Coke unveils ‘The Happiness Flag’ at 2014 FIFA World Cup
Thursday, 19 June 2014 00:00
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Containing fan images from 207 countries the flag is displayed on-pitch at Arena de Sao Paulo
Thirty-two countries are represented by their national football team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup last week, the faces of football fans from 207 countries made it onto the pitch at Arena de Sao Paulo.
Ahead of the opening match, Coca-Cola unveiled ‘The Happiness Flag’ – the largest-ever, digitally produced Photomosaic Flag. The Flag is part of the Coca-Cola 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign, ‘The World’s Cup’ – launched with the goal of creating the most inclusive FIFA World Cup Coca-Cola campaign ever.
Over 200,000 fan images were used for ‘The Happiness Flag’ to recreate a unique design developed by Brazilian street artist Speto in collaboration with Argentinian artist Tec. The flag was digitally-produced by Robert Silvers, the inventor of Photomosaic technology.
‘The Happiness Flag’ was placed on the pitch ahead of the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in front of an estimated global audience of over one billion people. Formed of 192 printed nylon fabric panels, the Flag was stitched together to deliver an epic 3,015 square meter piece of art, covering almost the entirety of the playing surface.
Emmanuel Seuge, Vice President Global Alliances & Ventures, The Coca-Cola Company said: “At the start of our campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, ‘The World’s Cup’ we set out to create the most inclusive and participatory FIFA World Cup ever. Through ‘The Happiness Flag,’ we gave fans from all around the world the unprecedented opportunity to be a part of the greatest football stage of all. Football has an incredible power to bridge social, cultural and geographical divides and ‘The Happiness Flag’ is the perfect illustration of this power, creating a shared experience for people.”
The Coca-Cola 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign, ‘The World’s Cup’, celebrates the inclusive spirit shared by Coca-Cola, football and the tournament’s host country, Brazil. “We knew we couldn’t make a claim like ‘The World’s Cup’ without proving it,” Seuge continues. “And we’ve proved it in a number of ways, from our films to the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. Now, ‘The Happiness Flag’ has provided the perfect culmination by bringing people from 207 countries together to participate in the FIFA World Cup.”
Speto, who also created the Coca-Cola 2014 FIFA World Cup VIS, was quick to respond to the challenge to create a design for the flag. “When we first briefed Speto, he told us, ‘While Brazil and Argentina have a historic rivalry in football, in art, we are comrades,’” recalls Brad Fields, Coca-Cola Global Licensing Manager, “And that’s what this project is all about: ‘Hilltop’ on a flag’” – in reference to the iconic 1971 Coca-Cola ad featuring a multinational chorus of young people gathering on a hilltop in Italy to sing together.
“Football is everyone’s sport and Coca-Cola is everyone’s beverage. The FIFA World Cup at Brazil 2014 provides the world’s leading beverage brand – Coca-Cola – an opportunity to help celebrate football as a “force for good”. Our programs and initiatives around the football World Cup will leverage our existing partnerships in the arena of grassroots football as well as our global scale and local activations. While our association with football across the world has been long standing, this month long carnival of football will give us another opportunity to bring people together in Sri Lanka,” said Abhishek Jugran, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Sri Lanka and Maldives
