When Coca-Cola hired Santa Claus as a Salesman

The chubby man with a white beard and red suit hasn’t been in the chimney-gift-service-biz since the dawn of humankind! Well, sure, the legend of a tall, thin, elf-like scary Santa Claus was centuries old, but the new form and cuddly persona were formulated much later. In the 1920s, Coca-Cola gave more definition to Santa’s new form and popularised it through its ad campaign to attract consumers in their Christmas spirits.

Going through a severe dip in sales, the company was ardent to take one final shot of the year, the ultimate breakthrough. (*Dramatic music begins*) The company thought of adding a little religious sentiment as the last ingredient of Coca-Cola. Amidst failing strategies and soaring losses, only a super-human-hero could save Coca-Cola. And so emerged the ‘Ho Ho Ho’ man, the emblem of joy, fun, and gifts.

So, with this super-perceptive brand positioning, the company marketed Santa Claus as their marketing model and created an unmatched impact upon the whole world with recurring positive effects. 

Question: Did Coca-Cola create Santa Claus?

The sheer joy we receive when we give it to others, is what Santa is symbolic of.  Pair this with a rotund man with a white beard, holding the signature contour bottle; his red colour robe, consistent with the festival’s theme- makes him the perfect brand ambassador for Christmas. And this exactly is how a brand recreated a figure that people till date, link to the birth of Christ.

All of this, why? 
To up the sinking sales.

Coca-Cola, a multinational beverage company, has been famous and favourite for a century now and sells its product in over 180 countries. Yep, with multiple billion-dollar brands across several beverage categories worldwide, bottling partners, and whatnot, the company has 700,000 employees and owns brands like Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, Minute Maid, and many more!

As of August 2022, Coca-Cola is the 28th most valuable company with a market capitalization of $279 billion. In 1919, the company came out with its IPO, and the shares got listed at $40 per share on New York Stock Exchange. Just one year after Coca-Cola’s IPO, the company had sold nearly 27 million gallons of “the syrup,” up 150% from 1920. (Have a good time digesting the fact that I called your favourite drink ‘Syrup’)

Sadly, Wall Street fell heavily in 1929, and the cola-coloured clouds of collapsing sales covered the happy, bright days of Coca-Cola; but…
*Requesting a round of applause from the reader for the creative genius that Coca-Cola is.*

Cocaine for the Pain

…the company diverted its attention toward advertising and marketing strategies- big budget, big picture. So, during World War II, Coca-Cola stepped in to promote their product by distributing it to all deployed soldiers of the US army, wherever they were.

People believed cocaine was safe if consumed in small amounts. According to some reports, Coke’s recipe contained cocaine in the form of coca leaf extract. That is how Coca-Cola obtained its name, with the second part coming from the kola nut that contains another stimulant, caffeine.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse later published a detailed article, stating that Coca-Cola did, in fact, have cocaine, which was legal in 1885, and also a common ingredient in medicines. Initially, Coca-Cola was promoted and sold as a medicine. Told you it’s a ‘syrup’!

John Pemberton, the creator of the Coca-Cola recipe, was injured in the Civil War and was in great pain. To numb it all off, he started taking morphine which was easily available but soon developed a morphine addiction. And Coca-Cola was the antidote to that addiction. He claimed that the drink helped cure headaches, upset stomach, impotence, fatigue and of course, morphine addiction.

“If it hadn’t been for his drug addiction, no one would have tasted this drink.” And we would live in a world without Coca-Cola.

Too bad, Coca-Cola was made ‘cocaine-free’ by 1929. And the Second World War started a decade after that. But here is the inside news, some reports say it wasn’t ‘cocaine-free’ after all. And could have been the reason why it enticed the soldiers in pain, a little more.

Coca-Cola became an ‘essential wartime’ supply, distributed by the military itself and was established as the “American Way of Life”.

This created a global demand for the drink, and its brand value hit roofs in different countries. And of course, patriotism was merged with religion; with Santa as their brand model, the campaign promised ‘HOpe! HOpe! HOpe!’

Answer: Coca-Cola DID NOT create the modern Santa

In the past, there were many portraits of Santa. The most popular one was that of Saint Nicholas of Myra, a 4th Century bishop depicted in familiar red robes.

Despite popular belief, the more modern look of Santa Claus was not introduced by Coca-Cola. The company that first used it was White Rock Beverages, for their mineral water and ginger ale (Imagine! Ginger flavoured carbonated water🤢. Not really an Indian penchant, won’t you say?)

White Rock Beverages first used Santa as their salesman in 1915 to sell their mineral water and then in 1923, for the ginger ale. But they clearly couldn’t figure out the right execution, since Coca-Cola, to date, is credited with the invention of the rotund red man.

So, how did Coca-Cola contribute to the creation of the image of Santa we see today?

Marketing Geniuses at the Syrup Company

The Santa Claus introduced by Coca-Cola during their ad campaign with a bushy white bear, fat belly and red robes, was inspired by Saint Nicholas of Myra. Archie Lee, the D'Arcy Advertising Agency executive working with The Coca-Cola Company, was the person who commissioned the campaign to show a nourishing Santa who was both realistic and symbolic. Lee selected Haddon Sundblom as the person responsible for creating Santa Claus for the Coca-Cola ad.

People tended to consume the soft drink only during hot summers. A collaboration with Santa made a statement that Coca-Cola was in fact a beverage, that could be consumed in the winters as well, a beverage that could be consumed regardless of seasons, basically making it a staple.

With the inception of the company's Santa, Coca-Cola continued to deliver the image of the jolly Santa in the people’s minds. The company also displayed portraits on banners, store displays, billboards, posters, calendars and dolls. Santa-dressed actors were handing out toys, entering houses with a bottle of freezing coke, and visiting children who stayed to meet him. Coca-Cola’s Santa was everywhere! Every-damn-where.

The cost of canvas was very high, so Sundblom was forced to use the same canvas board, painting over his original designs.

The contributions of Haddon were globally recognized. Sundblom created his final version of Santa Claus in 1964. His art was exhibited in world-famous art galleries, including the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Isetan Department Store in Tokyo, and the NK Department Store in Stockholm.

Also, in 1942, Coca-Cola introduced "Sprite Boy," a character who collaborated with Santa Claus in Coca-Cola advertising throughout the 1940s and 1950s. And guess what, Sprite Boy was also a creation of Sundblom. Sprite as a name was chosen since he was an elf.

Surprisingly, Sprite as a beverage was launched in the 1960s.

The Bottom Line

I personally, cannot have a pizza, taco or pasta without Coke, and so do many, many people I know of; and it has to be Coke. With a market share of approximately 50%, it still is a staple.

In the beginning, they had been split between the manufacturers, buy-outs, and naming rights, as anyone would expect to happen with a company of such size. All of it became a part of its past, slowly fading in the red-brown fizz.

The marketing strategy worked in favour of the company as the company had a red theme-based logo. This matched the attire of Santa, and due to this, people easily connected Santa with Coca-Cola. This robust impact is still alive even today.

Indeed, a magnificent marketing campaign.