How Coca-Cola cooked up meals with ‘The Bear,’ Gigi Hadid and more

A recurrent theme in post-pandemic marketing is that whilst consumers remain hyper-connected through digital technology, they still long for in-person human connection, especially around mealtime. The ability of meals to bring people together drives Coca-Cola’s “A Recipe for Magic,” a worldwide platform that maintains — to paraphrase an old Coke slogan — you can’t beat the true thing.

“A Recipe for Magic” launched in April, backed by model-TV personality Gigi Hadid and an expansive influencer effort. Since then, the hassle has expanded to incorporate tie-ups with celebrity chef Sohla El-Waylly and Hulu hit “The Bear” that key in on making meals magical with good company, great food and an ice-cold Coke.

Apart from its cultural activations, the platform was cited by Coca-Cola chairman and CEO James Quincey on an earnings call for instance of how the corporate linked the brand to consumption occasions en path to 11% organic revenue growth in Q2 2023.

“People eat food to survive, but we’d like meals to live,” Ciara Dixon, senior manager for creative strategy and multicultural marketing lead at Coca-Cola, told Marketing Dive. “Meals really have this straightforward yet universal power to attach us to at least one one other.”

Along with the more than 750 influencers who shared their personal recipes as a part of this system’s launch, “A Recipe for Magic” enlisted high-level brand ambassadors including Hadid, Chinese actor and food enthusiast Yang Yang and Mexican food influencer Oscar Meza to collaborate on content that aired in select markets world wide and across channels including TV, social and out-of-home. 

Hadid brought more than star power to the campaign. The supermodel can also be a gourmand, having won “MasterChef Celebrity Showdown,” gone viral on TikTok with a spicy vodka pasta recipe and being deemed one of the sophisticated foodies on the planet by Gordon Ramsay.

“Gigi Hadid anchored our ‘Recipe for Magic’ creative content,” Dixon explained. “We know she loves food, we all know she loves Coca-Cola, she’s a real brand fan… We worked with Gigi and her team to construct her authentic ‘Recipes for Magic’ that you simply see reflected in our above-the-line communications.”

That food-focused ambassador strategy continued with a June “Billboard to Table” event in New York. The platform’s first scalable cultural activation turned a Coca-Cola billboard into an enormous table, bringing together more than 300 people for a shared meal experience.

As a part of the event, the brand partnered with El-Waylly, the restaurateur and co-host of “The Big Brunch,” to curate a menu of dishes sourced from local restaurants. The event dropped at life Coke’s larger “Real Magic” ecosystem, of which “A Recipe for Magic” is part. 

“’Real Magic’ is the assumption that we are able to find magic once we come together and shared experiences, each live and through digital connection,” Dixon said. “We prefer to embrace bridging the gap between unusual and extraordinary.”

For its latest extraordinary activation, Coca-Cola teamed with streaming sensation “The Bear,” which returned in June for a second season and recently notched 13 Emmy nominations. As a part of the partnership, Coke secured several seamless product placements, including during an intimate meal between Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and her father (Robert Townsend).

Coke also hosted a personal VIP screening of the show’s first three episodes for more than 140 attendees in Los Angeles. The event featured “The Bear”-inspired dishes and an intimate Q&A with select stars from the show, including actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach and celebrity chef-turned-breakout performer Matty Matheson.

“We are curating places for people to make memories, share moments of connection and experience things together, throughout a meal and an ice-cold Coke,” Dixon said. “It’s been really rewarding to see how this will come to life for us.”