Sprite tunes into Gen Z with 'Limelight' music programme

Coca-Cola brand Sprite is seeking to bring itself closer to Gen Z’s hearts and minds by connecting emerging artists and their fans through inspirational stories of prevailing over life’s pressures. Sprite Limelight - the brand's global music platform - sees grammy-nominated producers Take A Daytrip collaborate with Doechii, Fireboy DML, XAMÃ, Lay Zhang, Blxckie, and Mahalia around original new tracks to share their relatable stories of overcoming the heat in their lives. The campaign is designed to encourage a worldwide Gen Z audience to "stay cool when #HeatHappens".

Fans of Limelight will be offered original new tracks, music videos and emotive, relatable storytelling, designed to deliver 'that much needed cool-down for when the tension rises'.

Laddering up to Sprite’s global marketing narrative ‘Heat Happens’ and rolling out across North America, Europe, China, LATAM and Brazil, the campaign is based on the insight that, for many, music is the antidote to the everyday stresses of life, helping them to prevail and keep a cool head in the face of adversity.

Sprite Limelight original tracks center around a core 'hook' created by Take A Daytrip, who Sprite engaged to serve as musical creative directors for season three. Each artist had the freedom to reinterpret the hook according to their own unique artistic vision – sampling it, re-singing it, changing lyrics or melodies – to infuse it with their own artistry and tell their personal stories of heat in their lives and how they pushed through. High-concept music videos for each unique song vividly illustrate these stories and bring each artist's music to life in a way that shows how they've prevailed over a moment of heat.

As a special extension to this year’s program, Sprite will release a unique music video for Young Miko’s track “Rookie of the Year,” which was produced by Mauro and Jota Rosa.

Recognising Young Miko’s history of prevailing over heat, Sprite saw this fan-favorite deep cut from her recent album att. as an ideal fit for the Limelight program. The new video will provide fans with a deeper look into the story of the track. Special performances during her upcoming US and LATAM tour (also sponsored by Sprite Limelight) will further bring its message directly to fans.

To inspire Gen Z to turn their own heat into beats, a new music remix tool ‘Soundlabs, available in the Coca-Cola app and powered by AI, will offer fans the opportunity to create their own tracks using Take A Daytrip’s original hook. Fans will be invited to share their creations on social via the #HeatHappens hashtag to connect with a global community prevailing over life’s pressures.

“Recognising music as a powerful emotional and physical outlet for both artists and fans alike, the creation and launch of Sprite Limelight evolved as a natural expression of our global ‘Heat Happens’ platform”, commented Abhijit Datta, vice president marketing sparkling flavours.

“For season three of the program, we’re excited to bring together an incredible mix of talent, each sharing their own stories of ‘heat’ to create deeper connections with their fans who turn to music as a source of cool catharsis and a powerful prevail tool when the heat hits," Datta added.

Sprite Limelight Season Three will be amplified both online and offline to engage Gen Z through paid and earned media, including influencer partnerships and a partnership with Spotify, allowing consumers to listen to artist-curated playlists, revealing the tracks they turn to when they need to cool down and switch off.

Limited-edition, scannable packaging designed by Zimbabwean graphic designer Sindiso Nyoni (aka R!OT), OOH placements, banner ads, exclusive merch collaborations, interactive festival and local market event activations, as well as in-store and shopper activations, will make Sprite Limelight Season 3 unmissable.

Sprite Limelight, from its inaugural launch through all subsequent seasons, plus all multi-channel activation elements, has been created in partnership with Universal Music Group For Brands and WPP Open X, led by Ogilvy and supported by EssenceMediacom, Subvrsive and VML, alongside Tátil Design.

Richard Yaffa, EVP of Universal Music Group For Brands added: “This new season of Sprite Limelight showcases our ongoing commitment at UMGB to connect established brands like Sprite with culturally relevant artists worldwide. By collaborating with Sprite, we’re highlighting the personal stories and individual sounds of these artists. Each track in this series reflects the pressures and triumphs of today’s generation. These narratives, brought to life through music, have the power to inspire audiences globally.”

Tim MacLehose, global category lead for Sprite at WPP Open X said: “For this year’s Sprite Limelight Season, we’ve united expertise from across the Open X network and partnered with our friends at UMG to create a campaign that aims to truly resonate with Gen Z. I am incredibly proud of the global music platform the team has built, allowing our featured artists and the brand to connect and engage with this audience through music." Sprite Limelight seaon three debuts on July 1, 2024, with an artist trailer on YouTube giving a glimpse behind the scenes of the creation process, teasing each artist's heat story, and showcasing how they keep a cool head.

Artists' new music tracks and videos will be dropped on their YouTube and Spotify channels along with Sprite's global channel.