Legends Magic Johnson & Tamika Catchings Front Coke Zero Sugar March Madness Campaign

The last week of February saw Coke Zero Sugar roll out a 2023 NCAA March Madness marketing push fronted by two basketball legends – Magic Johnson and Tamika Catchings – in a celebrity packed campaign that also features comedy duo Dave Burd (Lil Dicky) and Travis (Taco) Bennett and continues the brand’s ongoing ‘Tasty Enough To Steal’ and ‘Best Coke Ever?‘ initiative.

 

The soft drinks giant’s annual Division One college hoops campaign was spearheaded by a pair of star-studded, 30-second spots which highlight the product’s ‘Best Coke Ever‘ campaign now that has a simplified packaging design and new formula.

 

The spots – ‘Bodega’ and ‘Diner’ – dropped online from 21 February and will run premier nationally on television during the 4 March, blockbuster NCAA regular season finale between UNC and Duke and then will run throughout the tournament.

 

‘The Best Coke Ever? | Diner | March Madness 2023’ features Tamika Catchings and is set in a classic American diner and features Lil Dicky and Taco arguing about who is the best women’s March Madness star of all time and who is stealing the Coke Zero Sugar?

 

 

While ‘Bodega’ sees Magic Johnson appear as the comics argue over who is the best stealer of all time.

 

 

Supporting the TV commercials, Coke’s March Madness campaign includes outdoor advertising, sampling, commemorative cans, on-campus college events across the US and experiential activations in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four host cities – Houston and Dallas.

 

The campaign was created by agency Cartwright, produced by Smuggler and edited by Cartel.

 

 

Comment

 

The basketball linked work further builds on the idea that Coke Zero Sugar is worth ‘taking’ and continues to ask the question as to whether it is the ‘Best Coke Ever?’

 

Back in early February 2023, the brand aimed to target teen drinkers and Gen Zers when it worked with WPP Open X (led by AKQA and Ogilvy) and a set of six influencers to introduce its ‘tasty enough to steal’ idea and create mobile games featuring characters called ‘Taste Takers’.

 

 

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was reformulated in 2021 and since then has been one of the company’s strongest beverage performers with sales were up 30% across all retail channels in the USA (according to Beverage Digest).

 

Its success has already seen rival PepsiCo take note and launch its own Pepsi Zero Sugar.