Seasonal revamp for Coke's Chihuahua ad

The ad, which was first created by McCann Erickson Madrid, features a busker singing the Chihuahua song on a subway train. It gained huge popularity in Europe after the tune topped music charts in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Austria, and became the theme song for much of Coke's summer marketing activities that year. "The 'Chihuahua' (ad) begins with a sombre street musician strumming a tune on his guitar in a subway train. When another passenger gives him a bottle of Coke, his mood brightens and he bursts into an exuberant tune with just the word 'chihuahua'. The other passengers start dancing and singing as well," said Ida Leung, public affairs and communications executive, Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia, Coca-Cola China. The campaign will run in Hong Kong until January next year. The Chihuahua song will also be played on MTR trains from Admiralty station to Tsim Sha Tsui, with local pop star Joey Yung wishing passengers a happy Christmas and New Year on behalf of 'Coke Chihuahua' from December 20. "This type of MTR sound ad is a first in Hong Kong," added Leung. The campaign will include a large outdoor billboard placed in the Central shopping district, as well as in-store posters. McCann Erickson Guangming, which worked on the local campaign along with media agency Starcom, also designed new packaging, featuring Joey Yung, for the holiday period. The campaign comes after Coke rolled out a range of marketing activities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its return to mainland China. The anchor event was a 'celebration party', which took place in Shanghai, and featured Olympic gold medallist Tang Hai Bin and female soccer star Sun Wen. Special commemorative cans were unveiled at the event, which generated 140 media clips and 30 minutes of TV coverage. In addition, a giant Coca-Cola bottle made up of the commemorative cans was on display in Yu Yuan for two weeks, with consumers winning prizes for guessing the correct number of cans used in the display. The quiz was rolled out via online and print channels, garnering over 3,500 entries to date. The brand also took its Silver Jubilee story onto the nation's TV screens through two TV programmes. The Story of a Brand detailed Coke's success in the country and was broadcast on more than 80 TV stations, while Coca-Cola China chairman Steve Chan featured in a Beijing TV special that marked 25 years of China's economic reform. Coca-Cola estimates that the two shows were worth a total of Rmb 17.26 million in advertising value (US$2.13 million). Additional reporting by Arun Sudhaman