Limauro 1

Andrew Limauro
Professor Ross
CM-397-D
5 December 2019
The Evolution of Coca-Cola’s Advertising Techniques
Coca-Cola is a company that has created some of the most legendary and impactful

advertisements in their long history of connecting with consumers. Maintaining the ideas

associated with a certain product despite the ever-changing culture and values of the world is a

difficult task that ads have a part in achieving. Coca-Cola’s advertisements are influenced by the

culture of the period of time that they were produced in, but many of their ads are timeless as

their emotional effects are still valuable in influencing people’s perception of the brand. Coca-

Cola’s ads over the years have varied, but this change has showed their evolution as company

and how connecting with consumers has changed along with the changes of the world. The

advertisements that represent the large evolution of their company’s advertising include, an ad

about Coke as a medicinal product, Santa Claus ads, an ad featuring the mascot “Sprite,” “I’d

like to buy the world a Coke,” Coca-Cola’s polar bear ads, and “Coca Cola with love.”

Similar to many companies or products, it takes time to build a brand and for it to find its

niche in the market with this Coca-Cola is no different. There are many aspects to this

advertisement from the late 1800s that create the connection to how they wanted the product and

brand to be perceived with elements such as the font choice and the image of the woman in the

ad. The font in the ad is in a script form which tends to gravitate towards a fancier, premium and

more feminine product. This idea in connection to the woman in the photo who is dressed in

elegant clothes, and sitting a fancy table with a floral arrangement increases the strength of the

correlation between the two elements of the advertisement. The advertisement tells the usage of
 Limauro 2

the product with the text in the ad which creates a more function focused sell in comparison with

associating the product with a certain emotion or experience. The text includes, “Specific for

headaches”, “Delightful summer and winter beverage”, and “Relieves mental and physical

exhaustion.” With this copy in this ad they are able to tell the potential consumer about the usage

of the product and that it is seemingly a good drink for any time of year. Combining the ideas of

a healing product and the fact that it has a good taste, despite whether these statements are true,

makes it a strong sell to an audience even though they did not continue with this particular brand

strategy. It originally started as a self-aid product in which they advertised it as “the ideal brain

tonic” which would help people sooth their headaches. This ad, which was featured in the

Atlanta Journal in 1886, was made during a time of experimentation and advancement in

medicine which Coca-Cola wanted to be a part of. Coke was a part of this during that time with

the implementation of cocaine in their beverage while looking for a pain relief method ad

mentioned in the ad. According to Hunter Oatman-Stanford in Collectors Weekly, “In fact, Coke

was developed while looking for an antidote to the common morphine addictions that followed

the Civil War: Veteran and pharmacist John Stith Pemberton concocted the original Coca-Cola

mixture while experimenting with opiate-free painkillers to soothe his own war wounds”

(Collectors Weekly Oatman-Stanford). This medicinal path that the Coca-Cola company started

out with demonstrates how a company changes and adapts to find their footing in a current

marketplace or they create it. Due to idea advertisements were incredibly useful through

informing the public and generating interest about the possibly ever-changing position or

branding of the company. This previously mentioned search for painkillers led to Coca-Cola

containing cocaine which was unknown as a potentially harmful drug. However, its was found

out that the drink contained the drug which was removed, but the company claims it was never in
 Limauro 3

the drink. According to For God, Country, and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast “After 1900,

instead of bragging about the removal of cocaine, the company poured on the advertising,

stressing the soft drink’s healthful qualities” (Pendergrast 89). This further demonstrates the

power of advertising and how it can turn around this potentially harmful situation the Coca-Cola

company found themselves in. One of the advertisements that assisted in changing the

company’s image in the mind of consumers and to move further away from this cocaine PR

crisis was their reliance, and continued use, of Santa Claus in their ads.

Coca-Cola has always been at the forefront of effective advertising and their use of Santa

Claus in their ads is a part of that trend. The use of connecting a universally happy and accepted

figure with their company, especially recently after a PR crisis was a smart decision that helped

to carry the company past that situation. Associating the feelings of Christmas with their product

allows for those emotions to have a connection with Coke, a product that really has nothing to do

with the holiday season or Santa Claus. It also allowed for consumers to have a recognizable

association between the brand and a pre-established loved figure which could also serve as

partially as a brand mascot. This could allow for Coca-Cola to have a go to advertising strategy

for the holiday season. It was also effective for children, if they see ads with Santa drinking Coke

then they may be more obligated to do so themselves due to it being a trusted figure. It also

created a mental association between Coke, Christmas and Santa Claus, which is very effective

for a company’s brand recognition and trustworthiness in the minds of children as well as

parents.

