Seeking to cement its identity in the face of softdrink goliaths, RC Cola broke its own Twitter record on Monday, trending just three hours after it released a new commercial that is even more bizarre than the first.
Like the original, the commercial refuses to play by the rules and insists on being the outlier, in step with the mind set of Gen Z that the brand is courting aggressively.
The lead character in the ad has an RC Cola bottle hidden in her body, this time in her arm. The jarring twist, the woman's band mates have ice cubes for eyes and they end the jam drinking their favorite soda.
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What Does the Viral RC Cola Commercial Mean? We Asked Its Creators
The message remains: Basta lang, the ad's creators from creative agency GIGIL said.
In the RC Cinematic Universe where Gen Zs play a starring role, "there doesn’t have to be a meaning to everything," they said.
"We just set out to create a fun campaign that people will like, laugh at, and share. If people are seeing and finding meanings behind it, that’s great. Let’s enjoy how they interpret it to be," GIGIL managing partner Jake Yrastorza earlier told reportr.
Here's a reminder: don't take the ad for what it is
The agency earlier said the ad shouldn't be taken literally. Viewers are free to come up with theories however bizarre they can get. Take it from Herbert Hernandez, the agency's creative partner who is also from the OPM band, Moonstar88. Given how it's titled, "Band", was the sequel's plot his idea?
"Marami kasing nag-so-solo na vocalist. I can relate with it especially sa two bands ko. Pero now alam ko na. Baka di ko lang naintindihan. May RC Cola siguro sila somewhere. Sana pinigilan ko," Hernandez said, trying to explain the ad using his own rock star experiences.
"Hindi perfect pero we always understand each other. Secret lang to. Walang perfect na artist o tao," he said.
"Ang overarching message niya is totoong may aliens. We just have to accept them. Na-contact na nila ang Israel at America. Basta magmahalan tayo," he told reportr in jest.
RC Cola wants to belong by being different, Like GenZ
However bizarre the story elements are, one thing remains clear: RC Cola wants to be another Goliath. It plans to do so by being different, like its target market.
"Maraming bagay na you don’t need to know why. Isa na dun yung pag inom ng softdrink. The Gen Zs live in the moment. They don't need a list of reasons before doing something. Basta masaya! Basta gusto nila! And thus, even our film doesn’t need to be taken seriously," GIGIL said.
At the end of the day, no matter what critics make of it, RC Cola is keen about who it wants to talk to: a generation that needs no explanation.
"Sino ba target market? Gen Z. What do they think? Kakaiba. How do they explain themselves? They don’t," said Yrastorza.
