Meals used to be a special moment in people's routines. But families are no longer taking the time to sit down together around the table, despite 67% of people saying that sharing a meal reminds them of the importance of connecting with other people (American Heart Association, 2022). In a study by NPR and Harvard University, health researchers reported only about 30% of families eat together regularly. What’s even worse, when they eat together, the average family dinner lasts only 12 minutes (to put it in context, 60 years ago they lasted around an hour and a half). But Coca-Cola believes that there is still a way to turn this situation around and win at the important growth pillar that is Meals. The goal of our campaign? To entertain and inspire people by showing that there is still real magic in shared meals around the table.

People are having fewer and fewer meals together. And when they do, it's always a quick moment rushed because of work, often eating standing up, distracted by their cell phones. The truth is that people don't gather around the table like they used to. So how can we inspire people and remind them that it's still possible to find magic and real connections over meals? Coca-Cola went to places where this happens most: restaurants, and created a frame to emphasize these organic moments happening inside to inspire people observing it from the outside.

The soft drinks category is struggling to connect with the younger audience, and as the category leader, Coca-Cola is also at the receiving end of this problem. When it comes to meals, a crucial strategic pillar for the brand, eating solo went from sad to not just socially acceptable, but even encouraged–in fact, almost half of all adult American meals are consumed alone (Food Unfolded, 2022). Coca-Cola's “Real Magic” brand platform is all about providing uplifting refreshment in moments that matter–so we needed a solution that celebrated the magic of real moments of connection happening around a meal. And if there's one place where people can make real connections and share a meal and Coca-Cola, it’s restaurants. In a world where fewer and fewer people are getting together for dinner or lunch, these places were key to the campaign.

To show that magic still exists during meals around a table, Coca-Cola went to the places where it happens most: restaurants. And to inspire our audience, a special structure that imitates the frame of a painting was created to emphasize these moments of real connection. In other words, instead of advertising on any billboard, we made a special billboard that changes its image every time someone shares a meal. Leveraging real people connecting over real meals, these moments became Coca-Cola ads. To generate scale, the Frame has been implemented in a way that any restaurant and other partner markets can easily adopt the campaign.

Frame the Magic has had an extremely positive impact among fans, as well as reinforcing the brand's iconicity in one of the most important places for Coca-Cola: restaurants and dining tables. The results were beyond expectations, so much so that restaurants in Latin America and elsewhere are already looking to install the frame in their establishments. Another significant outcome was the number of frames produced. Because every time someone, be it a friend or a family member, sat at a table, a new connection was featured in the frame - adding up to more than 400 billboards created from new gatherings (and counting).