Coke Studio is a well-recognised music property of Coca Cola. It was initiated as Coke Studio Pakistan in 2008 as a TV series featuring established and emerging artists from various music genres. Coca Cola company partnered with Rohail Hyatt to create Pak version of the show. The first season was premiered in June 2008. These artists collaborated live in studio sessions. The show later shifted to a closed studio format which remains its format to this day. Coke Studio Pakistan was available later across channels and on YouTube. Rohail Hyatt ran it till season six. Strings took over thereafter for four seasons.
Coke Studio was first launched in India in 2011 on TV (MTV India and DD National). Some seasons were also aired on Big FM and AIR. The first season was produced by Leslie Lewis. The later seasons had various other producers. The show continued till 2015. Coke Studio then remained dormant for some years. After an eight year hiatus, it stages a comeback in February, 2023. It has been launched in two avatars — Coke Studio Bharat and Coke Studio Tamil. This time around, the format is digital friendly, and the songs can be experienced across devices and platforms — TV, YouTube or audio OTTs such as Spotify, Gaana, Saavan, Wynk Music and Audible.
India is a country which is crazy for film music. Coke Studio has to stand on its own in such an environment.
Coke Studio in 2023 has been created as Coke Studio Bharat by Ankur Tiwari and Kausar Munir. It covers the indie music scene.
Coke Studio is located at Churchgate , Mumbai.
Coke Studio is an extension of Coca Cola’s real magic philosophy. Music has an ability to unite and uplift. It is the connection point. There is a cultural connect. It is a new experience.
Coke Studio is monitored by technology and data analytics. No doubt, Coke Studio Bharat and Coke Studio Tamil are creative properties, but the money to create them comes from Coca Cola’s advertising budget. Therefore, these properties must deliver in terms of weekly-plus audiences — audiences who are picking up the bottle on a weekly basis. However, the company looks at it on a long term basis. One cannot equate a song to an ad, and expect it to deliver as an ad would. Every song is not an ad.
Coke bottle or packs are their biggest real estate. Each bottle has been turned into a portal that can transport a person straight into Coke Studio. The bottle carries a dynamic QR code, which on scanning, offers an AR, 360 degree experience of the show. It also has a karaoke option. To enter the studio, one needs to feed in one’s phone number. It facilitates tracking — how many people picked up a bottle of c Coke, and how often.
Most of the people who take the AR experience are youngsters below 25 years of age.
The content is updated every month. It tracks the consumer’s liking for the content. There is then data available to change the content or media metric. It also indicates those takers who come back to the franchises. The impact of Coke Studio is measured through consumer engagement.
Lot of song discovery happens through the shorts format. Such as Reels. The research team has changed its approach, and intend to leverage shorts to strategize.
It is not a typical ad model. Here the artist is at the centre. He may not like any tweaks to the creative composition. The artists have their own eco-system that gives them the feedback.
In a person’s usual day, there are breaks and there are meals. Coke wants to be a part of both.
To make the experience physital or physical, the company intends to hold concerts.
Coke Studio adds fizz to Coca Cola.