Coca-Cola Captures the Zeitgeist

By the late 1960s, Coca-Cola was a prominent client of advertising agency McCann Erickson. The original formula for Coca-Cola was invented in the late 1880s, and with canny marketing, the beverage rose to global dominance in the carbonated soft drink marketplace. The responsibility for that shrewd marketing was now in the hands of McCann’s advertising team, which was crafting its next big global advertising program for Coke.

In 1971, McCann was moving forward with a campaign based on the slogan, “It’s the Real Thing,” and needed a song to go with the launch. Bill Backer, McCann’s creative director on the Coke account, had selected two veteran songwriters, Billy Davis and Roger Cook, and was travelling to meet them in London, England when his plane was diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland due to heavy fog.

When the passengers deplaned, the airline gave them the option of sharing rooms at a local hotel or staying at the airport. The stress was evident on everyone’s faces. However, the next morning, Backer noticed something. As the passengers waited in the airport lounge for their new flight, even the most irritable amongst them were now smiling, laughing and talking with each other. And on the tables in the middle of these smiling people were several bottles of Coke.

Backer recalls what happened in his book, The Care and Feeding of Ideas:

In that moment . . . [I] began to see a bottle of Coca-Cola as more than a drink. . . . [I] began to see the familiar words, “Let’s have a Coke,” as . . . actually a subtle way of saying, “Let’s keep each other company for a little while.” And [I] knew they were being said all over the world as [I] sat there in Ireland. So that was the basic idea: to see Coke not as it was originally designed to be — a liquid refresher — but as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples, a universally liked formula that would help to keep them company for a few minutes.

When he finally arrived in London, Backer and his song writing team started working on the new tune. Billy Davis and Roger Cook had impressive credentials and had completed one song before Backer arrived. But Backer insisted his insights at Shannon airport be heard. The three composed “I’d Like to Buy The World a Coke,” set to a contemporary pop/folk melody, with the final lyrics as:

I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love,

Grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.

I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,

I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.

[Repeat the last two lines, and in the background:]

It’s the real thing, Coke is what the world wants today.

The song was recorded and sent out for radio airplay throughout the USA, where it promptly met with dead silence. Coke’s bottlers didn’t understand it, and many hated it, refusing to buy radio airtime for its play. Backer’s insight of Coke connecting people seemed dead in the water.

Backer wasn’t giving up. What he witnessed in that airport lounge drove him to get Coca-Cola to provide $250,000 (in 1971 dollars) to film an advertisement to accompany the song. McCann’s staff was polled for creative ideas, with the winning concept being that of a “First United Chorus of the World.” McCann would bring a group of young people from all over the world, dressed in clothing representative of their country, to sing the new song on a green hillside. If this didn’t embody the idea that coke connected people worldwide, what would?

McCann filmed the final commercial (the “Hilltop Ad”) in Rome, and when it was released to the American public, it garnered an overwhelming response. The song was such a hit that audiences inundated radio stations with requests to play the jingle. Coca-Cola eventually waived its royalty rights to the tune, and the lyrics were updated to remove all Coke references, with three more verses added. The new version of the song, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony),” climbed to number one place in song rankings in the UK and number 7 in the USA. Eventually, the record sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

Insight and Application

The sixties were a time of tremendous tribulation. Americans had witnessed the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, the futility of the Vietnam War, race riots, church bombings, and many other troubling events. What Bill Backer saw that morning in 1971 at the airport in Shannon deeply resonated with him. He saw the basic human need to come together, be together, and share with each other. Backer felt that this was the zeitgeist, the defining spirit of the time. People were tired of the divisiveness that had permeated the previous decade; they longed for a shared community. This zeitgeist is what McCann infused in the Hilltop Ad and why it became one of the all-time greatest advertisements of the 20th century. When leaders are supremely cognizant of the current zeitgeist, they can poise their companies to win.

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This is a story in the new book I’m writing, Leadership Parables, which will feature leadership lessons in highly memorable short story form. But I need your help. If you remember an anecdote that influenced the way you think about business and leadership, let me know. If your suggestion is selected, you will receive a copy of the book and credit as a contributor. If you would like to know when the book is released, please add your name here. And, if you have an idea to share, please contact me at kurian@strategypeak.com.

This is a story in the new book I’m writing, Leadership Parables, which will feature leadership lessons in highly memorable short story form. But I need your help. If you remember an anecdote that influenced the way you think about business and leadership, tell me about it. If your suggestion is selected, you will receive a copy of the book and credit as a contributor. If you would like to know when the book is released, please add your name here. And, if you have an idea to share, please contact me at kurian@strategypeak.com.

Also, check out my first book, The 7 Essential Stories Charismatic Leaders Tell, click here: https://amzn.to/2PSHgmB