Friday Fun: A Coke – OR Koch – Earworm (In Memoriam)

Those of us who have (or have had) hearing know what earworms are: those catchy snippets of a song or tune that loop endlessly in our heads.  Well, today’s “Friday Fun” may well implant one in your brain, but at least hopefully it will be a pleasant one.

A week ago today, Friday the 13^th, Bill Backer, the real Don Draper of “Mad Men”, passed away at the age of 89.  Backer was the creator of what has been called by Adweek “The world’s most famous ad” – Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop/I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing”.

And since that tune is now implanted as today’s earworm in your brains, you might as well go ahead and enjoy it in the remastered version …

For those of you who were “Mad Men” aficionados, you may recall the iconic final scene of the series-ending finale with Don Draper meditating (beginning ~ the 1:45 mark) while envisioning a utopian scene of a culturally diverse, youthful chorus singing about “apple trees and honeybees and snow white turtledoves” on an Italian hilltop while wanting “to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.”

But the background on how the ad actually came to be is quite a different story.

In January of 1971 Backer was flying to London to meet with his songwriting team when his flight was diverted to Ireland’s Shannon Airport because of a pea-soup thick fog engulfing London.

“[W]e were marooned in the Shannon Airport, which was not set up to handle big loads of offloaded passengers. So we were stuck in a tiny motel, sharing rooms, sleeping in the lobby, and we sat around with people from all over the world.”

At first, Backer and his fellow travelers found little to be happy about under these stressful circumstances.  But by the next day Backer was surprised to see those same unhappy, irate passengers in the airport’s restaurants and cafes laughing and sharing stories of their adventure while enjoying snacks over bottles of Coke, bound together by their common experience of being grounded.

"In that moment [I] saw a bottle of Coke in a whole new light… [I] began to see a bottle of Coca-Cola as more than a drink that refreshed a hundred million people a day in almost every corner of the globe.

So that was the basic idea: to see Coke not as it was originally designed to be — a liquid refresher — but as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples, a universally liked formula that would help to keep them company for a few minutes."

Straight out of a movie script, he grabbed a paper napkin and scribbled: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.”

But when he finally reached London and shared what he had jotted down, his fellow songwriters complained: "Well, if I could do something for everybody in the world, it would NOT be to buy them a Coke.  I'd buy everyone a home first and share with them in peace and love"

Backer said, "Okay, that sounds good.  Let's write that.…”  And so was born “the world’s most famous ad”:

I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love,

Grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.

I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,

I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.

[Repeat the last two lines, and in the background:]

It’s the real thing … Coke is what the world wants today.

The ad first aired on radio stations on Feb. 12, 1971.  Immediately it became so popular that DJs began receiving requests to play the commercial as if it were a song.  And the Hillside Singers original recording version actually peaked at number 13 on Billboard.  Backer then had the New Seekers record a slightly different version of the song, titled “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)”, which topped out at number 7.

The Coke ad greatly exceeded its $100,000 budget – eventually costing $250,000 to create, which made it the world’s most expensive commercial ever produced to that point.  They hired five hundred people from Rome to stand on the hilltop in Manziana, Italy to lip-sync the lyrics for the aerial shot.

You may ask: “OK – I get that for many of you of a certain age it brings back pleasant memories of your youth.  That’s all interesting, but what about the Koch connection?”

Well, we can now all enjoy that Coke/Koch earworm all over again – and maybe even more so with its reincarnation as the Koch parody that I saw not so long ago!  It’s hard for me to choose which lyrics I like better – but I think I’ll go with the new Koch parody version:

I’d like to buy the Kochs a world – So they’d leave ours alone

Then go back to Park Avenue – And crawl beneath their stone

I’d like to teach the Kochs about – A true democracy

Where working class kicks corporate ass – From sea to shining sea

They’re the Evil Thing

I’d like to give the Kochs the bird – From my whole family

Just keep your phony culture war – And keep your f*cking tea

They’re the Evil Thing – Make them go away

EPILOGUE:

To honor Mr. Backer’s memory, let’s close by revisiting some of his and his team’s most memorable jingles and slogans:

“Things go better with Coke”

“Coke – it’s the real thing”

Miller Lite “Everything you ever wanted in a beer… and less”

Campbell’s brand “Soup is good food”

… And while “Little girls have pretty curls, but I like Oreos”

 

RESOURCES

http://www.newsweek.com/bill-backer-adman-buy-coke-mad-men-died-460978

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/famed-adman-bill-backer-best-known-coca-colas-hilltop-dies-171534

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/17/id-like-to-buy-the-world-a-coke-the-story-behind-the-worlds-most-famous-ad-whose-creator-has-died-at-89/

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-hilltop-story