Arturo Gomez Molina 
Soon to debut on silver screens across North America, moviegoers will have the chance to see a Coca-Cola ad with a Chapman connection.
Two recent Chapman University graduates, Alexis Berganio ’25 and Aiko Lozar ’25, will leave their mark on the big screen as part of the soda giant’s movie advertisements.
Berganio and Lozar were named finalists for the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program in December before being announced as the Grand Prize Winners in April.
Lozar and Berganio attributed the success of their spot to the hands-on education they received at Dodge and the support from the staff and administration, on and off set.
“Dodge taught us so much throughout our time at Chapman, and for this project we were confident in ourselves that we knew how to pitch, create cohesive decks and effectively collaborate with a brand,” Lozar said.
When the director-producer duo was flown to Atlanta, Georgia, to pitch their ad concept to Coca-Cola executives, Lozar noted the team’s professionalism, knowledge and confidence left a strong impression.
Berganio echoed Lozar’s appreciation for their time at Dodge, sharing that the confidence instilled in her by the faculty during her first two years empowered her to take on a project of this scale.
“The hands-on experience I got from working on two advanced production projects with sizable teams truly gave me the confidence to manage the large crew of people we had for this spot,” Berganio said. “There was also the community I was surrounded by. We’re very tight knit at Dodge, and I knew that there were so many students and faculty members I could lean on for help if I needed it.”
Their support system and hands-on training proved essential when Berganio and Lozar were geared up for another cycle of submissions.
“We had actually been submitting to this program for two years before we got into the semifinals,” Berganio said. “It came to a point where we had to think of as many ideas as possible and submit them all.”
The winning ad idea, “Ticket to Everywhere,” depicts a group of friends reuniting after summer break swapping stories about their adventures. The main character has a flashback about the many movies she watched–each one with a journey to a new world.
Berganio said that “High School Musical” inspired this specific idea.
“In the first scene, the students are chanting ‘summer, summer, summer’ and everyone goes crazy when the bell rings. We loved the connection between the characters in the moment, and wanted to harness it in our own way,” Berganio said. “Originally, the commercial was going to start with students getting ready for summer break, but we changed it to where someone was recollecting having gone to the movies with their friends.”
Lozar added that the essence of the spot was “transportation,” so they wanted to showcase films that evoke the feeling of being transported to different places.
An easter egg for current and former Chapman students is that all the films shown within their Coca-Cola ad are Chapman student-made films, including “Outerwest,” a film Berganio worked on, and “Icarus,” a sci-fi film created by Tom Teller ’16 and Andrew Gustaferro ’16 during their time at Chapman.
Coca-Cola has yet to set a date for the release of “Ticket to Everywhere,” but Lozar got a special sneak peak of the commercial on the big screen after learning it would be playing at a nearby theatre.
“It was totally unreal,” Lozar said. “I was sitting in the back of the theater and when the commercial came on, I thought to myself, ‘No one here knows that I made this!’ It was really cool.”
“Ticket to Everywhere” will be showcased at Cinemark, AMC and B&B Theatres across North America later this year.
