With Coke Studio coming back to India after an eight year hiatus, we needed to reinvent what Coke Studio Bharat would stand for while staying true to the brand value of authenticity. Our objective was to make Coke Studio Bharat a stage for India’s unrepresented cultures and languages and build a community for them to be a part of pop culture.
Sing to Remember
Using the power of music to awaken forgotten languages
Client
- Coca-Cola
Bureau
- India
As the world’s most global brand, Coke is about bringing people together and Coke Studio gives artists a stage to collaborate.
![Khalasi video case](https://res.cloudinary.com/dotcom-prod/videos/ar_16:9,b_black,c_pad,f_auto,q_auto,so_auto,w_1500/v1/wt-cms-assets/2024/06/fwdm5zalragorrilni5p/khalasivideocase.jpg)
Arnab Roy
Vice President Marketing, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia
A diverse land of 780 languages, India has actually lost 200 languages over the last two decades and risks losing more.
The reason for this linguistic erosion is under-representation in pop culture, which primarily features just Hindi due to Bollywood, India’s massive film industry, and English due to global influences.
Coca-Cola stands for authentically bringing people together and Coke Studio is about empowering artists to collaborate. With Coke Studio Bharat launching in India, we wanted to add purpose to our collaborations and give languages on the verge of being forgotten a stage to persevere.
After eight years, Coke Studio was making its long-awaited return to India, and this time, it was more important than ever. We needed to reach not only loyal fans but also a younger crowd who felt a strong connection to their state's culture.
For these young adults, inclusivity isn't just a trendy idea, it's about recognizing and celebrating their unique experiences and backgrounds. They want to express themselves, see their cultures represented, and keep their languages alive.
Understanding this, we decided to meet them where they spend their time – on platforms like Instagram, YouTube and MOJ. By embracing these channels, with their strong regional presence, we could authentically engage with our audience.
Music has the power to inspire culture and take languages forward. But this time we wanted to use music to celebrate and preserve India’s linguistic diversity.
To launch Coke Studio in India after eight years, we wanted to make it a stage to preserve languages on the verge of being forgotten.
We collaborated with up-and-coming Gujarati artists like Aditya Gadhvi and Achint Thakkar to create “Khalasi” – a song that not only entertained, but also served as a cultural statement.
"Khalasi" beautifully weaved together traditional Gujarati folk elements with hook-step-worthy beats that appealed to both traditionalists and contemporary audiences.
Using influencers, choreographers and singers along with the topicality of Navaratri, a nine-day Gujarati dance festival, we got a billion people to dance, sing and celebrate in Gujarati.
The "Sing to Remember" campaign featuring "Khalasi" didn't just break the internet, it made history in pop culture, surpassing English and Hindi hits on all the charts:
#1 most Shazamed song in India
#3 Spotify daily viral song in India for 90 days
#10 Spotify daily top songs in India for 3 weeks
Globally #8 on Spotify viral charts for 2 weeks
Khalasi garnered 5 billion+ views and 1 billion+ streams
Generated an estimated $50M in earned PR Value
The song was covered and the Gujarati language was mentioned in all the leading national and regional press in India including BBC, Times of India, Times Now, Republic TV, MSN, IMDb, Economic Times, Free Press Journal, India Today, Indian Express, DNA, Zee and more.
The song even graced the opening ceremony of the ICC World Cup 2023 finals and earned praise from Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi – we can't put a monetary value to that...
But the true proof of the Doodh Phak (Gujarati pudding) was getting 11.6 million people to create and post content in Gujarati, proving its cultural significance and cementing its place in the hearts of millions.
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Récompenses
2024 Cannes Lions
PR — Single-Market Campaign
Silver Lion
2024 Cannes Lions
Entertainment Lions for Music — Diversity & Inclusion in Music
Bronze Lion