Art of Harmony

The annual “Art of Harmony” competition is an art contest put on by Coca Cola. Nationally, high school students can submit their work for this competition in order to be in the running to win U.S. Savings Bonds and cash rewards. In addition, these artists will get exposure for their work to the American public. The judges from Coca-Cola choose the winners based on the appropriateness to the theme, which is “living in harmony”. The winners are also chosen based on creativity, originality, composition, and design. The artwork also has to be related to Coke in some way. This competition is a great way for Coca-Cola to get some of their target audience involved with the brand. The contest will also encourage interaction between the brand and the consumer because it will get them thinking about Coke and how it relates to their art. If you notice, the theme, "Art of Harmony", emphasizes the ideas of peace, love, and unity that Coca-Cola often employs in their advertisements. The company has done an excellent job of picking qualities that they believe are important to their brand image and keeping these themes consistent in their advertising throughout the years.

            When I was in high school, I interned with a public relations firm whose client was Coca-Cola. Our job for part of the summer was to publicize the Art of Harmony contest in the Houston area. Then, after the winners were chosen, we got to set up a display in a local gallery showing all of the art work that was chosen from the contest. It opened my eyes to all the different ways people relate to Coca-Cola and, in some cases, allowed me to see Coke in a way that I had never thought of it before. Here are some of the pieces of art that have won the competition in the past years:

Sources: A resource for creativity since 1982. (2009). Retrieved from http://cc-art.net/CocaColaArchives.html