Coke lends Zero Sugar a voice in ads, TikTok filter soundtracked by NSYNC

Dive Temporary:

• Coke is lending Coke Zero Sugar a voice for the primary time with a world marketing campaign leveraging synthetic intelligence (AI) know-how, per particulars shared with Advertising and marketing Dive. The trouble serves to replace Coke’s “Finest Coke Ever?” platform backing Zero Sugar.
• The smooth drink model analyzed 100,000 photos of condensation, bubbles and airborne fizz with assistance from an object detection algorithm to develop a customized typography that permits Zero Sugar to “converse for itself,” the corporate stated. Customers can even create their very own tracks utilizing natural appears like a Coke can cracking open.  
• A brand new hero advert is soundtracked by NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me” and stars chatty bottles and cans of Coke Zero Sugar. The marketer can be deploying a world-first TikTok filter that transforms customers right into a Coke Zero Sugar bottle that may sing together with the boy band bop that harks again to the early 2000s. 

Dive Perception:

Coke is passing the mic to Zero Sugar because the low-calorie beverage continues to be a number one progress driver for the smooth drink large. The tech-forward advertising play is the most recent iteration of a “Finest Coke Ever?” messaging platform launched in 2021 that places Zero Sugar extra ahead within the firm’s cola portfolio. This go-around, Coke is angling to attach with Gen Z customers who’ve flocked to apps like TikTok and expressed a passion for Y2K throwbacks, therefore the nod to the 2000 mega-hit “It’s Gonna Be Me” by NSYNC. WPP’s Open X company, led by AKQA and Ogilvy, spearheaded the marketing campaign.

“That is our most digital and social-first initiative to-date, that includes an thrilling nod to nostalgia with a marketing campaign anthem that’s already again on the lips of individuals around the globe, however leveraged in a very forward-thinking manner,” stated Oana Vlad, senior director of worldwide technique for The Coca-Cola Firm, in a press assertion. 

Coke continues to experiment with purposes of AI in advertising, constructing on its early bets on generative AI final 12 months. On this case, a model of AI know-how known as an object detection algorithm was used to carefully analyze the bodily traits of Coke bottles to design a typography that would correctly embody Zero Sugar’s voice.  

That idea is made literal in a batch of latest “Style That Speaks For Itself” digital advertisements that characteristic speaking Coke Zero Sugar merchandise as they vie to get picked up at a bodega, argue throughout a dinner for 2 and attempt to preserve a streaming platform operating after the viewer falls asleep on the sofa. Coke is permitting customers to embody Zero Sugar by means of a TikTok filter, which shall be promoted with the assistance of influencer companions on the ByteDance-owned platform. 

Further media components span experiential sampling that features a new sort of digital merchandising machine; digital show and non-traditional out-of-home advertisements that showcase the typography and different sampling alternatives; and in-store promotions that intention to cease consumers of their tracks by means of “disruptive” strategies like movement sensors and sound results.

A much bigger advertising push behind Zero Sugar provides to a gentle drip of Coke information this 12 months. Subsequent week, the model will launch the primary everlasting addition to its cola portfolio in three years, a raspberry-flavored variant known as Coca-Cola Spiced, which is available in zero- and full-sugar variations. The corporate’s Creations platform centered on limited-run experimental flavors additionally stays lively, with the following drop centered on a soda that intends to seize the style of tears of pleasure and likewise leans into the recognition of TikTok.  

Coke noticed web income up 7% year-over-year to $10.8 billion within the fourth quarter, per an earnings assertion launched Tuesday. Volumes slipped in North America, a vital market, however the outcomes had been buoyed by increased costs.