Coke Zero’s ‘Auditions’ campaign puts method acting to the test

Coca-Cola’s latest campaign for Coke Zero, conceived by Ogilvy, takes a quirky route by turning method acting into the pitch. In the ‘Coke Zero Auditions’ film, aspiring actors are asked to pretend they’re sipping Coke Zero—with no bottle in hand. The catch? They have to make it look so convincing that viewers can almost taste it.

What looked like casting tapes of actors pretending to sip from invisible Coke cans turned out to be the actual campaign. Created by Ogilvy, the minimalist ‘Coke Zero Auditions’ film is all performance, no product.

There’s no branding, no voiceover, not even a can. Just actors “drinking” nothing—and selling the idea that Coke Zero delivers full flavour with zero calories. The visual metaphor? It refreshes like the real thing but has zero impact on your intake. Smart, stripped down, and impossible to ignore.

Greishma Singh, vice president, marketing, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia added, “Across geographies and generations, Coca-Cola is known for its taste and iconicity and Coke Zero for all the delicious Coke taste with no calories. This campaign leans into the simplicity of a very clever idea to bring the delicious taste of a Coke Zero to life without the usual taglines, direct messaging… without even showing the product!”

This campaign has been conceptualised by Ogilvy India as a part of WPP Open X. Commenting on the creative insight behind the campaign, Sukesh Nayak, chief creative officer, Ogilvy India said, “We realised that the biggest inspiration lies within the name ‘Coke Zero’. In the spirit of ‘zero’, we designed a campaign that simply and effectively shows the Zero impact that it carries, by not showing the product at all. Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that bring out the most magic.”

CREDITS:

Ogilvy Team:

Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy APAC: Reed Collins

Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India: Sukesh Nayak, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Kainaz Karmakar 

Creative Team: Karunasagar Sridharan, Darshan Dhonde, Nishigandh Dhende

Account Management Team: Nikhil Mohan, Anas Dalvi, Tasneem Loharchalwala, Nikunj Bhanushali

Production House: Good Morning Films

Editor: Boxcutter

Coca-Cola Team:

Vice President Marketing, INSWA OU: Greishma Singh

Senior Manager, Creative Strategy, Coca-Cola INSWA: Aabir Chatterjee

Senior Manager, Social Engagement INSWA: Pavan Nagpal

Senior Manager, Marketing, Coca-Cola Choices:  Shrey Vi