ATLANTA — The Coca-Cola Co., with its eye on the teen market, is cutting more “youth radio commercials” starring recognized pop artists. The latest of these were released June 29.
Richard Harvey, vice-president and brand manager of Coca-Cola, said the commercials inject product action “where the action is . . . in this growing under-25 soft drink market.”
Sandy Posey and the Young Rascals are the latest names added to the list of stars singing the praises of Coke. Others already utilized include the Supremes, Drifters, Nancy Sinatra, Roy Orbison, the Fortunes, Los Bravos, Petula Clark, Ray Charles, Lesley Gore, Lee Dorsey, the Vogues, Troggs, Joe Tex, and the New Vaudeville Band.
The use of teen talent has paid off with awards. Clio statuettes honored the series of youth radio commercials with two first prizes. Several other regional and national awards were presented.
The original jingle of “Things Go Better With Coke” was recorded by the Limeliters. Still utilizing the same theme, it has given talent some of the broadest radio exposure it has ever enjoyed. Radio DJ’s report a deluge of requests to play the commercials and requests for copies of transcriptions.
The teen-appeal campaign was created by William Backer, vice-president of McCann-Erikson, Inc. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; July 8, 1967).
Ray Charles records his take of Things Go Better With Coke into a jingle-friendly song, 1967.
COCA-COLA UNCORKS RADIO AD DRIVE APPEALING TO TEENS; USE RECORD ARTISTS AS SHOWCASE FOR COKE
NEW YORK — The Coca-Cola Company is launching the biggest radio spot campaign in it’s history, featuring top-selling recording artists in an all-out drive to attract the teen market. Each attraction will be spotlighted in a different version of the sponsor’s jingle, “Things Go Better With Coke.”
Coke, seventh largest radio-ad spot buyer for it’s products in 1964, will pole vault into the No. 1 radio position this year as a result of the teenage splurge. McCann-Erickson, Coca Cola’s ad agency who created the teenage appeal campaign, is placing the singing commercials in saturation proportions on the nation’s leading “Top 40 format” stations. The Coke ad campaign, which will soon blanket the country, is being spread over 62 key market areas, using several hundred radio stations in covering the new ad’s outreach to maximizing sales potential.
While neither the sponsor nor it’s agency was willing to divulge the extent of Coke’s investment in this drive, but informed sources placed the teen-artist radio campaign estimated at nearly the $10,000,000 level.
Artists signed by McCann-Erickson for promoting the Coca-Cola beverage include Petula Clark, The Drifters, The Four Seasons, Freddie & The Dreamers, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, Jan & Dean, Freddie Cannon, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, Lesley Gore, The Supremes, and Gary Lewis & The Playboys, The Vogues, just to name a few. Coca-Cola confirmed of their plans to sign other artists as the campaign moves forward into the immediate future.
*From the MCRFB Commercials archive, featuring (Click artist name for audio):
“Things go better with”… the year before the ad drive, the Fab Four even sat-in for a Coca-Cola ‘shoot’ in ’64(Click image for larger view)
This marks the first time in the history of the record industry that its artists have been afforded air exposure on such a broad scale. At the same time, numerous artists and their managers see the new Coke drive as a means in further promoting the recording talent’s popularity and exposure.
Coke’s full-scale drive comes at the heels of a highly successful test carried on earlier this year. At the time, the “Things Go Better With Coke” jingle was recorded by the Shirelles with John Bubbles, and was placed on a handful of stations to determine the effectiveness of using teenage talent. The results were so rewarding that the company decided to expand further more of the ad’s limited trial run.
When stations reported that listeners were including the Coke ad jingle among their request — and in one case, it hit one station’s “Top 40” list — the sponsor decided to go all out.
Written by Backer
1965 Coca-Cola Spot 45 RPM; Orbison, Jan and Dean (click on image for larger view)
The jingle package was written by William Backer, associated creative director of McCann-Erickson’s Professional Advisory Council. This is a group of professionals comprised within the agency in various fields whose services are available to McCann’s clients for special projects. Backer is responsible for the selection of artists with top teen appeal, and will supervise production of all the jingles for the Coca-Cola Company.
Backer said he strives to retain the artist’s individuality in the recording of each version of the jingle. In that way, he said, the artist’s unique singing style and basis for her/his appeal is harnessed to capture the listener’s appeal.
This is achieved, he said, by adhering to the same conditions and procedures under which the artist’s hit recordings were made. The artist’s arrangers, favored sideman, and A&R men are used. In many instances, the jingles are recorded in the same studios — whether these be in Nashville or in the U.K. — where the respective artists’ hits were conceived, produced and were recorded. No effort or expense is spared in presenting the artist in their best possible light, Backer said.
“Two Stars” Offered
“We feel we are offering ‘two stars’ to the consumer — one is Coca Cola and the other is the performer — and we want each to be heard under the best possible conditions,” Backer said.
The purchase of radio time represents a joint effort on the part of Coca Cola and it’s franchise bottlers. Coke will provide the completed announcements with the artists for each ad take. The budget for purchasing air time in the various markets will be split between Coca Cola’s Atlanta headquarters and it’s regional bottlers around the country.
“Things Go Better With Coke” slogan; 1965
To facilitate this program at the grass-roots level, Coke has dispatched a team of representatives to work on the scene with the bottlers in purchasing time for local stations.
The harnessing of music’s appeal to capture a loyal following is not a new concept for Coca-Cola. During the 1940s, Coke was the major buyer of big bands, sponsoring weekly live band originations from the leading college campuses and service camps. The announcement that “the Coca-Cola spotlight points with pride to” — and then inserting the name of the band being featured — became a familiar radio slogan during that era.
The Kingston Trio sings Things Go Better With Coca-Cola (Full Version)
During “the golden era of the big bands,” a “Coke airshot” was a highly coveted booking, not so much revenue derived by the band leader, but for the extremely valuable promotion that resulted from the exposure. Indications are that Coke’s latest — and biggest — use of record disk talent may well equal if not surpass in importance yesteryear’s “Spotlight” series as a prime talent showcase for many of the best in today’s pop music scene in this country and England’s as well. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; July 10, 1965).
From the MCRFB news archives: 1967
ATLANTA — The Coca-Cola Co., with its eye on the teen market, is cutting more “youth radio commercials” starring recognized pop artists. The latest of these were released June 29.
