The Coca-Cola 'open happiness' campaign

An opinion on the Coca-Cola CCTV ad

So I'm going to talk about the recently released ad that went viral for Coca-Cola this year.

I'm going to have to start off by admitting I hate admitting I like Coke's marketing. I respect the company and their marketing techniques but based simply on the mass globalisation of the brand, I slightly resent it. I mean it's the most powerful brand in the world- it changed the colour of Santa, nothing should be powerful enough to change Santa. In fact, I'm writing about Coca-Cola through gritted finger tips as this blog is perpetuating the brand, the campaign and probably driving traffic to more hits, but... I wanted to share.

Now I have disclosed my opinion on the brand, I'll let you know my thoughts on the CCTV ad used for the 'open happiness' campaign.

Firstly, if you haven't seen the video, watch it, I don't want to be responsible for any spoilers. (although due to the amount I am already promoting Coca-Cola I just can't include a YouTube link)

In my opinion, viable or not, it is one of the best adverts I've seen for a long time. The campaign suggests the sugary liquid is an emotion; the video then actually makes you feel that emotion, which is further promoted by the end of the ad that cracking open a bottle of coke will give you that same feeling. You see "CCTV captures" (I type with inverted commas) of all that is good about the human race; from offering a crisp to a homeless man, a stolen kiss to an act of heroism, and that pieced together with the acoustic musical talents of Roger Hodgson, just makes you feel good.

The genius behind the ad is how you don't realise you are watching a Coca-Cola video until the very end, and your attention has been caught by the first caption reading "security cameras all around the world... also capture...", which has you immediately intrigued and not completely aware you're being advertised to. What prone fools we are.

The feel-good ad naturally went viral and had millions of hits, thousands of shares and hundreds *cough* of blogs written about it. It's a positive promotion, an attempt to change and shift the dominant social paradigm that is the negative views, thoughts and opinions in society. Despite the wars, the shocking economic climate, the constant natural disasters the world is burdened with, we should "look at the world a little differently". Kudos Young & Rubicam, you earned the mountain of change the Coca-Cola Corporation would have paid you.