It’s a Still from the World Famous “I’d like to buy the world a Coke”, Coke Commercial!
“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” is a popular song that originated as the jingle “Buy the World a Coke” in the groundbreaking 1971 “Hilltop” television commercial for Coca-Cola. “Buy the World a Coke” was produced by Billy Davis and portrayed a positive message of hope and love, featuring a multicultural collection of teenagers on top of a hill appearing to sing the song. “Buy the World a Coke” repeated “It’s the real thing” as Coca-Cola’s marketing theme at the time.
Remember the Iconic Coke Commercial Below
The popularity of the jingle led to it being re-recorded by The New Seekers and by The Hillside Singers as a full-length song, dropping references to Coca-Cola. The song became a hit record in the US and the UK.
The idea originally came to an advertising executive named Bill Backer, who was working for McCann-Erickson — the agency responsible for Coca-Cola. Backer, Roger Cook and Billy Davis were delayed at Shannon Airport in Ireland. After a forced layover with many hot tempers, they noticed their fellow travelers the next morning were talking and joking while drinking Coca-Cola. Backer wrote the line “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” on a napkin and shared it with British hit songwriters Cook and Roger Greenaway. The melody was derived from a jingle by Cook and Greenaway originally called “True Love and Apple Pie”. The commercial ended with the statement: “On a hilltop in Italy, we assembled young people from all over the world to bring you the message from Coca-Cola bottlers all over the world. It’s the real thing. Coke.”
A version of the song was rerecorded by Susan Shirley and released in 1971. Cook, Greenaway, Backer, and Billy Davis reworked the song and recorded it as a Coca-Cola radio commercial. Multiple versions of the ad have been made. In 2007, Campaign magazine called it “one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history”. It served as a milestone—the first instance of the recording industry’s involvement with advertising. Marketing analysts have noted Coca-Cola’s strategy of marrying the idea of happiness and universal love of the product illustrated by the song. The commercial has continued receiving accolades in more recent times. In 2000, Channel 4 and The Sunday Times ranked the song 16th in the 100 Greatest TV Ads, whilst ITV ranked the advertisement 10th in their list of the greatest advertisements of all time by in 2005.
Credit: wikipedia.com
