truth at the heart of the product experience: No matter where you are or what your mood, an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola can flood your mind with happy memories and thoughts. The shape of the bottle alone conveyed this idea with almost everyone around the world. Herein resided the design story Coca-Cola needed to share globally.
Solution
The concept behind the identity visualized the emotions and memories that bubble up in all of us when we open a bottle of Coca-Cola. And open up the bottle we did: We invited artists, painters, designers, illustrators and even consumers to participate in and co-create the brand with us. Anything uplifting they could imagine with Coca-Cola we showed a way to make it come out of their iconic contour bottle.
Results
To this day, Coca-Cola continues to make the silhouette bottle central to its global campaigns, including Wieden + Kennedy’s remarkable “Open Happiness” and “The Coke Side of Life,” which we’ve highlighted here with grey backgrounds.
Team
- Brian Collins
- Lee Maschmeyer
- Thomas Wilder
- Ogilvy & Mather
- Wieden + Kennedy