And the Winner of the 2010 World Cup is . . . Coca Cola?!?!

July 12, 2010

And the Winner of the 2010 World Cup is . . . Coca Cola?!?!

Spain may have emerged victorious on the pitch, but they are not the only winners this year. When all was said and done, another team successfully made all the competition fade away: Coca Cola.

For this World Cup Coca Cola made a gamble. Coke pushed its new sonic branding as the crowning jewel of their $300 million FIFA World Cup advertising campaign in every corner of the world. Most Americans already know this new branding whether they realize it or not. The light-hearted jingle from Coca Cola’s Open Happiness advertisements has already been forever tied it to Coke in our minds.

According to Soundlounge CEO Ruth Simmons, “Coke has used a technique we call audio watermarking. This is a popular and well-known trick that has been around for centuries and used by composers and producers to weave a sound/motif into a piece of music … watermarking acts like an ‘earworm’, which gets inside our brains and becomes so compulsive that we go around humming it as we walk down the street and not understanding why. We effectively become living, walking, singing commercials for Coke.”

The sonic branding was also not set in stone. In fact Coca Cola did the exact opposite. The melody was adapted to every part of the world to make it as unique as the people listening to it. Though always based on the original Wavin’ Flag by K’Naan, a relatively unknown Canadian artist, over twenty version were made. From the simple whistling that aired in China to the USA remix that featured David Guetta and Will.i.am, each new take gave the same uplifting feeling.

The new branding was a grand success. Not only has that catchy tune received over 87 million hits on youtube.com and over 800 thousand download purchases, Coca Cola’s song has also topped the charts in 17 different countries. After effective reaching millions of people from every corner of the world, Coke’s marketing efforts have set a new standard and they are the team to beat in upcoming years