Happy Holidays

So one of the great marketing urban legends of all time is associated with the world’s largest beverage company. It is rumored that the image we know as Santa Claus (the jolly guy with a white beard in the red and white suit) was created by a Coca Cola advertising campaign. Through the centuries, Santa Claus has been depicted as everything from a tall gaunt man to an elf, he has worn everything from a bishop's robe to animal fur.

Early marketers played roles in evolving the Santa character. The man-sized version of Santa became the dominant image around 1841, when a Philadelphia merchant named J.W. Parkinson hired a man to dress in "Cris Cringle" clothing and climb the chimney outside his shop. A Boston printer named Louis Prang introduced the English custom of Christmas cards to America, and in 1885 he issued a card featuring a red-suited Santa. Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly in 1862, over 30 years he gave him the beard changed the color of his coat from tan to the now traditional red.

In the early 1930s, Coca-Cola was looking for ways to increase sales during winter, many people thought of Coke as a refreshing drink on a hot day. Around this time the D'Arcy Advertising Agency launched the slogan "Thirst Knows No Season," and combined it with the ultimate winter icon: Santa Claus. They turned to illustrator Haddon Sundblom who created a Santa Claus with rosy-cheeks and happy wrinkles, in a red-and-white suit. The Coca-Cola Santa made its debut in 1931 and continued into the 1960s. Each year they flooded the market with Santa-Coke propaganda; magazine advertisements, billboards, point-of-purchase, promotional items, collectibles, etc. which appealed to children (an important segment of the soft drink market) and as they grew-up their memories of Santa where of this Coca-Cola version.

So Coca-Cola didn’t invent the image of Santa Claus wearing a company colored red suit. The success of their advertising campaigns did cement the image of Santa Claus in pop culture. For many, Coca-Cola ads signify the start of the holiday season, and Santa has been a wholesome brand ambassador for generations of Coke drinkers.