Coca-Cola is unveiling its first Christmas campaign under its new “Real Magic” brand positioning.
The long-form ad shows how a young boy, concerned about how Santa will be able to make deliveries to his neighbours in his chimney-less urban apartment block, mobilizes the neighbourhood around the holidays in the spirit of sharing and togetherness, building a new rooftop chimney out of Coke boxes.
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In addition to the full version, a series of shorter iterations will be airing in more than 90 countries. In Canada, those ads will begin airing on Nov. 15 on TV, online and in cinemas.
This September, Coca-Cola launched a new global brand philosophy and platform called “Real Magic,” an effort to refresh the brand’s trademark promise – to unite and uplift people in the everyday. According to the company, the “Real Magic” philosophy will sit at the heart of all marketing activity for the Coca-Cola brand and will house many different campaigns and expressions in the years to come.
For this holiday season, Coca-Cola told strategy through a spokesperson that the ad was consciously created to celebrate ways people can come together, while at the same time still being sensitive to most lockdown protocols.
Further, a spot focused on “the real magic of community and human connection” has a renewed relevance to the world we live in today.
“While this story is set in an apartment block in the U.S., the sentiment holds true for different parts of the world,” the spokesperson said. The first campaign under the “Real Magic” platform, launched in early October, activated through Twitch and targeted Gen Z gamers to connect with each other, despite being located in homes spread across the world.
That sentiment of connecting people is also informing the holiday campaign. “For most people, living stacked up on top of one another is a reality – so close, yet still strangers. But the pandemic also brought neighbours together like never before.”
In North America, “Real Magic at Christmas” will include a partnership with Cameo in which consumers can request a personalized video from Santa himself (in English, Spanish or French). The Cameo activation extends the brand’s longstanding association with Santa, who first graced Coca-Cola advertising in the 1920s created by the artist Haddon Sundblom.
Created by DentsuMB UK, the holiday campaign launches a day after the Coca-Cola Company completed a nearly year-long review of its global marketing assignments, developing a new agency model anchored by WPP but featuring a “strategic roster” of agencies from other holding companies.
Weber Shandwick handled the Canadian PR.