Coca-Cola promotes sustainability advances with ‘Recycled Records’

Dive Brief:

Coca-Cola is celebrating the switch from green to clear plastic bottles for brands Sprite, Fresca and Seagram’s with a new campaign titled “Recycled Records,” per details shared with Marketing Dive.
The effort includes an original seven-track sound library created by music producers Mark Ronson and Madlib using sounds from the bottle-to-bottle recycling process. Consumers can listen to the tracks or remix them using a digital beat machine found on a special microsite.
A documentary style short film narrated by rap artist MC Lyte draws a connection between music sampling and recycling. The news follows other efforts by the company centered around the elimination of waste.

Dive Insight:

Marketers have continued to embrace musical branding this year as a means to connect with consumers, with Coca-Cola the latest to follow suit. While some tunes are created primarily for entertainment — like State Farm’s “Jazz Bath” — and others are in pursuit of TikTok virality — like McDonald’s Sprite-inspired “Static” — Coca-Cola is using the sounds of recycling to connect consumers to its purpose-driven efforts.

“Recycled Records” is meant to celebrate the switch for three of Coca-Cola’s brands from green to clear plastic, which follows findings that green plastic is more often turned into single-use items that don’t get recycled again, according to the release. To commemorate the switch, Ronson and Madlib utilized actual sound bites from the recycling process, like the beeping of a forklift and cycling of a conveyor belt, to formulate a sound library of seven tracks.

The Recycled Records EP makes a connection between the reusable nature of music sampling and recyclable products. As an example of the concept in action, Coca-Cola is encouraging consumers to reuse the beats for their own tracks with the digital beat machine. A short film ties the ideas together and offers extensive sound recordings at recycling facilities across the nation as well as glimpses into the studios of Ronson and Madlib.

Coca-Cola’s latest move follows other sustainability driven efforts by the company under its World Without Waste initiative, which aims to make 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025. Other marketing efforts have fallen under the same initiative, like a partnership with mobility company Lime to provide free 10-minute rides on a Lime bicycle or electric scooter for consumers that purchase a Coca-Cola Sip Size bottle and pledge to recycle it.