Coca-Cola fist bumps

With a series of designs based on the act of fist bumping, Coca-Cola launches its campaign for Latin America. Messages of true friendship challenge teenagers to think about what they would do for a friend during difficult times. The campaign, from Pereira & O’Dell, includes web shorts, social activation, mobile actions, print ads, a TV spot, radio commercial, packaging, and outdoor advertising.

Using Coca-Cola’s iconic symbol—the white ribbon on a red background, which is different from the one Ogilvy used in 2012 for Cannes—a series of designs have been created imitating the act of fist bumping, a symbol of complicity where both arms belong to different and opposing visual and identification styles.

During the last Super Bowl, Coca-Cola launched an anti-bullying campaign with the slogan good vibes. This highly concerning issue of recent years did not reflect the real problems teenagers face today. However, this campaign has a clear and immediate message, specifically against cyberbullying.

The campaign has a very emotional tone, using the hashtag #TrueFriend. It suggests that shared moments in adolescence offer human beings a sense of identity and belonging, which is conveyed through the shorts. In them, teenagers defend their friends during embarrassing moments that required a lot of courage and bravery.

These types of campaigns tell memorable and highly emotional stories. They are very characteristic of the Coca-Cola brand. But although the tone of the pieces has a high level of emotion and sentiment, opinions on social media regarding the graphics featuring the fists have suggested that they don't convey the message in the same way.

Below, you can see the graphic pieces and the TV spot. This spot features music by the American band One Direction.

Coca-Cola fist bumps