"I'd Like To Buy the World a Coke"

Hey Guys! Ok, we have to start at the beginning in order to get the full effect. And that beginning begins on January 18, 1971.

The creative director for the Coca-Cola account with the McCann-Erickson advertising agency was on his way to meet the music director for the account when his plane had to land due to a massive fog in London. There, furious passengers were so frustrated that they had to hand out near the airport in case the fog lifted that tempers were high.

By the second day near the airport, Bill Backer (the creative director) saw some of the most irritated passengers laughing and talking together over bottles of Coke. Bill Backer described the scene as:

"In that moment [I] saw a bottle of Coke in a whole new light... [I] began to see a bottle of Coca-Cola as more than a drink that refreshed a hundred million people a day in almost every corner of the globe. So [I] began to see the familiar words, 'Let's have a Coke,' as more than an invitation to pause for refreshment. They were 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."

The jingle that we all know was then inspired and after its radio release, people were phoning in to radio stations requesting the jingle just like a top hit!

To read more about the ad that changed pop culture forever, click here: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_hilltop.html