Coca Cola believes a world without waste is possible and it’s doing its part by committing to produce 100% recyclable bottles or investing in collection and recycling infrastructures, but the brand also wants to inspire and mobilize the citizens to join the sustainable movement.

Research shows that disposing waste correctly is not a matter of belief or will, but convenience. If people can’t find proper bins, they won’t recycle. But studies prove that just by making separate collection bins more visible and accessible, recycling rose up by 141%.

So all the brand had to do was to make recycling bins easier to find. In an easy, lighthearted and uplifting way. To do so, Coca-Cola repurposed traditional OOHs around the city, turning them into a highlight system based on a clever design of the brand’s iconic Ribbon.

The OOHs pointed directly to recycling bins in the immediate surroundings, making them ironically stand out even if they were scattered around the city, inspiring better behaviour just by helping people instantly locate something they always had in front of them. Recycling bins became impossible to miss.

Despite research showing that people are willing to recycle and understand the importance of it, 80% of the waste that ends up in a landfill could have been recycled. At the same time, researches prove that recycling goes up by 141% just by making it easier for the citizens.

We decided to inspire a better behaviour by helping them instantly locate something they always had in front of them: separate collection containers scattered around their own city.

For the first time, Coca-Cola didn’t advertise its product, but how to get rid of it correctly. To do so, the brand transformed traditional OOH media spaces into simple, yet iconic signs that indicated the closest recycling bins available nearby. The minimal design was based on Coca-Cola’s most iconic visual element, the Ribbon.

To avoid cluttering the city with additional material, the positioning of the OOHs was carefully selected, in order to find spaces that could be effectively turned into signs for bins that were already there. The bins themselves got a Coca-Cola design treatment to make them stand out even more.

Tens of Coca-Cola Sign OOHs aired in some of the most crowded streets of major cities in the CEE region, putting separate collection bins in the spotlight.

Through monitoring selected OOH locations and data gathered on the locations of concerts, we recorded a 93% increase of packaging correctly disposed and collected, compared to previous years. The plastic bottles have already been given a second life, ending up in the production of the brand new rPET bottles made of 50% recycled plastic.