Coca-Cola and Marvel's Latest Collab Uses AR to Entice Comic Fans

The global campaign includes a TV ad and collectible cans

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Coca-Cola is using augmented reality to enhance its latest collaboration with Disney, allowing consumers to unlock digital collectibles by scanning limited-edition packaging featuring illustrations of more than 30 Marvel characters.

The brand introduced the campaign with a film blending live action and animation employing a 2D comic book style. The spot shows a weary comic book store employee wearing a T-shirt depicting the X-Men villain Juggernaut. As she rests her head, the unstoppable mutant begins terrorizing an animated city, creating a shockwave so powerful it ripples through the whole store.

Daredevil jumps out of a comic book cover, getting help from his fellow heroes as a Colossus action figure springs to life and Black Widow emerges from a poster. They team up to open a cooler and deliver a bottle of Coca-Cola to the woman to stop Juggernaut’s rampage.

The line of 38 cans and bottles launched globally on April 8. Consumers can scan the packages to unlock AR experiences and enter to win prizes including tickets to Marvel movie screenings, autographed memorabilia and Disney+ subscriptions. The campaign, which taps into Marvel’s 85th anniversary, also runs across cinema, video-sharing platforms, digital and out-of-home.

Disney and Coca-Cola have worked together regularly for more than 60 years. Other recent collaborations included a 2023 campaign featuring limited-edition cans and sweepstakes awarding a trip to the Marvel Avengers Campus at Disneyland Paris, and packaging tied to the 2019 release of Avengers: Endgame.

“Coca-Cola has a long history with Disney, and it’s exciting to have a relationship that encourages and enables us to continue to push ourselves and our relationship to new heights creatively,” global head of creative strategy and content for Coca-Cola Trademark, Islam ElDessouky, said in a statement. “This latest collaboration with Marvel allows us to tap into the legacy and affinity for both brands to deliver consumers new and unexpected experiences.”