Coke in Times Square

Many of you may watch the New Year's countdown in Times Square in New York City tonight. Did you know that the Coca-Cola billboard came to Times Square in 1920? In 1923, neon lighting was added to bring a new dimension to the billboard. The neon sign - which measured 75 x 100 feet - flashed the message "Drink Coca-Cola, Delicious and Refreshing" to the public. It was the second-largest electric sign in the world at the time. Then in 1932, the Coca-Cola sign moved to the 47th street location and featured a soda jerk in uniform for Coca-Cola. I am sharing an image of that sign for you here.

On This Date 50 Years Ago

On December 28, 1959, this Coca-Cola Santa print ad appeared in Life Magazine. It features Santa Claus at the refrigerator being watched as he opens a bottle of Coke. This ad also appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Boys' Life, National Geographic, Time, Sports Illustrated and Good Housekeeping, among others. This surprised Santa is also featured on the December 1959 page of the calendar below.

If you enlarge the image, you may be able to see the fine print at the top of the calendar, which reads, "Please do not tear off this page - turn calendar over for 1960." This is actually the December 1959 page of the 1960 Coca-Cola Calendar that some of you may have in your collection. The Santa scene is slightly different in the image on the calendar versus the magazine ad, as you may also notice.

Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Today, for our Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola feature, I'll share with you this 1905 holiday themed red bell with a bow on top and holly with berries. This was a Christmas cutout with the Drink Coca-Cola, 5 cents advertisement. I hope you have a great holiday.

Canadian Seasons Greetings Coca-Cola Signs

For the week of Christmas I am sharing a few holiday themed items from our collection. Today, I am featuring two Canadian signs - one in English and one in French, from 1930 and 1940.  The top image is a 1930 Season's Greetings subway sign that has the image of a candle lit on the left side of the sign along with the tag line, "The Pause That Refreshes." Below is a 1940 French version of a Christmas hanger. For our readers who don't speak French, the sign reads "Take home a six-bottle carton of Coca-Cola. 36 cents plus a deposit of 12 cents." We also have the English version of this sign in our collection of items from Canada.

 

Odds and Ends

Two of our eagle-eyed readers discovered an interesting bit of editing in the Santa Doll commercial I posted a few days ago.Throughout the commercial, the doll has nothing in its hands, but in the last frame, a bottle of Coca-Cola magically appears. I have to believe that the doll was supposed to have the bottle throughout the commercial. Otherwise, the promotion for a Coca-Cola Santa Doll makes no sense.

One final Christmas food gift. If you go to the baking site linked below, you will find a great recipe for festive Coca-Cola cupcakes. Enjoy!!

http://www.bakerella.com/snow-globe-coca-cola-cupcakes/

1958 Coke Christmas Commercials

This week, I'll have a few Coke holiday themed posts to share with you. I'll start off today with a pair of commercials from 1958 that remind us that "Holiday time's a good time for the great taste of Coke." The first commercial shows a family on a toboggan riding down a hill, then making a pit stop to get more Coke before ending up in front of the fireplace. The announcer says, "Enjoy Ice-Cold Coca-Cola, Sign of Good Taste." The next commercial features the Coca-Cola Santa collectible doll that I blogged about last year. The doll was still a new item then, as it was introduced only a year earlier in 1957. Apparently, the doll can speak, as you'll see in the commercial:

Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola - The Sundblom Coca-Cola Santa Wall

Last year, I told you about the artist behind the Coca-Cola Santa, Haddon Sundblom. You may know that his Coca-Cola Santa creation transformed what was to be a simple campaign into a holiday tradition that has charmed the public for more than 75 years, but did you know that you can get a close up glimpse of his original Coca-Cola Santa paintings at the World of Coca-Cola? In the Pop Culture Gallery, there is a complete wall display of eleven Sundbloom paintings, including the two seen here. Our entire collection of original Sundblom paintings of Santa Claus consists of more than 40 in all. Most of the original paintings have been exhibited in several prestigious museums and venues around the world, including the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Isetan Department Store in Tokyo and the NK Department Store in Stockholm.

Another Bottle Radio

You may have seen my post last week about the 1933 Crosley contour bottle radio at the World of Coke. That was the first, but certainly not the last bottle radio we produced. Over the years, we've made different versions of contour bottle radios with updated technology as time progressed. I thought you'd like to see an example of a contour bottle radio from the year 1999 in our collection. This is a mini Hi-Fi contour bottle radio with doors that open to reveal a compact disc player and stereo, complete with remote control. This was made by Akura Electronics. Some of you may have a contour bottle radio in your collection as well.

Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola: Crosley Bottle Radio

The first bottle radio to be distributed as a promotional item was the bottle radio manufactured by the Crosley Radio Corporation in 1933. The radio, composed of hard plastic, stood 23 inches high and weighed almost 15 pounds. These radios were given to customers in the hope that they would be displayed prominently in the retail outlet, creating an additional advertising opportunity. The radios originally were sold to the bottlers for $18.75 each, a significant sum in the 1930s. Only high volume retail outlets were beneficiaries of this promotional item.Today, these radios are highly collectible, typically selling in the $7000-$8000 range for samples in good condition.

An interesting side note:By the 1920s, the Crosley Radio Corporation was the largest manufacturer of radios in the world.Its owner, Powell Crosley, Jr. purchased the Cincinnati Reds professional baseball team in 1934, just a year after the bottle radio was introduced, and the home field of the Reds was renamed Crosley Field, a name it retained until 1970.

The Six Keys

In 1927, The Company ran the Six Keys to the popularity of Coke campaign.  This was the first promotional contest of its kind ever attempted - with a $30,000 cash prize for "simply looking for and noticing Coca-Cola advertising."  Contestants were required to search for the six keys to Coke’s popularity, or the six reasons why people like Coca-Cola – and to write in one paragraph which key appealed most to them and why it was a good reason for the popularity of Coke.  This promotion ran in major magazines of the time, such as The Saturday Evening Post and Life.  The Six Keys were: Taste, Thirst, Purity, The Nickel, Sociability, Refreshing.  Few contests during that time attracted more widespread attention.  I have attached some of the associated advertising below.