Coca-Cola
For the Rio 2016 Olympics, Coca-Cola built its global #ThatsGold campaign around the idea that everyone has gold moments, not only medallists — and delivered much of it through creators rather than through the broadcast sponsorship its category usually relies on.
- Single creator video
- 1.9M views
- Channels
- Instagram Stories, YouTube, Facebook
- Scope
- Global, teen-focused
What happened
Coca-Cola recruited creators including Cody and Alli Simpson, British YouTuber Jake Boys and Brazilian YouTuber Christian Figueiredo, each interpreting what a "gold moment" meant to them. A two-minute video pairing Figueiredo with the Coca-Cola polar bear drew 1.9 million views.
The campaign is worth studying as a hinge point. In 2016 an Olympic sponsor’s default was a television buy; routing the teen-facing half of the campaign through Instagram Stories, then only weeks old, was a genuine bet. It is now the default.
A physical anchor supported it: the Coca-Cola Olympic Station in Rio, where visitors made shareable 360-degree images alongside athletes and musicians.
Campaign details
- Campaign
- #ThatsGold
- Launched
- 2016
- Sector
- Food & beverage
- Platforms
- Instagram, YouTube and Facebook
Creators involved
- Cody Simpson
- Alli Simpson
- Jake Boys
- Christian Figueiredo
What to take from it
A sponsorship buys the right to be present. Creators are what turn presence into something the audience actually watches.