HISTORY's Moments in Media: "It’s the Real Thing"

But there was quotItamp8217s the Real Thingquot was invented in the late 1960s by McCann Erickson and the brand studio Lippincott as part of a full branding overhaul that codified the iconic red and white color scheme and the swooping ribbon that echoes the classic contoured Coke bottle Launched alongside that instantly recognizable first global branding system the quotIt39s the Real Thingquot campaign debuted in the fall of 1969 with magazine ads placed in October issuesOther slogans had preceded this quotThirst Knows No Seasonquot introduced in 1921 helped transition CocaCola from a summer novelty to a drink consumed yearround quotThe Pause That Refreshesquot was perhaps Coke39s bestknown slogan in the early 20th century In the 1950s there was quotSign of Good Tastequot And in 1963 quotThings Go Better with Cokequot even included popular musical acts like The Supremes Aretha Franklin Roy Orbison and others to sing the jinglequotItamp8217s the Real Thingquot launched into the firmament of the late 1960s According to Ira C Herbert a legendary Coke exec and a McCann alum who supervised the creation of this campaign and later served as president of CocaCola USA the new slogan quotresponded to research which shows that young people seek the real the original and the natural as an escape from phoninessquot The slogan positioned Coke as something authentic during a time when Americans were searching for just thatAs the 1970s began quotItamp8217s the Real Thingquot was ubiquitous and featured closeups of authentic Americana They werenamp8217t exactly real people but the look was quotrealquot TV ads took a similar approach often including attractive young people amp8212 even some from diverse backgrounds amp8212 enjoying Coke As with the quotThings Go Better with Cokequot campaign pop musicians including James Brown recorded the quotItamp8217s the Real Thingquot jingle in their own signature style for radio spotsThe apex of quotIt39s the Real Thingquot came in 1971 when CocaCola released a TV commercial most often referred to as quotHilltopquot featuring a truly multicultural array of young people standing in the green grass on a beautiful day and singing that theyamp8217d like to buy the world a Coke Its oftrepeated line amp8212 quotWhat the world wants todayIs the real thingquot amp8212 was in many ways the perfect distillation of the messaging that was focused on youth and real people McCann made the ad not Sterling Cooper ampamp Partners despite Don Draperamp8217s epiphanyAs the story goes quotHilltopquot was conceived when Bill Backer a McCann creative director on the Coke account had his flight to London diverted by fog Stranded along with other globetrotting businessmen and jetsetters at the tiny airport in Shannon Ireland he noticed that everyone who had been so testy in the evening had relaxed by morning as they sat around shared stories and sipped from bottles of Coke The globally beloved soft drink was bringing all these people together When Backer whoamp8217d also written quotThings Go Better with Cokequot finally got to London he showed his songwriting colleagues what heamp8217d scribbled on a napkin quotIamp8217d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it companyquot They quickly wrote and released a song and soon thereafter shot the iconic adBut as classic as quotHilltopquot remains itamp8217s also very much a hippieinflected product of its age quotItamp8217s the Real Thingquot has lived on resurrected in later taglines like quotCanamp8217t Beat the Real Thingquot quotAlways the Real Thingquot and the simple quotRealquotMore than that the slogan continues to serve its basic function to position Coke as the true authentic original PepsiCola is only a handful of years younger than Coke amp8212 but irrevocably itamp8217s not the real thingClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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HISTORY's Moments in Media: "It’s the Real Thing"

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HISTORY's Moments in Media: "It’s the Real Thing"

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