Coca-Cola’s journey of social marketing

By Theresa Howard
CANNES, France — Social advertising today means shareable content that drives engagement, but Coca-Cola made its case for social marketing nearly 60 years ago.

The company showcased historical ads from as early as 1956 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity today and used them to illustrate the impact of social commentary in its advertising. The company was named Marketer of the Year for the first time in the Festival’s 60-year history, largely for the work it had done in recent years. Last year Coke won 30 Lions. On Monday, however, Coke showed that it is still riding the marketing momentum when it took home a Cannes Lions for Creative Effectiveness for “Share a Coke” in Australia and two gold and one bronze Cannes Lions for “Small World Machines.”

Jonathan Mildenhall, vice president, global advertising strategy and content excellence, showcased some of the brand’s most memorable ad moments over the decades. Along with Ivan Pollard, vice president, global connections, the duo presented the ads and put them in context amid the social unrest or hot buttons of their time. Among the highlights:

Mary Alexander: On the cusp of the U.S. Civil Rights movement that would emerge after Rosa Parks sparked the bus boycott that would last more than a year, Alexander became the first black woman to appear in Coca-Cola advertising in 1955. She was one of about 75 women who auditioned for the part and was paid $600 for her first work.

Bench.. An ad from 1969 that appears to be a fun, modern day photo of its time with a group of black and white teens sitting next to each other on a park bench actually reveals that two of the boys are sitting on the wrong side of the bench, which has designated sides for “blacks” and “whites.

Mean Joe Green. The touching ad from 1973 shows the brisk and burly former Pittsburgh Steelers fan one-on-one with a young white boy amid a time of “white flight” from urban locations, away from diverse communities to white suburbs.

Video Game. A spoof on the popular but divisive Grand Theft Auto game shows a happier world when Coke is the drink of choice for an otherwise-would-be thug. The ad won a Gold Lions in 2007 when advocacy groups were calling for the video game to be pulled because of its violent story lines.