Is there a major brand-plus-music campaign these days that doesn’t have some sort of AR element
Despite the ubiquity, the new partnership between Coca-Cola and US singer Ava Max is as notable for how it uses AR to underscore a music performance as it is for how heavy the branding element is.
It’s all there to launch a new soft drink for the corporation – Coca-Cola Starlight. (No one mention the disaster that was New Coke from 1985 or its slightly-less-doomed renaissance in 1990 as Coke II.) This is part of a wave of new products from Coke under the Coca-Cola Creations banner and the hyperbole around it was not dialled down.
It is, apparently, “reminiscent of stargazing around a campfire, as well as a cooling sensation that evokes the feeling of a cold journey into space”. Whatever that means.
Back to the music side of things. Scanning one of the new bottles or cans, you can unlock Ava Max’s AR performance of three songs. The drinks promotion is limited to the US and a few other markets where the Starlight drink is available.
There is, however, a QR code on the Coca-Cola site for those who want to watch the performance but cannot buy the promotional bottles/cans where they live (or have no desire to give money to a major global corporation).
She performs in a virtual world, but one that is unmistakably branded to ensure you do not forget who is sponsoring it all. It’s heavy on the red in terms of its colour scheme (basically she’s in a red bodysuit dancing in a red world). And, yes, there is a large Coca-Cola logo behind her as she performs. We’re just amazed that she didn’t down a refreshing can of the popular soft drink between every song.
It’s a long way from the I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke hilltop ad in 1971 that really marked an acceleration in the marketing of sugary drinks by linking it with music.
We were, however, left nonplussed as to why it was Coca-Cola partnering up with Ava Max when its biggest cola rival has a near-namesake brand for the singer to endorse. The marketing would do itself. “Ava Max drinks Pepsi Max” has a definite ring to it.
