David launched a holiday spot for Coca-Cola, presenting six supposedly “completely unscripted” surprises featuring personalized Coke bottles.
Unscripted or not, these moments were at the very least staged by Coke and the agency, ranging from perhaps the world’s worst marriage proposal to a surprise baby announcement to meeting a parent for the first time and one ad cliche we’re very tired of.
The reactions, which at least appear to contain genuine surprise, are all captured on camera which is supposed to communicate a kind of brand authenticity, but instead the spot veers heavily into over-the-top sentimentality with moments that really shouldn’t have anything to do with a personalized Coke bottle. Our marriage proposal is probably the prime offender, as a man surprises a girlfriend with a “Share a Coke with Your Husband” bottle before dropping to one knee (Shouldn’t it say “Your Fiance” or are Coke bottles now a legally-binding form of marriage?). The now overdone so much it has lost all significance gesture of surprising someone with a visit from a family member serving overseas also is a prime contender, however. At least the story of a young man meeting his bilogical father for the first time is slightly different from the norm, while a boss surprising his employees is the most down-to-earth. We expect to see this kind of treacly sentimentality this time of year, but even so this one was hard to take, possibly due to its presumption of authenticity.
Credits:
Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: David
CCO, Founder: Anselmo Ramos
ACD/AD: Tony Kalathara
ACD/CW: Russell Dodson
Art Director: Ricardo Casal
Copywriter: Juan Pena
Global Head of Production: Veronica Beach
Sr. Producer: Marla Ulrich
Managing Director: Paulo Fogaca
Account Supervisor(s): Juan Nunez and Natalia Rakowitsch
Account Director Carlos Rangel
Business Affairs Manager: Ann Marie Turbitt
Production Company: Uber Content
Director: Paul Iannacchino
DP: Sam Levy
Executive Producer: Steve Wi
Producer: Kellie Abraham
Production Mgr: Christopher Howard
Casting Agent: Tiffany Persons
Telecine Place/Date: The Mill
With Whom: Fergus Mccall
Online Place/Date Jogger
With Whom: Rich Rama
Record Mix Place/Date Bang NY
With Whom: Paul Vītoliņš
Editorial Company: Cut & Run
Edit house contact: Carr Schilling
Post Producer: Remy Foxx
Editor: Lucas Eskin
Music Licensing:
Music company: Bang NY
AFM #: Local 802
Composer(s): Brian D. Jones
Arranger: Brian D. Jones
Exec Producer: Lyle Greenfield & Brad Stratton