Players in the World of Advertising for Coca-Cola

Over the years the different players in the advertising world for Coca-Cola have helped shape the brand’s image and create a personality for the company. There have been tons of people who have contributed to the success of the Coca-Cola Company through the ideas they have come up with for its advertising. There are several major advertising agencies that have played a role in the company’s success including the D’Archy Advertising Agency and McCann-Erickson. However, in this section, I will focus on just a few of the major contributors to the brand image of Coca-Cola, as well as some of the players who helped get the name of the brand out to the public.

            The company’s first president, Asa Griggs Candler played a large part in getting the business started in the 1890’s. He began to give out coupons for free tastes of the new product, which brought in many curious customers into his store who had heard about the mysterious fresh product that everyone was buzzing about. In addition to these coupons, he distributed clocks, urns, calendars, and apothecary scales that had the Coca-Cola logo on them throughout his pharmacy. The Coca-Cola brand was everywhere and his aggressive approach on promoting the product created an explosion of popularity for the drink.

Asa Griggs Candler

           

In 1928, Robert Woodruff, the second president of the Coca-Cola Company had Coca-Cola travel with the Olympic team to the Olympics in Amsterdam that year. This strategy was great advertising because Coca-Cola had just been introduced on an international level.

Robert Woodruff

Soon after, in 1931, Haddon Sundblom created the image of Santa that we associate with the brand to this day. He was a jolly, plump old man with a white beard and a red suit. Few people know that this set the stage for the modern day image of Santa that we see everywhere; it was created by advertisers for Coca-Cola. Before this image of Santa drinking a Coke was released, everyone thought of Coca-Cola as a warm weather refreshment. However, this new illustration changed people’s point of view and it became a cold weather drink as well.

            In 1971 Bill Backer wrote the famous “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” song. This new jingle created a connection with the public and is arguably one of the best commercials of all time. The last advertiser I want to bring to light is Ken Stewart. He designed the famous Coca-Cola polar bear in 1993. This new animation could appeal to a large variety of target audiences and, in addition, created yet another positive brand image for the company.

Sources: Coca-cola heritage timeline. (2006, December 31). Retrieved from http://heritage.coca-cola.com/

Bellis, M. (2011). The history of coca cola. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/coca_cola_2.htm