Cee-Lo, Patrick Stump, Gym Class Hero Team Up for “Open Happiness” Coca-Cola Song
“Open Happiness,” a collaborative song featuring Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump, Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy, Panic at the Disco’s Brendon Urie and RS’ Hot Sci-Fi Beyoncé Janelle Monae, debuted on MySpace yesterday. The song, which was penned by Butch Walker and Cee-Lo, was produced to help promote Coca-Cola’s new marketing campaign with its message that “reflects the spirit of positivity, optimism and fun,” according to a press release. Listen to the song and judge for yourself: do you feel the fun? We’ll await your responses in the comments.
If streaming the song just isn’t enough, you can also purchase the track as well as Polow Da Don’s remix of “Open Happiness” on iTunes now. The tune will be packaged with a making-of video of the song, and a percentage of the sales will be donated to charitable causes through Coke’s Live Positively platform. “I guess what was interesting about the idea at first was Coca-Cola’s interest in me — that was appealing,” Cee-Lo said. “Music’s marketplace can be very fickle and unforgiving and if you want longevity and you want legend, who better to ask advice from than Coca-Cola?” Isn’t it amazing what soda can accomplish?
Essentially, this song will be to Coke what “I’m Lovin’ It” is to McDonalds. The song will be the centerpiece of a global rebranding of Coca-Cola, with “Open Happiness” billboards set to appear in New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus. The slogan will be scrawled on over 200 million packs of soda in Europe and feature in radio and online ads. A video featuring all the artists involved with the song will premiere in May, which will be roughly six weeks after you’re already completely sick of hearing this song.
Of course, the last time a major artist was commissioned to write up a song for a marketing campaign, it was Chris Brown’s “Forever” for Wrigley’s Gum, and we all know how that turned out. These kids better be on their best behavior for the next 12 to 18 months.