Coca-Cola is marking its 100th anniversary in style by kicking off a global package design campaign featuring iconic celebrities Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Ray Charles.

Born on November 16, 1915, the Coca-Cola bottle was the creation of the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana (US).

With its unmistakable curves and a distinctive contour, the bottle has become a global icon, inspiring a century’s worth of signature moments in film, social history, design and the fine arts, said a statement from the soft drink giant.

To mark the milestone, the company has planned a year-long campaign that includes new advertising, a music anthem and a series of art exhibits featuring works from some of the world’s leading contemporary artists including Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell and Peter Blake.

The design is so distinctive that it could be recognized by touch alone and so unique that it could be identified when shattered on the ground, said a senior official.

“Since its creation in 1915, the Coca-Cola bottle has achieved iconic status as a symbol of refreshment and uplift and it remains an important asset for our business today,” remarked Marcos de Quinto, the chief marketing officer, The Coca-Cola Company.

“The campaign, which will be executed in over 130 countries, is our invitation to consumers around the world to share in the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola,” he noted.

The Coke Bottle 100 campaign will come to life through a number of elements, including:
•The Coca-Cola Bottle: An American Icon at 100 - Art Exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia
•The Coca-Cola Bottle: Inspiring Pop Culture for 100 Years - Traveling Art Tour
•14 new television and digital films
•Kissed By – Out of Home and print campaign featuring iconic celebrities
•Nobody Like You – New Music Anthem from emerging artist, Francesco Yates
•Kiss The Past Hello – A book published by Assouline and featuring classic and contemporary images of the bottle
•Story of the Coca-Cola Bottle App – Interactive journey for consumers through the Coca-Cola archives in Atlanta

The High Museum of Art, in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company, will present The Coca-Cola Bottle: An American Icon at 100, a four-part exhibit that will salute the Coca-Cola bottle and its special place in the worlds of art, design and commerce over the past 100 years.

For the first time ever, two original Andy Warhol Coke Bottle paintings will be displayed alongside more than 100 original bottle-inspired artworks and photographs.

The exhibit will also include original bottle prototypes and sketches and will open to the public today (February 28) and close on October 4.

A travelling art exhibition, The Coca-Cola Bottle Art Tour: Inspiring Pop Culture for 100 Years, will take consumers on a unique, multi-sensory journey featuring an array of Coca-Cola bottle themed art, historical artifacts and interactive experiences which showcase the Coca-Cola bottle’s role in art and popular culture.

The exhibition will visit more than 15 countries and travel 62,000 miles around the world in 2015.

The Coca-Cola bottle’s legacy will be explored through film in 14 unique television and digital films that will be aired globally in 2015.

One spot from Ogilvy & Mather Paris tells the epic tale of the creation of the Coca-Cola bottle, as narrated by a big brother to his younger sibling. The bottle travels through distant lands and curious settings, captivating the boy’s imagination.

It is through this journey that the bottle obtains its unique features - its iconic curves, its flutes and red ribbon - and gets filled with icy-cold Coca-Cola as it ends its ride back in the hands of the refreshed older brother.

The additional spots were produced by Ogilvy & Mather Paris, Wieden + Kennedy Portland, Sid Lee Canada and McCann Madrid.

“Nobody Like You” is the new music anthem for the Coca-Cola bottle campaign from 19 year-old, Canadian singer/songwriter Francesco Yates. Originally discovered at 16 years old, Yates is now signed to Atlantic Records.

The anthem’s lyrics tell both a traditional love story and serve as an ode to the contour shape of the Coca-Cola bottle and the specialness of shared moments. “Nobody Like You” debuts today and is available via digital download. The song will also appear on radio and in Coca-Cola television commercials throughout 2015.

Iconic pop-stars and notable Coca-Cola fans Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Ray Charles unite in the new ‘Kissed By’ global out of home, digital and retail campaign.

The images feature the stars being ‘kissed by’ the Coca-Cola bottle, an experience shared across generations for the last 100 years. Between takes at RCA Victor’s Studio 1 on East 24th Street in New York City, American musician Elvis Presley laughs as he drinks a Coca-Cola on July 2, 1956.

At the recording session, Presley and his band recorded both ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Don’t Be Cruel’. Throughout the year, local markets will further leverage ‘Kissed By’ featuring modern-day celebrities and musical icons.

The beverages giant, in partnership with French publishing house Assouline, will release a limited-edition book highlighting the rich history of the Coca-Cola bottle, titled 'Kiss the Past Hello'.

In addition to famous artwork featuring the Coca-Cola bottle, the company has invited contemporary artists and designers from around the world to reinterpret the bottle in their own signature aesthetic.

The result is a stunning array of “mash-up” artwork, which will be showcased in the book when it is released in March 2015.

To share the rich heritage with consumers in a contemporary way, the company has created Story of the Coca-Cola Bottle App that takes one through a behind-the-scenes look at the Coca-Cola Archives featuring stories about both the brand and the bottle from inside its headquarters in Atlanta, said the company in a statement.

Throughout the year, Coca-Cola Journey will act as a hub for all centennial celebration content, providing a single destination for consumers to experience the campaign, it added.-TradeArabia News Service