NEW YORK -- Lowe is in the final stages of production on its first Diet Coke work since Coca-Cola consolidated the $75 million global account there last fall, sources said.
The new work, which is based on the theme, "Feel good," will break Feb. 9 with two spots during the Winter Olympics.
Backed by music, the spots feature men and women of different ethnic backgrounds who represent Diet Coke drinkers, said one source, describing "Feel good" as "both a strategy and a line." Lowe and Coke declined comment.
The work was directed by Sam Baer, who had worked on the brand in the mid-1990s, when then Lowe & Partners/SMS handled the account, sources said. The shop's last effort at that time used the tagline, "You are what you drink," with the brand positioned as one consumed by beautiful people.
Diet Coke's last TV effort, from Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., was tagged, "That certain something." That campaign, which broke in March 2001, took an observational approach with celebrity narrators, such as Renee Zellweger, commenting on the idiosyncrasies of men and women.
Lowe was under pressure to produce spots in time for the Olympics-a corporate commitment that Coke had made some time ago, sources said.
It is unclear if the "Feel good" approach will last beyond the Olympics. The concept is among several that are being tested for use outside the U.S. Fellow Interpublic Group shop Gotham, New York, also has contributed ideas for the international effort, said sources. Executives at Gotham, who could not be reached, have been enlisted by IPG to help on Coke assignments because they have experience with the brands.
Coke Classic also is expected to launch new work during the games with at least two spots, from McCann-Erickson, here, and Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, sources said. That work is said to have an Olympic theme, but a further description could not be had.