Jack White's Coke dilemma

Coca-Cola is one of the sponsors of the new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace", which opens October 31 in the UK.

The deal sees the brand teaming up with Sony Entertainment to cross-promote the film by temporarily changing Coke Zero's name to Coke Zero Zero 7. Bond will stick to martinis, and will not drink the beverage in the film; however Coke has managed to negotiate a music tie-in with Sony to use music by Jack White of the White Stripes in their advertising.

Jack White's music has been used in Coke ads previously (including the Nagi Noma directed TVC), but Mr White has said that he is not happy with his involvement in the latest Bond themed commercial.

The ad's soundtrack is White's song 'Another Way To Die', which he wrote with Alicia Keys as the theme-song to the new Bond film (this project was originally offered to Amy Winehouse, but she lost it due to her unreliability). However, White's management has issued a statement which claims that it was not his decision to license the song for use in the Coke promo.

"Jack White was commissioned by Sony Pictures to write a theme song for the James Bond film 'Quantum Of Solace', not for Coca Cola," read the statement. "Any other use of the song is based on decisions made by others, not by Jack White.

"We are disappointed that you first heard the song in a co-promotion for Coke Zero, rather than in its entirety."



This can be a risk for artists when they get involved in projects which are looking for integrated promotions. Looking ahead, integrated sponsorships are the way forward when it comes to promoting films, television and even music. Coke will give this film massive exposure through the themed Coke Zero products, while also managing to create buzz amongst their key target demographic of 20-something males.

I'm not sure what the solution is for artists such as Jack White in this position. On the one hand, Coke advertising will expose the track to an audience who may not be Bond fans. Yet it is also understandable that an artist such as White would want the fans of his music to still respect his musical/commercial decisions.

Personally, I think the promotion outweighs the fact that the fans are not getting to hear the track 'in its entirety'. Music blogs are always streaming tracks for promotional purposes, and quite often they will only stream 30 seconds or so. Similarly, if you're looking to purchase a track on iTunes, you will generally be given a short preview before needing to pay for the track to hear it in full. Let fans have a teaser through the Coke ads, and hope that they love this version of a 'preview' enough to go out and buy the track.