Coca-Cola’s new campaign encourages people to step away from work and the digital world and be more present with those that love you.
The Coca-Cola Company‘s latest global campaign (except in the US) – ‘The World Will Wait’ – brings people together over a shared meal and a bottle of Coca-Cola.
The campaign, launched on 3 August, was created by WPP Open X.
It will be distributed through two main films: ‘Laptop Face’ and ‘Most Important Meeting’ – outlining two scenarios in which people make the mistake of choosing work or digital activities over their real life.
The first ad features a mother, sat down for dinner with her two children. One child then goes to call his dad from the study, only to be met with a face covered by a screen before he goes back to the table alone. The following day, the father finds a family portrait drawing in the child’s backpack, with the father’s face covered by a computer screen. The next day, the dad joins in with the family dinner.
In the ads, audiences are reminded that “nothing’s more urgent than the moments we share at the table over a meal and Coca‑Cola”.
The second ad follows a young girl working late. She receives a text from a her Dad asking if she’ll make it home in time for pizza night. She eventually does make it home and brings a bottle of Coca-cola with her. The ad finished with the say message as the one above.
Both ads will also be released alongside an influencer movement, which will utilise the popular gaming term “AFK” (away from keyboard). The campaign transforms the term from an apology from gamers for their time spent offline, into an encouragement for audiences to remove themselves from the digital world and be more present in the real one.
The ad will also appear across digital out-of-home (DOOH) with scenes of ‘urgent’ situations besides the happiness of a shared meal with messages like: “Laundry can wait. Fried Chicken & Coca‑Cola can’t,” or “no one ever said this meal could have been an email.”
Leaders take
The sentiment behind this campaign is great – it illustrates an important but often forgotten message of grounding yourself in the real world among so many digital distractions. Unfortunately, there is something distracting about the first ad. Although this isn’t verified, it looks as though the food and the child’s drawing in the ad are AI-generated, which sends a bit of a juxtaposed message.
Food is such a personal and cultural sanctuary for many, so for such a powerful company with endless resources to fake this experience is incredibly disappointing – it seems Coca-Cola hasn’t learnt its lesson from its Christmas ad back in 2025.
