• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

It’s easy to root for the home team. It’s a lot harder to feel like the only one cheering for your side.

Coca-Cola’s new college football campaign celebrates the “thirsty” work of away team fans who root against the home team. Promoting Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, the campaign centers around a 30-second TV ad depicting several scenarios of away team fans navigating rival crowds at games and local hang-outs, ending with a couple of Ohio State fans cheering on the Buckeyes against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. The spot, with a “Fan Work Is Thirsty Work” tagline, is running throughout college football season across networks including NBC, TNT, ESPN and TBS, and TRUTV, as well as  on social and digital platforms.

The experiential component of the campaign will include activations running on 53 partner campuses. It also includes paid media partnerships,  in-stadium promotions, outdoor advertising, and shopper marketing initiatives. The brand is bringing sampling to campus tailgate events at select schools across the country as well. A packaging extension directs fans to a sweepstakes with prizes including custom merchandise, gift cards, and an all-expenses paid trip to see the winner’s favorite team.

“Fan Work Is Thirsty Work” follows Coca-Cola’s summer “For Everyone” campaign, as well as revival of “Share a Coke,” with new digital elements launched earlier this year. In July, Coca-Cola said it would bring back a version of its flagship cola made with cane sugar in the U.S. This spring, the company acknowledged the impact of a boycott of its brands by Hispanic consumers.

The fan focus extends an approach Coca-Cola introduced with its “Best Fan Ever” college football campaign for Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in 2023, which promised the winning fan a fan image-and-likeness deal.