Remediation. Exhibit A. Take a 20 year-old animation franchise and apply all the personalities of its characters to a bid for selling Coke.
Here’s how Coke wins:
They feel hip, but old school. Throwback even. Matt Groening may have some stiff competition in Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Seth McFarlane, but he’s stayed on the air for 20 years. The Simpsons know what they’re doing and they have a loyal following. A bunch of people watch The Simpsons, a television record breaking 100 million + watched the Super Bowl – why not try and get these Simpsons/football fans to drink some Coke?
A key component of the remediation ideal is that an idea can traverse media boundaries to acquire new layers and establish new contexts – Coca-Cola scores huge with this ad by associating itself with 20 years of character development ( a wealth of content for Simpsons viewers to re-associate with Coke).
Here’s how The Simpsons wins:
They get to exercise some creative liberty with their own content, breaking the rules of their story arc (Montgomery Burns…broke?) to pursue a brief flirtation with the idea that a broke Montgomery Burns can find happiness with Coca-Cola.
Open happiness people.
