Situation

Pakistan is by no means an unknown country. The name rings a bell – for terrorism, misogyny and oppression.

These perceptions have led to a reality of dejected citizens, lacking any reason to be optimistic for the future.

Meanwhile, in its 14th year Coke Studio Pakistan was losing its edge owing to fatigue, not accepting the youth and their resistance to evolving.

Brief

Make Coke Studio relevant to the country and its citizens by making it a part of their identity in a way that they would proudly showcase it when connecting with the world.

Objectives

Regain Coke Studio’s status as the Global Identity Amplifier for Pakistanis by representing their identity through music, allowing them to express who they are to those around them, and the world.

Become relevant to the new generation of Pakistanis who had started to consider the program a sad remnant of the previous generation.

Creative Idea: Real Magic - anything that can evoke a strong emotion in you.

In light of this the music being created in the new season was a direct reflection of the thoughts, feelings and emotions of our young creators.

We also analyzed global trends to understand how music was evolving globally and relied on the our community of young creators. We realized that if we were talk to the youth we had to do it in their ways, through their people and in spaces where they were open to receiving those messages. We looked to give our fans an experience that was:

• Relatable and relevant

• Presented cinematically to move them

• Sonically and visually representative of the story being told

We created a season that was not just 14 songs but 14 stories relevant to their identity as Pakistanis.

Audience insights

The previous Pakistani generation was a disenfranchised one but the one today is a proud one. One that feels it can change their own narrative locally and globally if given a seat at the table.

Community building and management approach

Keeping the above narrative in mind we teamed up with young artists and musicians under the leadership of a visionary producer and curator to:

• Provide an expansive snapshot of Pakistan’s music through a new audio-visual experience.

• Include and celebrate the young and aspiring musicians of the country.

• Intelligently make the audience embrace new genres.

• Make Coke Studio Fandom reach new heights.

We did this by repositioning Coke Studio as the best empowerment and celebration of what Pakistan and its music is by relying on:

-The “Heart of Now”

-The “Power of Relatable Lyrics”

-“Truthful Storytelling”

-Shorter yet sharper attention spans

-Diversity

-Diversified music-making

-No.1 most hum to search song of 2022 ahead on Google

-No.2 most searched song of 2022 on Google

-No.1 Song on Spotify Global Viral Charts

-No.1 song on Spotify India Viral Charts and UAE Viral Charts

-Most streamed Pakistani track of all time on Spotify

-Coke Studio song entered #33 on Global YouTube Music Video Charts

-No.1 Song in the 50 Most Played: International List curated by Amazon Music Experts

-No.1 Song on Top 100: India list by Apple Music

-No.3 Song for Apple Music India Charts 2022

-3 Songs entered the Marvel Universe

-First Coke Studio Season to cross 1Billion streams along, 72M engagements and 9 Billion impressions

-First Coke Studio song to cross 500M views with 99% organic viewership

-Diamond Creator Award for Coke Studio Channel from YouTube (4M subscribers since season launched)

-Coke Studio Artist in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people