Despite Santa Claus being featured in a lot of different types of media before being in

Coca-Cola ad, the company helped to create the more modern version of Santa Claus people

know today. The ads featuring Santa were oil paintings created by Haddon Sundblom and
 Limauro 4

featuring in a variety of different advertisements and products. According to Coca-Cola’s

website, “The original oil paintings Sundblom created were adapted for Coca-Cola advertising in

magazines and on store displays, billboards, posters, calendars and plush dolls”

(https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-claus). The wide spread of types

advertisements and products featuring Santa and the emotions associated with the holiday

season, seemingly allowed for the success of the advertising campaign and the continued

connection people have with Santa and the brand. It allowed for people to know and see the

product, especially considering the foundation of this created association was during a time when

there were not as many technological advancements in comparison with today. This advertising

strategy of getting people to see and accept their manufactured connection of Coca-Cola and

Santa Claus demonstrates how companies such as Coca-Cola have changed their strategy in how

they reach consumers. However, it also shows how the brand has established a connection and

maintained it while still having it be accepted by the public, which is a difficult task to achieve.

While the connection of Santa Claus, and the holiday season as a whole, with Coca-Cola is not

based on any actual truths, the association between the two has some believable elements.

The association with Santa also includes the fact that the company tends to target children

which Santa Claus is associated with, which they have featured in many of their advertisements

during the holiday season over the years. In many of Coca-Cola’s ads feature Santa with children

drinking the soda and due to his acceptance among the public, this is not considered wrong or in

bad taste. “From 1931 to 1964, Coca-Cola advertising showed Santa delivering toys (and playing

with them!), pausing to read a letter and enjoy a Coke, visiting with the children who stayed up

to greet him, and raiding the refrigerators at a number of homes” (https://www.coca-

colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-claus). Santa interacting with the kids seemingly

 Limauro 5

made him a part of the family, thus making Coca-Cola part of it as well. Through this ads Coke

was a means of bonding, which is a concept that they would use for many years afterwards in

many other successful campaigns. There is also a connection of color between the brand and the

color of the suit that Santa wears. This association of color between the two was not created by

the company, but was a coincidence that worked in their favor. “And even though it's often said

that Santa wears a red coat because red is the color of Coca-Cola, Santa appeared in a red coat

before Sundblom painted him” (https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-

claus). This connection of color creates a strong brand recognition and association due to

consumers seeing the color of one of the two and thus, make the association of all of the

emotions of the holidays with the soda brand.

In connection with Santa Claus, the Coca-Cola company also used “Sprite Boy” in many

of their advertisements in conjunction with Santa for their holiday ads as well as on his own. His

representation as an elf character fit in as a sidekick for the already existing Santa Claus ads. He

was introduced in the 1940s and was used a mascot for the company for many years. His name is

often thought of as associated with the Coca-Cola soft drink Sprite, but they are not linked to one

another as sprite was introduced in the 1960s when the Sprite Boy character was already

discontinued. As with many different advertising campaigns, companies have an intended goal in

mind when spending the money to put out different types of advertising or branding. When it

comes to Sprite Boy, one of Coca-Cola’s goals was to originally combat the name Coke that

consumers were developing for the company. However, they decided later to reverse their

decision and made a campaign to try to have more consumers use the name Coke in addition to

the original Coca-Cola name. “At the time, the Company discouraged use of ‘Coke,’ but people

continued to use the name. The company finally accepted it and in June 1941, the abbreviation
 Limauro 6

"Coke" was used for the first time in magazine ads. A campaign began to connect the names

"Coke" and "Coca-Cola" — with Sprite Boy as its primary image” (https://www.coca-

colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-sprite-boy). The name Coke more closely refers to cocaine,

the drug that was originally a part of the beverage, and having that as an alternative name could

bring back the PR crisis that the company adverted not too long before this. However, this

shortened name provides consumers with a product that is easier to remember and an abbreviated

title that allows for the brand’s name to be used a lot easier in conversation as well as everyday

use. In modern times when people refer to the soft drink, they seemingly only refer to it as Coke

and rarely ever use the actual full name.

