Coke ad from Spain has grown men falling to their knees crying

March 12, 2009

One of the hottest videos right now is this Coca-Cola commercial from McCann Erickson featuring a 102-year-old Spanish man.
(It's up there with other hot videos featuring talking fish and exploding apples.)
Released in Spain in January as part of the brand's "Open happiness" campaign, it's logged more than 100,000 views on YouTube and inspired hundreds of blog posts.

The ad, which is in Spanish, shows the man traveling to see the (real) birth of a girl named Aitana, the newest addition to his family. He then tells the baby that he believes we were all born to be happy. The ad is supported by outdoor ads in seven Spanish cities that beckon people to take pictures of themselves in their own moments of happiness.



They're also encouraged to post words of advice for newborns on a Web site. Somewhat creepily, Coke has also collaborated with hospitals in Spain so that parents can set up webcams in nurseries, allowing Internet users to see newborns in their first hours of life and send them their "messages of optimism." Dubbed versions of the ad have aired in Portugal and Italy, but a Coke rep says there are no plans yet to bring it to the U.S.