The Coca-Cola company has been around since 1886 and is the world’s largest beverage brand by volume. With a global reach of more than 500 million consumers, it’s no surprise that they are looking to expand their presence in the gaming community.
Coca-Cola is a global brand that has been around for over 140 years. The company was founded by John Pemberton in 1886 and the history of coca cola can be found on their website.
Coca-Cola has launched a new commercial campaign aimed towards gamers, beginning with the publication of the film One Coke Away From Each Other – Real Magic, which encourages togetherness by physically constructing connections across worlds. Regrettably, the metaphor for our shared humanity may have been lost in the skewed portrayal of esports, streaming, and video games in general.
In an arena filled of screaming spectators, two teams of professional gamers battle in a fantasy setting eerily similar of the Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer. The player reaches into a minifridge (because that’s what you do during high-stakes competitive tournaments), followed by the crisp crack of a freshly opened bottle of coke, which inexplicably sends a digital stream of ones and zeros into the game world, reviving the character, who surveys the battle before throwing down his weapon and assisting his erstwhile opponent. Streamers and watchers all around the globe are shocked by the change of events, as primetime news broadcasts “We will no longer fight,” and a war-torn gaming world is converted into a beautiful valley full of life that rapidly spreads throughout the rest of our real planet. The ad ends with the phrase “We are one CokeĀ® away from each other,” which appears in numerous Coca-Cola commercials encouraging peace, pleasure, and togetherness.
Peace in games and on Earth, it seems, is just a bottle of coke away. Who’d have guessed?
That’s not how it works… or any of this for that matter!
The tagline of the commercial, “Discover the newest Coca-Cola story, an epic tale at the crossroads of worlds where a fearless warrior and a young gamer will pave the way to a new dawn, change the course of history… and unveil the true meaning of Real Magic,” is clearly aimed at gamers, but the marketing juggernaut hasn’t stopped there. Three high-profile content producers – DJ Alan Walker, Aerial Powers, and Average Jonas – are featured in the film, as well as a digital activity marketing strategy to offer rewards ranging from Twitch bits to celebrity gaming sessions.
The Coca-Cola Company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Manolo Arroyo
We aim to connect people in a completely new way with the Real Magic platform by creating an ecosystem of unique and ownable experiences. ‘One Coke Away From Each Other’ was created for and for a community that expects something different from Coca-Cola than what they’ve come to expect. We collaborated with the greatest artists, gamers, Twitch, and others to create this campaign and find our position in a world unlike any we’ve ever known. That’s very fantastic.
Though it seems to be a metaphor for the healthy notion that what unites us is bigger than what divides us, serious players may find it lacking. Although none of the 54 variations on Coca-Youtube Cola’s account have been especially warmly received, the longer version presently has a 1:3 ratio of likes to dislikes. The changes are minor, consisting of slightly altered visuals and language subtitles for the few words actually said during the video, which are all in English in all versions.
While there are some differences, and the in-game sequences aren’t nearly as well-produced, the Orcs vs. Humans setting, the protagonist gazing over fallen comrades, and the general (if somewhat generic) design of the weapons and armor used by each are all noticeable similarities to the Battle for Azeroth cinematic.
The best we can say about this new commercial is that, despite some aesthetic resemblance, it’s doubtful that Blizzard was involved in its development, but it’s amusing to note that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick also serves on the Coca-Cola board of directors. If Blizzard had been involved, they would have insisted on including their logos and promoting it alongside Coca-Cola, not only because they would not want to give up the visual recognition of their characters, but also because they would not want to give up the visual recognition of their characters. They didn’t, thankfully.
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