Coke Wants World To Sing Anew

Remake Of Classic Commercial Will Help Market Newest Offering

(CBS)  "I think we look at it with almost revere and religion," says Katie Bayne, senior vice president of Coca-Cola Brands, North America.

She's leading the charge to promote "Coke Zero," a new, no-calorie brand that she says she sips constantly.

The updated lyrics say in part, "I'd like to teach the world to chill, take time to stop and smile. I'd like to buy the world a Coke and chill with it awhile."

It's the first new version of "Hilltop." Shot on a Philadelphia rooftop, this one is dubbed "Chilltop."

Aimed at the "go-go lifestyle" of 18- to 24-year-olds, it has a new crowd of "fresh faces" but, as Coca-Cola well knows, changing an old favorite is a big risk.

"Absolutely," says Bayne. "This is not new Coke, and we are not doing a thing to Coca-Cola or Diet Coke."

CBS News consultant Barbara Lippert, who is Adweek magazine's advertising critic, doesn't seem all that impressed.

"This one seems to be a real compromise solution. It's not touching and effective enough to reach the older generation, and it's really not cool and hip enough for kids. I don't think it's going to bring a tear to your eye, and I don't think 15-year-olds will be madly dancing and rocking out to the beat.

"It also seems a little under-populated on that rooftop. There are Latinos and various people, and like one Fin. I don't know if it's supposed to be the world's ethnicities again.

"I think they needed to do one thing or the other. It doesn't seem authentic."

What's more, Lippert says, "The world is fragmented now. We have so many other drinks to choose from … it's hard to do one ad that brings the world together."

She adds that she "likes that they don't sell it. They're not aggressive about it. They were trying to make it hip and cool. But what is "Coke Zero"? No one knows. When you drink it, does it make you want to go up to a rooftop and raise your bottle? You don't know what it is."

Lippert says neither Coke nor archrival Pepsi has had a memorable ad in quite awhile.

"Both are vulnerable to all the other drinks out there," she concludes, but "both companies own waters and the other sports drinks, too."