Coca-Cola | 2024
Coca-Cola Celebrates the Hand-Painted Logos Shopkeepers Never Got Right / Coca-Cola "Thanks for Coke-Creating"
In bodegas and small shops around the world, owners have been painting their own versions of the Coca-Cola logo. Instead of telling them to fix it, the brand officially celebrated it.
The problem
In shops across Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and other places, shop owners and sign painters have long kept drawing their own hand-painted versions of the Coca-Cola logo.
The insight
Coca-Cola decided to see this not as a mistake that needed correcting, but as proof of love for the brand—choosing to embrace it rather than fix it.
The idea
They gathered hundreds of hand-painted logos from around the world and used them exactly as they were, in ads and on special-edition cans. From a billboard in Times Square to vending machines and trucks, these shopkeepers' own drawings became the face of the brand.
What happened
At Cannes Lions 2024, the campaign won 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze, and 22 Shortlists. Coca-Cola became the first-ever winner of Creative Brand of the Year, taking home 17 Lions in total.
Afterthought
Rather than correcting the "imperfect" logos shop owners had painted, the brand put them up on signs just as they were. Choosing the love behind them over perfection—it's a decision that quietly sinks in.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2024
