‘Rainbow for a Rainbow Nation’, Coca-Cola South Africa’s activation to commemorate 20 years of democracy in the country, shone across the Atlantic on Thursday night taking two of the prestigious Grand Awards at the 2015 New York Festival International Advertising Awards.
With a Grand Award in the Outdoor as well as the Avant-Garde category, this was a tremendous achievement for the local Coca-Cola marketing team and its marketing partner, FCB Joburg. Using sunlight, water, some fancy science and a little bit of magic, the rainbows were conjured up in the Johannesburg CBD by FCB Joburg and a technical team led by a globe-trotting rainbow-maker from the United States.
The moments of happiness created by the Coca-Cola rainbows were captured on film, and shared over the social media networks, including , and through a case study.
In addition to the two Grand Award wins, FCB South Africa was also this year’s recipient of the Regional Agency of the Year for Middle East & Africa.
“We were blown away when we received the news,” said FCB Group CEO, Brett Morris. “We’re still buzzing from last week’s news that FCB Joburg’s latest television spot for Coca-Cola South Africa – ‘Bobby 2’ – topped the Millward Brown AdTracK Top 10 Most Liked TVCs for the fourth quarter of 2014.
“We didn’t think we could ask for more cherries on the cake but this managed to do it! Congratulations to FCB Joburg’s executive creative director, Jonathan Deeb, and his team, and of course our brave client and her team, Coca-Cola South Africa marketing director Sharon Keith for backing this audacious idea from start to finish.”