Do dreams taste?
Dreams are abysses in the mind, which may contain memories and the subconscious, or they may be incoherent and meaningless, and Freud tried to elucidate the strangeness and ambiguity hidden in the dream, but he did not say what the dream tasted like.
Coca-Cola gave an answer:
The taste of dreams is "Dreamworld".
What the dream tastes like, you will know after drinking it
Dreamworld, the fourth product of Coca-Cola Creations, a coca-Cola creative platform, is expected to go on sale in the U.S. and Canada on August 15.
Dreamworld's flavor is based on an elusive concept rather than food, which may be Coca-Cola's intention .
"Bottle the style of Technicolor color techniques and the subconscious surrealism, savor the magic of everyday moments, and dream with your eyes open."
As if something was said, and nothing was said.
However, Dreamworld is destined to have and only 2 flavors, one with sugar and the other with aspartame. The moment you drink Dreamworld, you'll know that Coca-Cola determines what dreams taste like.
Katie Teague, a journalist who tried the zero-sugar version of Dreamworld in advance, believes that it tastes like fruity candy, citrus flavor is more obvious, and it is like Coca-Cola with rainbow sugar.
Journalist Marvo got a sneak peek at the regular version of Dreamworld. In his opinion, it is a tropical fruit flavor cola, the most prominent mango flavor, but also some orange and papaya flavors.
He even really had the feeling of a dream: "Maybe you can imagine yourself sitting on the beach, basking in the sun to get vitamin D, watching the waves gently lapping at the beach." 」
Echoing the taste of dreams, Dreamworld's bright blue packaging and background image feature disco balls, floating cubes and ladders to multidimensional worlds, presenting fantastic landscapes, somewhat similar to the psychedelic art installations of the Coachella Festival.
To engage with Gen Z, Coca-Cola plans to launch a series of immersive digital experiences:
Partnered with the electronic music festival brand Tomorrowland to create an AR music experience and scan the QR code of the bottle to enter; Collaborate with digital fashion brands such as DRESSX to design virtual clothing; Launch of Dreamworld-themed Snapchat AR special effects footage...
AR Music Experience Trailer. Image courtesy of Coca-Cola® Creations Hub
In the real world, Dreamworld will run events on certain college campuses and appear on times square's iconic Coca-Cola billboards to attract more young people's attention.
Coca-Cola said that Dreamworld is the fourth and last release of the Lechuang Boundless Platform in 2022.
From February to August 2022, because Lechuang has no boundaries, Coca-Cola's brain-opening limited new products have appeared one after another.
What Lechuang Wujie wants to do is to give Coca-Cola a new look for more than 130 years of history through limited product launches, immersive interactive experiences, and cultural creativity that fits the younger generation.
That is to say, all products and experiences in the past and in the future will be limited, with a sense of "one period and one meeting".
There is no taste that Coca-Cola dares not define
In February this year, Coca-Cola officially announced that LeleChuang boundlessly launched the platform's first product, "Starlight". As you can see, it was inspired by space.
More than 30 years ago, Coca-Cola partnered with NASA and was one of the first soft drink brands to go into space. In 1985, astronauts sip Coca-Cola in a special space tank.
Space Tank. Image courtesy of Airandspace
Coca-Cola decided to use the galaxy walk to regain its roots. Oana Vlad, coca-Cola's senior director of global strategy, said there is no better way than "paying homage to the past and moving into the future."
The Outer Packaging of the Galaxy Walk features a gradient of color scattered over it, creating a nebula-like feeling that constantly changes in the sun and complements the reddish liquid.
Galaxy Walk Ingredients List.
Coca-Cola calls the Galaxy Walk "with a subtle coolness", but personally it feels like a plum flavor that is easy to grease, not as good as the original taste, and some views believe that it is "cranberry" or "cherry plus raspberry".
Similar to Dreamworld, Coca-Cola designed a digital experience for GalaxyWalk.
Scanning the bottle of the Galaxy Walk, amid the red liquid and gradient lights, pop singer Ava Max will present an AR performance, singing her three hit singles, including "Sweet but Psycho", her figurative interpretation of "Galaxy Walk" - sweet and crazy.
Lechuang Wujie also designed Instagram, Snapchat filters, and AMSR for Galaxy Walk.
Galaxy Walk AMSR.
In the real world, Coca-Cola has partnered with streetwear brands such as Staple to bring galaxy walks into everyday life.
In April, Lechuang Wujie launched its second product, Zero Sugar Byte, Zero Degree Coke. This is the first time that Coca-Cola has created a creative taste with the theme of metaverse, reconstructing the classic logo with pixel squares, which is said to have a "pixel taste".
Once again, Coca-Cola has whistled up the appetite and created an elusive atmosphere. However, when it is introduced, it is also the time of disenchantment, and the "pixel flavor" turns out to be "cherry with plums", "blueberries and lychees", "sugary version of cherry flavor", and even close to "ten pieces of bibabu soaking water".
Just as pixels drive digital connectivity, "rhythm squares" allow people to come together to share beautiful moments. Its series of digital experiences is in the context of such propositions.
