Coke 2.0: Open happiness

It’s no longer the ‘Coke side of life’. Goodbye to spectacular, joyful ads like this:

But wait.

This sounds a little familiar:

It’s the ‘new’ song called ‘Open Happiness’, a collaboration by artists from Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco and Gnarls Barkley, amongst others.

The song is a big part of the new Coke tagline and campaigns – which ironically feature much less of the song, opting for some retro and anime influences:

Well, it sounds the same and the creatives are the same (Wieden + Kennedy, one of my favourites), so what’s the big change?

According to Coke reps, the ‘Coke side of life’ message wasn’t translating across cultures, leaving less mature advertising markets confused. The new ‘Open happiness’ message is meant to be simpler and go back to principles we all understand.

We’ll see if it’s enough to get past rival Pepsi’s buzz from SuperBowl advertising.

What do you think?

Is the new message easier to understand?

Does it come across well in the new ads?

Source: AdAge