Our final poetry news round-up of the week takes a look at the new poetic marketing campaign from Coca-Cola. We also have a short article about the reopening of Dove Cottage.

Poetic Approach for Coca-Cola

When the world went into lockdown at the end of March, Coca-Cola decided to pause its marketing campaign. Now, after several months of inactivity that are back with a new marketing campaign. They have enlisted George the Poet to help them with the campaign which will be looking at the cultural significances of the pandemic.

The campaign has been created by 72andSunny Amsterdam and is called “Open like never before”. George the poet will be performing a spoken-word piece which will call on the public to view the world in a brand new light.

The advert begins by showing the audience a number of key workers; a teacher, a supermarket employee and then it moves on to take a look at people whoa re taking part in and enjoying different activities and enjoying spending time with their loved ones.

Back in February, the company had announced that they would be focusing on empathy in their future marketing and that is certainly what they are doing with this campaign. The company felt that went we went into lockdown this was something they needed to take into account, especially following their announcement of February.

During the pandemic, Coca-Cola have been responsible for providing around two million meals and over one million drinks for those working on the frontline in the UK via FoodShare.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, they are planning to carry on in the same vein. They will be using George’s work for a number of outdoor activities. If people would like to listen to the complete poem, they will be able to scan the add on their mobile phones.

The manifesto of the poem will be referenced on posters at the outdoor venues.

This is not the first time in 2020 that poetry, specifically spoken-word poetry, has featured in adverts with Gumtree, BT and Ovo using it.

George the Poet has also been involved in other marketing campaigns in the past for both Nike ad O2, and of course, he has also used it to promote his own podcast.

Dove Cottage to Reopen

After major restoration work and months of closure following the pandemic, Dove Cottage is set to reopen to the public.

The cottage where William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived had been scheduled to open on 7^th April as part of a series of events that had been organised to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the poet. However, the plans had to be put on hold when the venue along with other tourist attractions was asked to close. It will now reopen to the public on 15^th August.

Visitors will be asked to book their tickets in advance and numbers will be limited, at least for the time being. It is not quite the way the Wordsworth Trust imagined their reopening, but they are happy to be able to go ahead in what is for them such a significant year.