Coca-Cola Launches Anywhere in the World the Coca-Cola Anthem for the London 2012 Olympic Games

View full release as PDF

Track Features GRAMMY Award Winner Mark Ronson and 2011 Mercury Prize Nominee, Katy B

“Sport is music in the way that it has so many different natural rhythms…when I was recording the athletes I wasn’t really thinking of them in terms of athletes performing a sport, I was thinking of them as people in an orchestra.” Mark Ronson

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fusing the sounds of sport and music. Anywhere in the World, the anthem for the Coca-Cola London 2012 Olympic campaign, launched globally today. Available for purchase online, the exclusive track is the centerpiece of the brand’s Move to the Beat™ campaign.

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 11 2012: Mark Ronson and Katy B perform 'Anywhere in the World', the Coca-Cola ...

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 11 2012: Mark Ronson and Katy B perform 'Anywhere in the World', the Coca-Cola song for the London 2012 Olympic Games, to celebrate the launch of the single at an exclusive Coca-Cola gig (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdyEkVwKDpc&feature=plcp). (Photo: Business Wire)

Move to the Beat™ is designed to bring teens closer to the Olympic Games and to sport in general by engaging them through a fusion of two global teen passions - sport and music. Drawing inspiration from London’s musical heritage, the campaign combines London music with Olympic sport in an effort to connect young people to London 2012.

“The number one passion point for teens is music,” explains Shay Drohan, Senior Vice President of Sparkling Beverages, The Coca-Cola Company. “Through Move to the Beat™, Coca-Cola is inspiring teens around the world to move to the beat of London and come together in the biggest Olympic Games activation in our 84-year partnership.”

Coca-Cola Presents the Beat of London 2012

The creative process behind the production of the track has been brought to life in an engaging hour-long documentary currently airing across the globe. Ronson traveled the world gaining inspiration for the song and meeting young athletes to record the sounds of their sport, before teaming up with UK chart-topper Katy B to provide the vocals.

The athletes whose sounds form the beat of the track are:

  • Maria Espinoza, taekwondo athlete from Mexico
  • Dayyan Jaffar, archer from Singapore
  • Darius Knight, table tennis player from Great Britain
  • David Oliver, 110m hurdler from the United States
  • Kseniya Vdovina, 400m sprinter from Russia

In this musical experiment, Ronson recorded the array of sounds that each athlete produced while participating in their sport. He used innovative methods to capture the unique sounds of each individual sport, like cycling alongside hurdler David Oliver with a microphone to yield the sound that is produced at the precise moment his feet hit the ground.

“If someone had just sent me a hard disk of all these sounds of athletes, the track wouldn’t have been anywhere near as three-dimensional as it is because I needed those personal experiences with those athletes,” said Mark Ronson. “It’s just so important to be there to see these athletes and spend so much time around them and be in their environment to understand how to make this track.”

A sneak peak of Ronson’s journey is available online.

Global Digital Experience

Teens across the world are invited to be a part of Ronson’s journey and the Games through The Coca-Cola Company’s largest-ever digital program. The Create my Beat desktop application (www.coca-cola.com/theolympics) creates individualized beats by mixing a teen’s personal musical preference and their sporting interest with their online social media footprint. Once created, the personalized experience can be uploaded to The Global Beat, a worldwide online community that brings together individual beats to create an ever-evolving global music collaboration.

Mobile Experience

The My Beatmaker app for smartphones (available for free download online) goes one step further, using groundbreaking ZooZ technology to enable teens to create their Beat through the motion of their phone. The innovative technology detects the movements of the phone and transforms them into unique sounds.

Finally, targeting the largest audiences in countries like China and India, teens can sign up to receive SMS alerts about the campaign that include facts about the athletes and artists and Games related quizzes.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world's most valuable brand, our Company's portfolio features 15 billion dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.8 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system employees. For more information, please visit www.thecoca-colacompany.com or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo.

Notes to Editors:

  • Users can create and upload their beat to The Global Beat via the mobile web Create my Beat site, with no app download required. Visit: www.coca-cola.com/theolympics.
  • Photo caption: LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 11 2012: Mark Ronson and Katy B perform 'Anywhere in the World', the Coca-Cola song for the London 2012 Olympic Games, to celebrate the launch of the single at an exclusive Coca-Cola gig (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdyEkVwKDpc&feature=plcp).
  • Ronson spent four months travelling the world meeting the athletes. At each visit he experienced their training regimens first hand, recording the sounds of their sports in unique and unconventional ways, including:
    • Maria Espinoza, Taekwondo (Mexico) – The song opens with the voice of her coach signaling the start of the fight. Her distinctive vocal expressions as she spars with her opponent and the sounds of her kicks punctuate the song.
    • Dayyan Jaffar, Archery (Singapore) – The sounds of the arrow hitting the target is, as Mark Ronson describes, as clean as the sound of a kick drum.
    • Darius Knight, Table Tennis, (Great Britain) – Darius’ grunts add a human element to the song, as well as the percussive tapping of table tennis balls.
    • David Oliver, 110 metre hurdles (United States) – David’s feet hit the ground forming a rhythm.
    • Kseniya Vdovina, 400 metres (Russia) – Her heartbeat is recorded at a precise rate of 120 beats per minute, to match the song’s beats per minute.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50280764&lang=en

The Coca-Cola Company
Kate Hartman, +01 404.676.2683

Source: The Coca-Cola Company

Released May 16, 2012