How Coke Studio ANZ, Supported by BRING and WPP Open X, Allowed Fans to Make Music With Tones and I

By making a song with, not just for, local music fans, Coke Studio ANZ drove over 3 million streams in four weeks, 1 million YouTube views in the first month, and 100 million campaign impressions.

Coke Studio - which originated 15 years ago in Pakistan - saw an opportunity to provide something meaningful to Australian and Kiwi music fans, against the backdrop of festival cancellations and live venues closing.

The Coca-Cola Company’s marketing director - South Pacific, Kate Miller, explained how the brand brought a global property to life and made it relevant to local music fans.

“We looked at what was done globally, and we knew we had to do something different for our audience. The success of Asia wasn’t necessarily going to translate for our audience here. To bring Coke Studio to life in Australia and New Zealand, first of all we wanted to engage local talent, and we felt that was really important as part of the authenticity of what we were trying to create,” she said.

Enlisting the help of global sensation Tones and I, Coke Studio, WPP Open X and BRING chose to elevate two emerging musicians, Australian production prodigy Young Franco and rising Kiwi rapper CHAII.

The artists were asked to create a track from scratch, but rather than keeping it under wraps until the final stages of post-production, fans were involved at every step of the way. The creative process was brought to fans via social media, giving them an ‘Access All Areas pass.’ This ethos was kickstarted by the artists themselves who opened the ‘studio doors’ to fans, allowing them to contribute lyrics, ideas for the music video as well as letting them have an active role in other creative elements of the campaign, like how the single artwork would eventually look.

“We genuinely didn’t have a song at the start of this campaign,” said James Griffiths, BRING’s ECD. “Once we had Tones and I locked in, we really wanted to bring unique artists around her to create a sound that not only complimented what Tones is already doing but also amplify it in new ways.”

From there, Coke Studio and BRING engaged a cohort of great creative talent to further the AAA narrative through social media. These included director Gabe Gasparinatos from Revolver who led the music video production, choreographer Kaea Pearce, visual artist Serwah Attafuah, and fashion designer Erik Yvon. Together, the creatives worked on making fans' wildest dreams a reality by turning their ideas into scenes within the official music video, from bike riding to kissing, ping pong to Coke and Mentos. Each idea was immortalised in stylised tableaus.

While the musicians were only armed with their talent and a phone, fans’ involvement didn’t stop at the music itself. It continued into the creation of the music video and the choreographed dance that has taken TikTok by storm.

More than 300 fans gathered for an exclusive live performance of the track and viewing of the music video. The song, ‘(Can’t Get You) Off My Mind’ isn’t just another Top 40 hit, but a song made with Australian and Kiwi fans.

“The whole journey’s been super authentic,” CHAII said of the artistic process. “To be honest, I wouldn’t expect that from a massive brand. The fact that it’s been that way is so refreshing.”

Speaking of the inter-agnecy collaboration, Anthony Campagna, creative director, WPP Open X said “There’s no one else really that understands how to bring the music world, audiences and brands together like BRING”

Already, the campaign has been awarded globally for its creativity and ingenuity, including a Bronze for Original Music at the recent LIA’s.