Coca-Cola Download Happiness Super Bowl XLIX

Role: Designer / Concepting

About:

Premiered during the second quarter of the Big Game with a straighforward call to action – #MakeItHappy – to an estimated 100 million people watching on TV.

The World Is What We Make It. Created by Wieden+Kennedy (Portland) and director Peter Thwaites of The Corner Shop, Coca-Cola's 'Download Happiness' takes a personal approach to inspire worldwide positive change. Filmed on location in Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Shanghai.

Coca-Cola's typically cheerful tone is primarily absent as the spot opens with a sequence of hurtful online messages. But when a bottle of the soda spills into a worldwide Internet server, the mood instantly changes: colors lighten, cruel comments become supportive and the brand's familiar sparkle takes form. Creative directors Lisha Tan and James Allen led the team of artists from The Mill and Mill+ on the topical Super Bowl XLIX spot. 

Tan explains, "Cyber bullying is a major issue today, and we really wanted to make a statement with relatable, sometimes painful moments. I think it's more powerful that way, for example, you really feel that boy's pain on the bus. The end result is very real."

Tan led the artists in defining Coca-Cola's message from a design perspective. "As the story simplified to something raw and personal, the graphics also became more simple. It was all about deciding what a 'digital' Coca-Cola looked like. Focusing on the negative to positive transition during the glitch was an interesting challenge because we wanted fluidity while maintaining a digital feel using elements like binary code. We included elements like binary code to represent the digital side while using starling birds as reference for the fluid aspect. They have a beautiful, smooth pattern of flying, and that lends itself to the uplifting tone at the end - but instead letting that chipper feeling lead the spot, it became a small (but still quite beautiful) part of it. We wanted to let the personal aspect do the talking." 

Track the hashtag #MakeItHappy to follow the campaign.

Credits:

Client: Coca-Cola Super Bowl XLIX

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy (Portland)

Producer: Julia Lafferty

Creative Directors: Anthony Goldstein, Hal Curtis, Jeff Gilette

Account Director: Thomas Harvey

Art Director: Gianmaria Schonlieb

Copywriter: Neil Ramadan

Production Company: The Corner Shop

Record Company: Lime

Director: Peter Thwaites

Executive Producer: Anna Hasmi

Producer: Jennifer Barrons

Director of Photography: Joost van Gelder

Colour: The Mill

Executive Producer, Color: Thatcher Peterson

Color Producers: Antonio Hardy, Natalie Westerfield

Production Coordinator, Color: Diane Valera

Colorist: Adam Scott

Color Assists: Genma Parr, Nick Sanders, Chris Obal

Editing Company: Work Editorial

Editor: Neil Smith

Edit Assist: James Bird

VFX: The Mill

Design: Mill+

Senior Executive Producer: Sue Troyan

Executive Producer, Design: Reno Robertson

Senior VFX Producer: Chris Harlowe

Shoot Supervisor: James Allen

Executive Creative Director: Angus Kneale

Creative Directors: Lisha Tan, James Allen

2D Artists: Alex Candlish, Becky Porter, Edward Black

3D Artists: Krystal Sae Eva, Cory Cosper, Martin Rivera, Steven Olson, Luis Sanchez, Katie Yancey

Motion Graphics: Eugene Gauran, Kyle Romaneck, Helen Hsu, Justin Sucara, Mark Kulakoff, Bryan Lee, Diffan Norman, Greg Park

Art Department: Jeff Langlois, Brett Lopinsky, Laurence Konishi

Production Coordinator: Karina Ford