Coca-Cola Company has received a gold and bronze lion at Cannes for a unique marketing campaign called „TRY NOT TO HEAR THIS“.

The idea of this campaign, which appeared in magazines, newspapers, and billboards across Europe, was for fans to try not to hear or imagine the familiar sounds associated with the images they saw – opening a Coca-Cola can or bottle and the famous bubbles.

This way, people instinctively hear and experience the feeling that the recognizable iconography of Coca-Cola and the specific rituals of drinking it evoke in them. As a result, the ad quickly ends up in their minds and invokes a special kind of mood, moment, or memory that Coca-Cola triggers in them. This effect is called synesthesia and represents a spontaneous reaction to two different stimuli in our heads that creates something completely third – a unique impression.

„We all know that Coca-Cola is special and has that ‘something’ that makes it the most popular drink in the world. It evokes a special feeling in people, but it’s hard for them to describe it, probably because it’s a combination of everything it represents to us: a combination of moments of enjoyment and special rituals. We just showed Coca-Cola from the ‘first person’ perspective, and everything else came from the observers who saw that picture. All the magic of our brand came from the people themselves,“ said Milica Vulićević – Basorović, Brand Director Coca-Cola TM, C&E Europe Business Unit, who was awarded for this campaign.

The Gold Lion for print and the Bronze Lion for OOH parts of the campaign rounded off and confirmed that Coca-Cola managed to visualize „that“ feeling people have while drinking it. The campaign was carried out in collaboration with the marketing agency David from Miami and was implemented across Europe.