Posted by BeautyandtheEast on 06-25-2010 | Comments | Share | Filed under: Entertainment, Music
The theme song to the 2010’s World Cup is performed by a skinny Somali singer in baggy pants and a fedora, the voice of the biggest global marketing campaign ever undertaken by the world’s most iconic brand, Coca-Cola. The singer in the Coke ads is K’Naan, a former refugee from one of the poorest, most violent cities on earth. And all across the globe, people are humming the irresistible chorus to his official World Cup song, “Wavin’ Flag”. The road to global stardom has had many twists and turns, a hip-hop fairytale even Hollywood would shy away from. K’Naan has lived through civil war, seen friends shot dead before his eyes, spent months in jail, been beaten up by bouncers in a Swedish nightclub. And now he’s travelling the world in Coca-Cola’s World Cup jet, singing about unity and celebration.
So why did a multinational soft drinks conglomerate choose a third-world rebel icon to front its campaign? A practising Muslim who lived the horror of war as a boy and who raps against injustice and oppression?
The answer lies in Africa, the world’s last emerging market, where music and soccer have huge grassroots appeal—and massive marketing potential. Coke wanted a developing-world star, a modern-day Bob Marley with street cred. They found him in K’Naan.
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