coke angel tv ad - back to basics

coke's previous ad campaign was difficult to understand. they had these strange drawings showing "buhay" stuff spewing up from an open coke bottle. figuring out what the graphics meant or what part of my "buhay" they represent is very difficult for ordinary mortals to understand. it was just a feel good ad campaign - the creatives feeling good for themselves for having a canvass to show how creative they are but i don't think it made consumers felt good about coca cola.

i am not sure what caused it, it was either the right strategy with a wrong execution or a bad strategy that was executed well. if the asi taulava and their christmas tv spots are an indication, i would say the problem was a bad strategy that was executed well. it's a strategy problem - either it was incorrectly written or it's meaning incorrectly interpreted.

on a strategy standpoint, coke's angel tv spot, "ang sarap dito" is a vast improvement from their previous campaign. with the current tagline "buhay coke tikman mo", the angel tv spot repositions coke to be what it really is - a softdrink meant to refresh and quench thirst. the previous tagline made coke pretend to be just a feel good product that may or may not have something to do with refreshment or thirst quenching. this one returns coke to being a liquid drink to fix thirst, back to basics as admen like to say.

this is like a back to basics ad for coke. the whole commercial is actually on a taste and thirst quenching strategy. in this ad, it's clear that people drink coke for it's taste and thirst quenching benefits. what a relief, finally, some focus for coke ads.

the ad works because of it's excellent production values. it's a very polished tv ad and we have not seen one aired in the philippines with this kind of high caliber production values for many years. i had obsessed with the crude and inconsistent post prod work and design of the wings of the angel, but i don't think ordinary consumers notice those things, nor will they care. anyone sitting in front of their tv will stop and notice this coke ad because of the excellent over-all production of the commercial.

aside from the over-all production values, what makes this coke ad stand out from the noise is the jingle. the melody is very memorable and more importantly, the interpretation and treatment of the song to make it sound like a singing angel was brilliant work. also, the choice of the talent for the angel role was very well done. she is an unknown to the philippine audience and that added to the mystery and interest for the ad.

(read more here:

http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/04/wings-coca-cola-tv-spot.html

http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/04/production-values-coca-cola-ang-sarap.html )

i am sure a lot of discussions have been made on this between the client and the ad agency at storyboard stage, but i didn't think adding the devil in the story at the end was needed. i fail to see it's value but i see the bad ingredients it added to the mix. i don't think it helped in the delivery of the message but what it did was make the story in the commercial unnecessarily complicated.

the point of the ad is to communicate that coke is so delicious and refreshing that even angels will want to taste it to the point of transforming to become a human. the angel deciding to become a human because of coke is the point of interest in this ad. adding the devil at the end just puts a strain to the ad.

what does adding the idea of even the devil likes its taste got to do with the story? it does not contribute to communicating the coke strategy in a better way. adding the devil brings in an unnecessary component of good vs evil. it does not also help that the treatment seem to leave an impression of some kind of attraction or a possibility of the devil seducing the angel. these are just too strenuous to the story.