Recycle Me
Coca-Cola2024
Recycle Me is a 2024 print and outdoor campaign for Coca-Cola, created by Ogilvy New York (WPP Open X).
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The line
Recycle Me
Why it works
Coca-Cola let its agency do the one thing brand guidelines forbid: crush the logo. For Ogilvy New York's Recycle Me posters and press ads, real Coke cans were flattened by hand, by hydraulic presses and by vacuum suction, and the warped script from each was lifted onto a plain red field beside the "Recycle Me" line already printed on every can. No two executions use the same crumpled logo, yet every one still reads instantly as Coke. Launched in April 2024 in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico before rolling out further, it turned the habit of squashing a can before recycling into a brand image. It is studied as proof of how far a famous identity can be bent before it stops being recognisable. It won the 2024 Print & Publishing Grand Prix at Cannes, where jury president John Raúl Forero praised its return to the purity and simplicity of print; it was Coca-Cola's first Grand Prix in a decade.
Techniques
- Visual metaphor Warped logos from genuinely crushed cans, set on a plain red field, still read instantly as Coke, turning the squashed can itself into the brand image.
- Purpose and cause Placed beside the Recycle Me line already printed on every can, the crumpled logos promote the habit of squashing cans before recycling them.
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