This is sure to be a big year for The Coca-Cola Company, which is gearing up to sponsor huge events including the 2024 Paris Olympics. So it’s kicking things off with a bang, with a rare campaign touting its portfolio of beverages including Diet Coke and Honest Juice.
The hero spot was inspired by Disney’s hit series The Bear, and was directed by the show’s creator, Chris Storer.
Created in partnership with agency Majority and produced by Smuggler, “New Guy” follows protagonist Zach as he nervously meets his girlfriend’s spirited family—who each have a different favorite Coca-Cola beverage—during a chaotic game-day celebration.
As the audience is introduced to the eclectic tribe (there’s a fun running joke about Zach’s height), we get glimpses of their drinks of choice: A discussion about an athlete’s record prompts an emphatic use of a Coke Zero can, an onlooker quietly holds her Smartwater, kids are coaxed out of a busy kitchen with Honest Juice boxes, and Zach’s girlfriend clutches a Fanta as she adoringly watches her family quickly embrace her beau.
In addition to Storer’s directorial style and the cast having been featured in the series, fans of The Bear may recognize some (mercifully non-dysfunctional) similarities to the star-studded Season 2 episode “Fishes.” Coca-Cola’s director of content and creative excellence, Alex Ames, hopes all the nods will whet viewers’ appetite in between seasons of the show.
“I’m always a big believer that if you make something great enough, you can outkick your media coverage by people sharing this and going, ‘Oh, we’re between Season 2 and Season 3 … look at this thing Chris Storer did with Coca-Cola,’” Ames told Adweek.
The ad was shot during the writers strike, allowing Storer to not only take part in the project but use his show’s crew and camera lenses—creating an additional family dynamic throughout the shoot.
“I think [that dynamic] really came through in how we told this family story … with our family of products,” he said. “It’s rare in our industry to have a family of products [shown] like that.”
Ames, who also leads creative for the company’s nutritional portfolio, said the hero film marks both Storer’s directorial debut in the branded content space and Coca-Cola’s first time delving into using a single, cohesive storyline for what he calls “emotional storytelling” for its range of brands.
In the past, Coke has done portfolio programs for sponsored tentpole events such as March Madness and the Olympics featuring the “family of brands.”
He credits the company’s North America chief marketing officer, Shakir Moin, with inspiring the creative leap.
“[He called and] said, ‘We need to start the year off strong,’” said Ames. “And one of the things we’ve been trying to do a better job at is leveraging more portfolio plays, but doing it in an interesting way.”
A 360-degree push
“New Guy” is part of a 360 campaign that will include OOH creative depicting the brands as “proud sponsors” of such things as “game day grub,” “excessive celebrations” and “getting the team back together.”
Ames and his team have partnered with Majority and Open X to create almost 40,000 individual pieces of creative, which he said will leverage programmatic and AI behind the scenes to serve customized ads from two of its brands to individual consumers based on their profile. Customizable ads have also been created for in-store partners such as Kroger and Walmart.
“It’s all very on-the-field language and off-the-field occasions that’s more human-specific versus on-the-field specific,” said Ames of the campaign’s core messaging.
The brand has used AI technology in recent months for its holiday campaign and a Y3000 Zero Sugar launch with the Jonas Brothers.
The 90-second hero spot will also be cut down to 30- and 6-second versions, and will run during sporting events on ESPN and broadcast, cable, digital, cinema and social.