Similar to many other advertising mascots, Sprite Boy had many products based on his

character and ads. There were many products based on Sprite Boy that are surprisingly worth a

decent amount of money today. “A sought-after collectible of the era is the "Welcome Friend,

Have a Coke" lithographed tavern sign. The 1940s piece was especially designed to go with the

fixtures and decoration of high-class taverns. The price of the sign originally was 39 cents; today

the piece can be worth $1,200 on the collectors’ market” (https://www.coca-

colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-sprite-boy). The fact that there are people who value the

advertising and characters that Coca-Cola has produced over the years shows the company’s as

well as the advertisement’s, of different forms, ability to emotionally connect with consumers. It

also demonstrates the staying power of these ads in the minds of people and the beneficial factor

of nostalgia for companies with a long history of memorable ads. The memorability that people

have for the time period and for a product that many people have grown up with are useful tools

to build natural consumer made PR for the company years after these ads were produced. It also
 Limauro 7

provides the brand the opportunity to revisit characters such as this if they desire or if the

popularity reaches a certain point.

Almost every decade has their own culture in the United States and the 1970s had a large

influence of peace and understanding between different people. The 1970s was a changing

period of time that contained some of the Vietnam war and was recently after the racial tension

of the 1960s. Throughout the various changes in society advertisers and brands have to adapt to

meet this change and incorporate their brand among the movements or cultural changes. Coca-

Cola achieved this through many ads during the time, but “I’d like to buy the world a coke” is a

legendary advertisement that is still discussed decades after its release. The song in the

commercial is based upon the song “I’d like to teach the world to sing”, by the New Seekers.

This peaceful song in a period of turmoil helped in creating a memorable commercial that was

replicated and referenced in other forms of media. The fact that other forms of media, Such as

Mad Men, used this commercial and song in their product shows how strong and revered this

commercial was and still is. It also shows the impact that it had on people’s lives as well as how

it truly resonated with people and the world as a whole.

The feelings of peace and understanding among people of different backgrounds are ideas

that nearly everyone accepts, which in conjunction with Coca-Cola creates an association of

those feelings with the brand. One of the lines that is repeated many times during the commercial

is “it’s the real thing, what the world wants today” which is a reference to people being tired of

the lies and fakeness that was going on during the time. According to Travis M. Andrews and

Fred Barbash of the Washington Post, “Rodger Greenaway, one of the musicians who help write

the jingle, said he thinks the popularity came from a feeling of hope during a dark period in the

country’s history” (Greenway Washington Post). The peaceful qualities the commercial
 Limauro 8

discusses connects truthfulness and honesty with Coca-Cola, as well as a statement on the world

events, as they are qualities that people seem to desire. Through the association of those qualities

with Coca-Cola, it demonstrates to the public that the brand supports that message and vision for

the world. The ad also features Coke bottles that are held by people from various countries with

Coca-Cola written on the bottles in their native language. This demonstrates that despite people

being from different parts of the world and of different walks of life, the universal experience of

Coca-Cola and the ideas and beliefs associated with it, from this commercial and others, are

universal despite the background of a person.

The polar bear ads that Coca-Cola has produced since the 1990s create an environment

focus instead commercials about human and the emotions associated with that. The ads feature

polar bears in the arctic drinking acting cute or funny and drinking a Coke. The advertisements

are also animated which stray away from a lot of their previous advertising featuring actual

people or drawings of characters interacting with humans, however this ad shows the animals

without any human presence. This allows the focus to solely on the interaction of the animals

without the possible “humans are bad” idea being pushed onto people as a lot of other media

does when discussing animals or the environment. However, despite this lack of actual humans,

the polar bears fill this role as they act as if they are humans. According to Mya Frazier of The

New Yorker, “…between 2011, the year Coke announced its two-million-dollar pledge to the

W.W.F., and 2013, it spent $9.8 billion on marketing and averaged $8.7 billion in profits”

(Frazier The New Yorker). This display of caring for the environment, despite the actual amount

of money given, through the combination of advertisements and good PR gives Coca-Cola good

publicity, brand recognition, and possibly the increase of sales in various forms. Being a

company that does not focus on environmental issues allows them to have different type of
 Limauro 9

impact compared to others in that it means more due to it not being their only message to the

world. This differentiates the ad from those other forms of media, while also bringing attention

to the arctic and their support of polar bears and the arctic while not being too forced and still

associating it with their product. Also, having a consistent mascot focus on this issue allows for it

to be a part of their permanent branding as well as provides opportunities for merchandising such

as toys for kids or beverage holders for adults. Products based on the characters in

advertisements allows for children to become more familiar with the brand and accepting of it

due to it being involved in their lives at a young age.

\
 Limauro 10

Bibliography