Coke Studio: The Real Magic Virtual Record Store

The background

Coke Studio brings its “Real Magic” brand platform to life through the lenses of culture and music. Inspired by the “Be Who You Are” song and music video—which Coke Studio made in collaboration with 5 international artists, led by singer, songwriter, bandleader, and TV personality Jon Batiste—we created a music-focused experience that gives people the opportunity to create real magic with Jon Batiste himself.

The execution

The Real Magic Record Store is an immersive web experience where people can
explore new worlds and discover trending musical artists. Players begin in the Record Store, a roamable 3D environment that replicates the iconic location from the “Be Who You Are” music video.

Guided by Jon Batiste, they’re tasked with finding and collecting the four albums of the artists featured on the “Be Who You Are” song and in the film: Camilo, NewJeans, J.I.D, and Cat Burns. In helping Jon Batiste discover these hot artists from around the globe, players get to bring different musical talents together, experience the unique worlds from the film, and follow the narrative arc of revealing the song.

When a player finds an album, they’re prompted to head to the Session Room to listen to it on the turntable. When they move the needle to play, something magical happens: A vortex opens and they’re sucked into the artist’s world—an entirely new roamable 3D, alternate reality designed to visually and audibly express the artist’s vibe and contributions to the song and film. Each artist has their own one-of-a-kind environment: Camilo’s is inspired by the Colombian coast; NewJeans’ is infused with futuristic holograms; J.I.D’s is abstractly situated inside of a Coca-Cola bottle; and Cat Burns’ is filled with bright, sunny clay-like objects.

Once inside an artist’s world, players are tasked with completing a challenge. Each is unique to the artist’s music and style, including a car race, a dance challenge, and a time-based collection challenge. When the challenge is complete, they collect the artist’s musical vibe for the song. If they collect all four, they unlock a final challenge to help Jon Batiste reveal the “Be Who You Are” song with all the incredible artistry they’ve just discovered.

Our team created six stunning immersive 3D environments that all look and feel completely different, yet seamlessly work together. We paid an incredible amount of attention to creating fine details, like illustrating most of the albums, posters, and stickers that line the surfaces of the Record Store. We leaned on the audio from the song and incorporated it into our experience, with specific sonic moments for each environment. 

In addition to the narrative game, we also snuck in two secondary, non-narrative
challenges for players to discover within the experience. We hid six Coca-Cola bottles and four Coca-Cola Heritage-themed Easter eggs for players to find, collect, and inspect along the way.

The results

The Real Magic Record Store brought together a group of diverse talents to create something new, unexpected, and cool. By inspiring people to be true to themselves, we empowered them to connect with others and create Real Magic moments.

The Gen Z audience is looking for new and different ways to engage with music, and our reimagining of the “Be Who You Are” song and music video into an immersive, interactive experience offered them an exciting way to engage with the content. Ultimately, the mobile-first experience was enjoyed by people around the world.