Coca-Cola's 'Shades of Red' restores faded awnings of Mexico's corner stores

For generations the tiendita — Mexico's family-run corner store — has worn a red Coca-Cola awning as its badge, signalling cold drinks and community inside. By 2025, years of sun had faded thousands of those awnings to pale pinks and browns, ageing stores that generate nearly half of Coca-Cola's sales in Mexico. DAVID Madrid's 'Shades of Red' answered with an act of upkeep that read as love: replace the awnings, free of charge, for the shopkeepers.

Executed through WPP Open X with Ogilvy PR, Stink and Pickle Music, the campaign made the awning itself the media. Fresh red awnings went up on thousands of tienditas and taquerías, while the faded fabric removed from the shops was recycled into billboards and social content — the sun-bleached shades becoming the campaign's palette. A hero film paid tribute to the people behind the counters, and the work spoke in décimas, a poetic form rooted in Mexican oral tradition.

The result was a decentralised out-of-home network across the country: 13,200 awnings renewed, with plans to reach 900,000 stores backed by a US$12.4M investment, and brand-health metrics beginning to recover within six weeks of launch. Cannes Lions 2025 gave the work a Gold Lion and two Bronze Lions, and LIA 2025 added a Bronze in Integration; LBB's editors later named it one of the favourite Latin American ads of the year.