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Coca-Cola life

️@CocaColaNorge
️Tue Jan 27 2015

And it’s a wrap! Thanks to everyone who helped us with the Norwegian launch of Coca-Cola life in Reine, Lofoten last week.

We’re doing the final edits to our Reine adventure movie. In the meantime, have a cat.

After a resounding thumb up from everyone at the taste premier, we made our way over to the local community center to continue the celebration.

Our preparations during the week had given us the opportunity to team up with a number of local talents, that wanted to assist us at the main party. We really found the crème de la crème here! This is going to be one party the town won’t forget!

There was Karstein, who served up his special skreimølje (seriously, you should try this) and Anette Bjørnsen who brought out her amazing skewers, which she had marinated in Coca-Cola. Hmmm, delicious!

The dance floor started to fill up as Sørvågen Spellemannslag got their rhythm on and Zaja, a singer and local Reine girl, flew back to perform some songs, one of which she had written specifically for the event. We really have been honored with so much talent!

Of course let’s not forget The Wa Wa Whiteys who played us out with their body moving, energetic African drum beats. For such a small town this place is drenched in diversity!

To end the celebrations and share our warmest appreciation to everyone who was apart of this amazing journey, we showed a short movie we had made during our time in Reine. It went down really well with the locals and we’ll soon have an edit online.

It’s been a long but extremely rewarding week here in Reine. We’d like to thank everyone who made this fantastic launch possible. We came from a very big place to a very very small town but the welcome and participation has been greater than we ever expected! Thank you Reine and enjoy Coca-Cola life!

Coca-Cola life is coming to Norway 24th January, and the launch will be celebrated in one of the smallest and most beautiful places in the world: at Reine in Lofoten. The 307 villagers will be the first in Norway to taste the new addition to the Coca-Cola family. This blog documents our launch preparations.

When we peered out of the window this morning we could hardly believe our eyes. A fierce wind was rocking the boats, a heavy mist had drifted in over the sleepy town and a snow blizzard was in full force. Our nerves started to kick in – would anyone show up to an outside event in such dismal conditions?

Think again! We couldn’t have chosen a more suitable place! The Norwegians have a saying over here “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes!” When we pulled up to Coop, we realized how right that saying is! Still half an hour before the launch, we were amazed to see a flurry of people already queuing up. Talk about Vikings! We counted around 200 people who braved the weather to get the first taste of Coca-Cola life in Norway. Seeing as there are only 307 inhabitants in the whole town, we think that’s unbelievable!

Finally it’s here! After a fantastic week of preparations we’ve officially launched Coca-Cola life in Norway. The scene couldn’t be more fitting; a combination of good old party vibes with breathtaking Norwegian scenery. Tasting of the newest addition to the Coca-Cola family is underway and the initial response is fantastic! Although, we are completely drenched in snow. Good times! We’ll post pictures as soon as we have them.

Coca-Cola life is available in stores across Norway from week 6.

Lucky Reine is so small! It means that this guy still has time to join us for the celebrations! With just 15 more minutes to go until the official Coca-Cola life launch in Norway, we’re just about ready to get down and party!

It’s countdown time! Just one more hour until the official Coca-Cola life launch in Reine, Lofoten. It’s been an amazing week leading up to the big day and we’re overwhelmed with how helpful and friendly people have been. We’re predicting a healthy turnout from the 307 villagers, and can’t wait to hear how they feel about the new addition to the Coca-Cola family.

What’s a party without an accordion?! Okay, so you might have trouble remembering the name, but when you hear Sørvågen Spellemannslag band play, you won’t forget their music! With such a distinctive sound, we thought it was only right to invite the band to perform at the Coca-Cola life launch party today.

It’s hard to imagine the sound of the accordion creeping into the music of The Beatles or the Sex Pistols, but that’s how Sven Asbjørn Korneliussen learned to play the accordion. He took their music and made it his own. Genius! Sven founded Sørvågen Spellemannslag in 1978 – years after he fell in love with music when watching silent movies accompanied by live music. We can’t wait for the band to get their swing on when they perform live at the launch.

We couldn’t resist pinning just one more banner onto the side of another classic Norwegian hut. That’s the last one. We promise! We’ve become quite accustomed to these cute little places while we’ve been here; just like the locals, they’re so charming! Now we’re off to the Coop store to wrap things up before the official launch at 12pm.

We gave it our best shot, but they whipped us good! Tonight the “Coca-Cola Old Boys” and a group of locals pitched themselves against Reine I.L U16. Yeah, the kids! It was a great turnout and we really dug deep, but there just wasn’t enough gas in the tank. We lost 7-1. Despite the embarrassment, it was a fantastic game and a great warm up to the big launch tomorrow.
coca cola life reine lofoten norway

We’re getting used to the temperature over here and the wind really wakes you up but we have to admit we were taken aback when the local team turned up bare kneed! Good thing there were home-baked cakes being served on the sideline. We’ve been blown away (literally, it’s blowing 13 mp/h here) by the hospitality here in Reine and with the launch fast approaching we’ve been incredibly lucky to experience such a warm welcoming community.