Coca Cola: Another Advertising Hit
When you think of Coca Cola what comes to your mind? It wouldn’t be surprising if you thought first of Coke ads. In the history of advertising perhaps no other company has had such a strong and continuous impact on society through advertising. Not only have Coke’s ads been successful at selling its soft drinks, but decade after decade Coca Cola’s ads and campaigns have influenced our very culture by making their way into the hearts and minds of the consumers.
A Brief Ad History
In the 1920s Coca Cola shifted its advertising strategy, focusing for the first time on creating brand loyalty. It began advertising the soft drink as fun and refreshing. Coke’s 1929 campaign slogan was: The Pause that Refreshes. To this day, that slogan remains number two on Advertising Age’s top 100 slogans of all the time.
How about those famous Coca Cola Santa Clause print ads? Most people probably have seen an example of such. What most people don’t realize is that our modern-day vision of Santa as a jolly old man with a white beard in a red suit and hat is to some extent a result of those Coke ads that began emerging in popular magazines in 1931. Before that, the world’s image of Santa was fragmented, with physical portrayals of the legendary holiday visitor ranging from a pixie to a leprechaun to even a frightening gnome. But Coca Cola’s long-running series of ads solidified what was becoming a common U.S. image, making our beloved Santa Clause recognizable around the world.
Those Coca Cola campaigns were probably a little before your time. but what about Coca Cola’s 1971 “Hilltop” campaign. Perhaps you remember its lyrics, “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke, and keept it company.”
The song was sung by a choir of young people from all over the world, perched high on a hilltop, each holding an iconic hourglass-shaped bottle of Coke. Within months, Coca Cola and its bottlers received more than a hundred
A Brief Ad History
In the 1920s Coca Cola shifted its advertising strategy, focusing for the first time on creating brand loyalty. It began advertising the soft drink as fun and refreshing. Coke’s 1929 campaign slogan was: The Pause that Refreshes. To this day, that slogan remains number two on Advertising Age’s top 100 slogans of all the time.
How about those famous Coca Cola Santa Clause print ads? Most people probably have seen an example of such. What most people don’t realize is that our modern-day vision of Santa as a jolly old man with a white beard in a red suit and hat is to some extent a result of those Coke ads that began emerging in popular magazines in 1931. Before that, the world’s image of Santa was fragmented, with physical portrayals of the legendary holiday visitor ranging from a pixie to a leprechaun to even a frightening gnome. But Coca Cola’s long-running series of ads solidified what was becoming a common U.S. image, making our beloved Santa Clause recognizable around the world.
Those Coca Cola campaigns were probably a little before your time. but what about Coca Cola’s 1971 “Hilltop” campaign. Perhaps you remember its lyrics, “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke, and keept it company.”
The song was sung by a choir of young people from all over the world, perched high on a hilltop, each holding an iconic hourglass-shaped bottle of Coke. Within months, Coca Cola and its bottlers received more than a hundred