Coca-Cola Launches First New Campaign Since Lockdown: “Open Like Never Before”

Coca-Cola Nigeria launches a new campaign, “Open Like Never Before”, its first since COVID-19 changed the world in so many ways.

Coca-Cola in Nigeria temporarily suspended all planned marketing activity in April, redirecting resources towards communities and supporting its most affected retail partners. 

Alongside its bottling partners and The Coca-Cola Foundation, the company pledged to donate more than $100 million globally to organisations leading local relief efforts and in Nigeria, it has provided a grant to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

This partnership with the IFRC impacts 1.3 million people in Nigeria and other countries in the region.

Now, Coca-Cola is returning to the air in Nigeria with a new campaign. Open Like Never Before created and developed by 72andSunny Amsterdam, marks a time of cultural and social change. It begins with a manifesto written specifically for Coca-Cola by award-winning spoken word artist, George The Poet.

That manifesto is founded in the promise of new possibilities discovered through lockdown and calls on us all to be “open, like never before” and to appreciate all that we have around us. The words of George encourage us to be “open to change”, to appreciate things from a new perspective and to find opportunities in this ‘new normal’. 

Speaking on the thought process behind the campaign, Public Affairs & Communications Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, said: “Open Like Never Before is founded in the belief that we do not have to go ‘back’ to normal. Instead we can all move forward and make the world not just different, but better. It supports and celebrates our retail partners too, including local hotels, cafes and restaurants, many of whom will be reopening their doors to communities after a very challenging time for the industry, but who have always been at the heart of our social fabric.”

The manifesto launch will be followed by a sustained programme of in-market activities throughout the year into 2021.

Many of these activities will focus on supporting local hotels, cafes and restaurants who are the lifeblood of local communities and are now reopening their doors.

They will include:

• A digital activity designed to remind us all of the moments we have enjoyed, whether alone or with others, in our local cafes, restaurants and bars, inviting us – as their doors re-open – to appreciate these moments that we may have previously taken for granted.
• Supporting HORECA partners (hotels, cafes and restaurants) by lending additional promotional resources and expertise. This activity will enable Coca-Cola to demonstrate its support of the hospitality industry by sponsoring ads that can be customised and shared across social media in an authentic and tailored way, helping them communicate that they are once more open for business. Supporting HORECA partners (hotels, cafes and restaurants) by lending additional resources and expertise to enable them to make their own adverts. This new brand-building platform will enable Coca-Cola to demonstrate its support of the hospitality industry by sponsoring ads that can be customised and shared across social media in an authentic and tailored way, helping them communicate that they are once more open for business.
• Employees and consumers will also be encouraged to support their local HORECA outlets via a social media campaign.

The broader Open Like Never Before campaign (#openlikeneverbefore) will also invite the public to participate, asking people to tell each other and the world what they want to be different, and how they pledge to be open like never before.

Additional campaign elements will include: 

• Inspiration from the words of George the Poet teased on OOH, DOOH and social media.
• A 30”/60”TVC – created during lockdown – supported by more OOH/DOOH.
• A consumer-facing call-to-action and engagement plan via social media which will run across the year.

London communications consultancy, Blurred, is working alongside 72andSunny Amsterdam on this campaign.