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This is sure to be a big year for The Coca-Cola Company, which is gearing up to sponsor huge events including the Paris Olympics. So it’s kicking things off with a bang, with a rare campaign touting its portfolio of beverages including Diet Coke and Honest Juice.
The hero spot was inspired by Hulu’s hit series The Bear, and was directed by the show’s creator Chris Storer.
Created in partnership with agency Majority and produced by Smuggler, “New Guy” follows protagonist Zach as he nervously meets his girlfriend’s spirited family—who each have a different favorite Coca-Cola beverage—during a chaotic game day celebration.
As the audience is introduced to the eclectic tribe (there’s a fun running joke about Zach’s height), we get glimpses of their drinks of choice: A discussion about an athlete’s record prompts an emphatic use of a Coke Zero can, an onlooker quietly holds her Smartwater, kids are coaxed out of a busy kitchen with Honest Juice boxes, and Zach’s girlfriend clutches a Fanta as she adoringly watches her family quickly embrace her beau.
In addition to Storer’s directorial style and the cast having been featured in the series, fans of The Bear may recognize some (mercifully non-dysfunctional) similarities to the star-studded Season 2 episode “Fishes.” Coca-Cola’s director of content and creative excellence, Alex Ames, hopes all the nods will whet viewers’ appetite in between seasons of the show.
“I’m always a big believer that if you make something great enough, you can outkick your media coverage by people sharing this and going, ‘Oh, we’re between Season 2 and Season 3 … look at this thing Chris Storer did with Coca-Cola,’” Ames told Adweek.
The ad was shot during the writers strike, allowing Storer to not only take part in the project but use his show’s crew and camera lenses—creating an additional family dynamic throughout the shoot.
“I think [that dynamic] really came through in how we told this family story … with our family of products,” he said. “It’s rare in our industry to have a family of products [shown] like that.”
