For many people around the world, Christmas is one of the best times of the year. It is a season that often brings feelings of joy. The thought of baked goodies, gifts and the Christmas spirit at every turn. But Christmas as we know it would not be complete without a very special person: Santa Claus.
Even though Santa Claus has been around for a long time, he became more popular because of the soft drink company: Coca-Cola. Interestingly enough, it also worked the other way around, Coca-Cola became more popular through their advertisement featuring Santa.
The start of Santa Claus
It started with an American intellectual, named Washington Irving. He lived in New York (New Amsterdam at the time) and published a book about the influence of Dutch stories and traditions. One of the characters in the stories was ‘Sinterklaas’. Sinterklaas quickly became Santa Claus by English-speaking New Yorkers. Sinterklaas the present-giver was quickly merged with Father Christmas, who was an English character originating sometime around the 16th century. The merging of the two characters (Sinterklaas and Father Christmas) became the one figure regarded as Santa Claus. The bringer of gifts and holiday cheer.
There was still a discrepancy about what Santa Claus actually looked like. In 1863 this discussion was settled when a cartoonist named Thomas Nast was hired by the popular magazine known as Harpers’s weekly. Inspired by the poem ‘’ ’Twas the night before Christmas”, Thomas drew cartoons of Santa. It was through these drawings that Thomas immortalized the image of Santa that is widespread today. An old man with a white beard and a big belly wearing a red suit and hat. Though he sometimes drew Santa with a green suit.
Coca-Cola’s twist on Santa
For about forty years, Nast dished out these holiday drawings. During the 20th century Coca-Cola stepped in. Although the company did not invent Santa or even customize him, they did play a big role in popularizing and shaping the Santa that has become a staple in the famous holiday celebration. They used Santa as a marketing strategy.
Coca-Cola began their relationship with Santa in the 1920s. During the winter, sales were usually low for the company. The advertisement did work at the time to boost their sales. However, in 1931, with the help of the artist Haddon Sundblom, Coca-Cola’s Santa got a bit of an upgrade. They wanted to display Santa as a realistic, relatable character; someone who wasn’t just a person in a costume, but an actual Santa Claus that embodied the true Christmas spirit. They used this to make a connection of the nostalgia that you get from Santa Claus and place it by Coca-Cola.
The success of the marketing strategy
Haddon also used the poem ‘’ ‘Twas a night before Christmas’’ as inspiration. The images of Santa that Haddon drew pictured Santa holding coke bottles, drinking coke and receiving bottles of coke as gifts. In some of the pictures, Santa was reading letters, visiting with children, delivering toys and raiding refrigerators for Coke. He was portrayed doing things that people could relate to and he always had a wink in his eye. This campaign increased its popularity immensely. These advertisements were regularly placed in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, National Geographic and The New Yorker. They were used on billboards, delivery trucks and store displays. Coca Cola had an enormous advertising campaign and Santa Claus became extremely popular among children.
The huge success not only boosted their sales but at a certain point children even started leaving out bottles of coke at night for Santa Claus. The campaign’s success was legendary. They adopted a seasonal character that had a lot in common with the brand. From the colours to the company’s value of sharing happiness. Even though Haddon Sundblom created his last painting in 1964, Coca-Cola continued to use images of Santa in their ads based on Haddon’s work.
It’s no longer a common practice to leave bottles of Coca Cola out for Santa on Christmas eve, but the impact of Coca-Cola’s Santa Claus can still be felt in modern times. All because of a business brand that chose to tell its story with the help of a seasonal character.