In the game Fortnite, Coca-Cola and the game organization PWR co-created an island called Pixel Point. Players can participate in 4 sensory multiplayer mini-games with themes of castles, escapes, competitions and towers. All 4 games require teamwork to practice the original meaning of "connecting".
The packaging itself is also a gateway between the digital world and the physical world. Players can scan bottles into AR games and use their fingers to guide "isolated" Bytes up the spiral staircase to help them return to the Coca-Cola logo.
On June 30, Lechuang Wujie launched its third product, Marshmello's, which is a joint taste with the well-known DJ and Grammy-nominated artist Marshmello, and the first joint name of Lechuang Wujie.
Before the product was released, netizens played with harmonic terriers, speculating that this co-brand was Marshmallow (marshmallow) flavor. It's actually watermelon and strawberry flavor, much more specific than space flavor and pixel flavor, but it's also an unexpected combination of flavors.
Marshmello always wore a black and white helmet, and Coca-Cola redesigned the Coke can with inspiration: the slender, thin white bottle had not only a helmet icon, but also a Coca-Cola remodeled in the Marshmello style.
According to the habit of Lechuang Wujie, what is the digital experience of this co-branded product?
Players can participate in live game adventures on Twitch, gain exclusive access to virtual items designed by face-pinching software Zepeto, or scan the can QR code to enter the Coca-Cola Creations website, where they will create unique digital artwork while listening to Marshmello's new song "Numb".
From galactic walks, rhythmic squares, to co-branding with artists and inspired by dreams, Lechuang Creates Individual Limited and Holistic Continuous Creative Tastes, bringing designs and experiences in both the physical and digital worlds.
Taste has an end, but creativity has no end
Limited products, limited time experience and unlimited creativity, how can Lechuang Wujie play so well?
If Coca-Cola had directly announced a new limited-edition flavor, pointing to it as "plum flavor" or "tropical fruit flavor," people wouldn't have paid much attention to it.
On the contrary, Coca-Cola said that a bottle of ordinary drink actually has the taste of space, pixels, dreams, you always want to try it - this sounds too outrageous, but the cost of trial and error is not high, why not buy it and drink it?
Good at using concepts to give taste mystery, lechuang won half a step from the unbounded start. Metaversities, dreams, and space are not easy to explain clearly, but Coca-Cola is framed by a specific flavor. As long as it is unexpected enough before opening the cap, it will have the effect it deserves.
As Alessandra Cascino, Project Director of Coca-Cola North America Operations, puts it:
Lechuang Boundless plays with unexpected things, which will undoubtedly arouse consumers' attention and controversy... We welcome that.
Moreover, the concepts coca-cola plays with are inherently hot, and themes such as space, metaverse, and dreams are not uncommon in the film, music, games, and fashion industries.
For example, Coca-Cola regards China as one of the key markets of Lechuang Borderless, and cooperates with different young trend circles in China for IP cross-border cooperation. Galaxy Walk and Bubble Mart launched a limited model tide play, with oranges launched theme makeup; The rhythm block invites the virtual female warrior Ren Ziya to endorse it, which fits the concept of the meta-universe.
Therefore, Lechuang Boundless is actually in line with the trend of young culture, around the interest center and cultural trends of Generation Z, starting from media such as music, games and sports, and resonating and establishing connections with a wide range of young consumers.
Lechuang's boundless time limit is similar to the "Drop" model that originated in Streetwear culture, and the novelty of the limited edition and the urgency of "first come, first served" maintain the freshness and surprise of consumers to the brand.
Culture is driven on the inside, and immersive digital experiences are on the outside.
AR, ASMR, social media, online gaming... Lechuang Boundless attracts consumers to participate in a variety of ways, shaping itself into "a young brand that is tech-savvy". Josh Schwarber, senior director of digital design at Coca-Cola, said:
Lechuang Wujie gave us permission to "play". Products will always be at the forefront and center, and at the same time, we are building multi-sensory stories and immersive experiences around each of these creations.
Lechuang is born out of Coca-Cola's new brand concept "Real Magic" released in September 2021: the world is highly connected but divided, and when people embrace conflict and opposition, and praise inclusiveness, the real magic will happen, and it will make daily life no longer ordinary, which is more important than ever.
Manolo Arroyo, Coca-Cola's global chief marketing officer, pointed out that "Real Magic" is not just an advertising slogan, it will be the North Star of advertising and the overall brand.
Lechuang Boundless straddles the physical world and the virtual world, pays attention to popular culture and the trend of the times, keenly grasps the hi-point of youth trends, and tries its best to interact with consumers, which is also a connection. If the galaxy strolls outwards to look up at the sea of stars, Dreamworld looks inward for the infinite possibilities of the soul and pays tribute to the commonality of human nature.
Although Lechuang's boundless creativity is not completely unexpected, and there is a suspicion of repetitive routines, when you notice it, want to try it, and even start thinking about "what does a dream taste like", Coca-Cola has already won.