Doing Coke at the Office
Office , produced by
the Leo Burnett Co. Inc. of Chicago for the Coca-Cola Co.
Office opens in a
very proper, high-ceilinged office space. Its rows of well-ordered desks--far
from the power and privilege of a private office--evoke the worst fears about
the dehumanizing places where corporate careers begin.
Then we hear the whoosh of a
cap turning on a bottle of Diet Coke. The guy opening the soda (dressed in a
white shirt and tie--at least you can take your jacket off at your desk) has
broken not only the silence but also the rules.
Heads turn at other desks as
big-band music strikes up and the Diet Coke drinker spins away in his desk
chair. Suddenly decked out in a snazzy blue suit, he starts dancing
acrobatically, Astaire-style, and singing the soda's theme, Sinatra-style
("just for the feel of it" updates the long-running "just for the taste of it"
theme of previous Diet Coke campaigns). The lighting changes, too, making the
office space look like the inside of a nightclub.
Diet Coke takes you off the
beaten career track, the spot suggests. It liberates the young rebel who's
doing what he has to do to get ahead, but who still doesn't take it all too
seriously.
We've seen these visuals
before. It's Steve Martin in Pennies From Heaven . Our guy is being
transported to a different astral plane. And the vehicle is Diet Coke. He
dances off the walls and over to the desks of two women, who smile up at
him--they've caught the mood. This is the kind of guy who gets the girls. We
know that for sure as he turns toward one of them, strokes her chin, and hands
her the bottle. The narrator tells us that "everyone is singing to the sound of
Diet Coke," and invites us to win CDs and trips to the Grammies by checking the
bottom of the bottle cap. (The fine print about a "one-in-nine" chance
acknowledges regulations about truth in advertising: Even a rebel has to
conform to some rules.)
After the bottle cap flips
off, revealing "YOU WIN," we cut to the latest in audio gear--and to one of the
office women dressed up for a night on the town. She dances and dips with our
guy as he sings, "My place or yours." On his knees, he offers a rose to yet
another woman--and the spot cuts back to normal. The lighting is
fluorescent-bright as the bald boss looks out of his private-office door. (This
is who our guy wants to become but is desperately afraid of becoming.) The boss
has heard something, but the office looks as bland as usual. Was it just the
whoosh of the cap turning that disturbed the silence of this cathedral of
commerce? Or was it all a dream?
As the boss closes his door,
the on-screen chyron reads: "Diet Coke. Uncapped. Just for the sound of it."
"Uncapped" is a direct reference to MTV's popular "Unplugged" series, in which
electrified rockers strip down to acoustic to reach the essence of their music.
Getting uncapped with Diet Coke presumably allows office workers a similar shot
at authenticity. And the chance of winning a trip to the Grammies is more than
a prize. It signifies that Diet Coke is a with-it product that evokes the inner
music of youth, of being yourself wherever you are. Lest anyone miss this
point, when the bald boss shuts his door, our guy (off-screen) sings: "One more
time!"
Diet Coke
may be a low-calorie drink, but its makers have never marketed it as a beverage
for the overweight. You're supposed to drink Diet Coke because you like it, not
because you have to drink it. You're a rebel who refuses to leave your youth
behind. You drank Diet Coke before you got to the office, and while the bald
guy can order you around, he can't take your soda away from you.
--Robert
Shrum
