While it may have less edge than your conventional rollie, the times and places in which Diet Cokes are being consumed are strikingly similar to smoking rituals; for the more health-conscious, Hoka-wearing generation, cracking open a diet soft drink for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up has replaced lighting up (not to mention vaping, but that’s another article.)

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola hasn’t had to do anything to create this cultural cachet. Being such an iconic brand, they’ve acquired the right to sit back, relax, and watch consumers do the work for them. But what’s the point in being iconic if you don’t use it?

We could amp up the vice aspect of Coke’s ‘fridge ciggies’? Creating Diet Coke areas akin to that of smoking areas.

But, to defy convention, you need to see differently.

Coca-Cola has been so focused on what wellbeing looks like (cue gleaming people with pearly white teeth clinking glass bottles on a beach as they ‘open happiness’.) But what about what wellbeing feels like?

In this fast-paced world of increased work pressures, where you spend more time face to face with fellow commuters than you do opposite your spouse at the dinner table – people are seeking connection. They’re seeking escape.* We all need a break.

Enter a tag-line as old as Kate Moss’s first pair of low-rise jeans (1994 to be exact), except this time it’s less about looking hot as you take a minute, and more about keeping cool amidst the pressures of the modern world. It’s the ‘Diet Coke Break’. Rejuvenated.

What if…

We broke the ‘Diet Coke Break’ (or, less catchily ‘3pm Fridge Cig’), and extended it into a lifestyle. From hourly habit, into daily ritual.

It’s not just a can. It’s a cue to prioritise your wellbeing.

It’s time to Give Yourself a Break.

The addiction to ‘Fridge Cigarettes’, paired with a yearning for escapism, gives Coca Cola a powerful recipe for bringing people together. By drawing influence from the world of wellness and substance support groups, the brand can give fridge cigarette dependents the real break they need.

In parks across major cities around the world, Coca Cola can offer frazzled workers an antidote to burnout. Using the iconic branded can as a vehicle for invitations, Coke can communicate directly to Dan in Canary Wharf as he runs to Tesco’s on his 30 second lunch break, by offering him something more than just a Diet Coke Break – to pause for thought as he wolfs down his BLT.

So go on, Give Yourself a Break.

Ready to crack open the next cultural cachet?
Get in touch