Coca-Cola × Gallaudet ("I'd Like to Teach the World to Sign")
Production Supervisor · 2025 · National Brand Campaign
The first global recreation of Coca-Cola's 1971 "Hilltop" commercial entirely in American Sign Language — produced by Take Care Productions in partnership with Gallaudet University and Coca-Cola Studio X, the campaign that gave Coca-Cola its first official ASL sign name.
AD AGE · COCA-COLA · GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY · VALUABLE 500 NOTHING WITHOUT US AWARDS
We Want to Teach the World to Sign is a national Coca-Cola campaign, a frame-for-frame recreation of the brand's 1971 "Hilltop" commercial, told entirely in American Sign Language. Led on the brand side by Coca-Cola's Studio X and developed in partnership with Gallaudet University across an eight-month collaboration, the campaign's creative was driven by Gallaudet's Director of Storytelling Storm Smith with a team of Gallaudet students and ASL translation by Theatre and Dance Professor Monique "MoMo" Holt. WPP / Hogarth served as agency; the campaign was produced by Take Care Productions. I came in as Production Supervisor on the DC shoot — Take Care's DC production lead — sourcing and onboarding every below-the-line department from camera through HMU and wardrobe, sitting in pre-production alongside Studio X and Hogarth to translate the cultural framework into operational decisions, and on set protecting the production protocols a deaf-community-led shoot requires: tight ASL-interpreter coordination, sightline discipline so deaf cast and crew could communicate visually across departments, and a pace that prioritized signing-performance integrity over conventional commercial efficiencies. The campaign launched May 8, 2025, marking the moment Coca-Cola became the first global corporation to receive an official ASL name sign
Director & DP Nick Bentgen
Client The Coca-Cola Company
Brand Creative — Studio X Erin Stockwell (CD, Art)
Warren Linchester (Sr. Producer)
Cameron Mattingly (Director of Partnerships)
Agency WPP / Hogarth
Cultural Partner Gallaudet University
Storytelling Director Storm Smith (Gallaudet)
Theater Director / ASL Professor Monique "MoMo" Holt (Gallaudet Theatre and Dance)
Featured Cast ZaniBelle Hoglind, Natasha Richards-Hamilton, Alona Zfati, with members of the Gallaudet community
Interpreters Jolanta Galloway, and team
Production Company Take Care Productions
Executive Producers (Take Care) Kris Rey Talley
Head of Production Rebekka B. Bjornsdottir
Producer Lisa Kjerulff
Production Supervisor Emmett Ferra
1st AD Kyle David Crosby
Camera Package We Are Red Star
DIT Zac Gaetano
Gaffer Christopher Gorman
Key Grip Joe Kurtz
HMU Key Abigail de Casanova
Wardrobe Dona Adrian Couture
Colorist Sam Daley at Pictureshop
Press AdAge, PR Newswire, Nasdaq, Coca-Cola Media Center
Awards Submitted to Valuable 500 — Nothing Without Us Awards