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Why Coca-Cola railed against the nickname 'Coke' | CBC Radio Loaded
[18]Under the Influence
Why Coca-Cola railed against the nickname 'Coke'
"Coke" wasn't always a welcome nickname. In fact, early Coca-Cola ads
attempted to dissuade the public from using the term.
Social Sharing
CBC Radio · Posted: May 21, 2020 11:08 AM ET | Last Updated: May 21,
2020
(Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press)
Under the Influence27:28S9E21 - Fix It Again, Tony: Brand Nicknames
"Coke" is a nickname.
The soft drink is officially called Coca-Cola. It is one of the most
valuable companies in the world. Coca-Cola was also a mass marketing
pioneer.
Founder John Pemberton placed the first newspaper ads for Coca-Cola
back in 1886. By 1912, the advertising budget was $1M or nearly $30M in
today's dollars - a huge ad budget for the times.
Even with a budget that big, the soft drink company discovered people
weren't asking for a Coca-Cola in stores, they were asking for a Coke.
It was a nickname that evolved very early in Coca-Cola's history. And
the Coca-Cola company wasn't very happy about that.
Under the Influence0:57Clip - Fix It Again, Tony: Brand Nicknames
Some people call Under The Influence "UTI" for short. It’s not a good
nickname. But certain brand nicknames are positive and extremely
valuable - like "Coke" and "Chevy." Others like “Whole Paycheck” don’t
make Whole Foods happy. Join us this week as we explore the unexpected
implications of Brand Nicknames. 0:57
In 1913, the company actually created an advertising campaign to
dissuade people from using the nickname Coke. The campaign theme was:
"Coca-Cola: Ask for it by its full name - then you will get the
genuine."
Clearly, Coca-Cola feared the short nickname would erode its unique
brand identity and could quite possibly lead to a generic trademark. In
other words, the company worried that "Coke" could become the catch-all
word for any soft drink.
Coca-Cola kept encouraging the public to ask for a Coca-Cola instead of
a Coke for the next 30 years. But the public still insisted on asking
for a Coke. The nickname was unstoppable.
The brand's diet variety is now called "Diet Coke." (The Associated
Press)
So the soft drink company had to make a decision. To either keep
fighting that trend and risk another company grabbing the word "Coke"
as a trademark - or embrace it. They chose the latter.
To fold Coke into their trademark and brand identity, Coca-Cola created
an advertising character called the "Sprite Boy" in 1942.
The mascot was illustrated by Haddon Sundblom, the same artist who
created the iconic Coca-Cola Santa Claus image. This Sprite mascot was
designed to look like an elf or a little pixie - with just a face and
hands - and it wore a Coca-Cola bottlecap as a hat.
By the way, Sprite Boy was not connected to the lemon-lime soft drink
of the same name. As a matter of fact, Sprite Boy was created and
retired long before Sprite the drink was introduced.
The purpose of Sprite Boy was to remind people that Coke and Coca-Cola
were the same thing. Print ads would show the Sprite Boy peeking around
a bottle of Coca-Cola. You can feel how much the company was struggling
with their nickname - as even the headlines were awkward. For example,
one Sprite Boy ad said: "Hello, I'm Coca-Cola, known too, as Coke."
There was even a P.S. at the bottom of the ads that said: "Everybody
likes to shorten words. Abbreviation is a natural law of language.
'Coke' is the friendly abbreviation for the trademark Coca-Cola."
In 1945, Coca-Cola gave in to the force of its customers and
trademarked the nickname. The first advertising slogan to use the word
"Coke" appeared in 1948. It said: "Where there's Coke, there's
hospitality."
Maybe the biggest sign the company had fully embraced the nickname came
in 1971 when it launched this campaign:
IFRAME: [19]
https://www.youtube.com/embed/1VM2eLhvsSM
__________________________________________________________________
For more stories about Brand Nicknames, click or tap the "Listen"
button above to hear the full [20]Under the Influence episode. You can
also find us on the CBC Radio app or subscribe to our [21]podcast.
__________________________________________________________________
[22]Under the Influence is recorded in the Terstream Mobile Recording
studio, a 1969 Airstream trailer that's been restored and transformed
into a studio on wheels, so host Terry O'Reilly can record the show
wherever he goes.
Follow the journey on [23]Facebook, [24]Twitter and [25]Instagram, and
search the hashtag: #Terstream.
The Terstream Mobile Recording Studio. (Image Credit: Sidney O'Reilly)
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