SNOW GLOBES THAT KEEP THE REAL THING
Snow globes and CocaCola. The advertising of this famous brand has not been able to resist the magic of snow globes either.
Talking about snow globes and CocaCola is talking about a classic. CocaCola is not only one of the most famous brands in history. Today, the company estimates that 94% of the planet knows its name and it is the most recognized product company in the world, fourth in the global ranking, whose first three positions have been taken over by technology companies. CocaCola is also more than 130 years of advertising and campaigns that are part of the sentimental education of many generations. Many of these campaigns have been Christmas campaigns in which, thanks to the snow globes, magic is presented to us fused with the real thing.
And in many of these Christmas campaigns, the protagonist along with the snow globes has been a very special character: Santa Claus. Although it seems that the legend that the image that we associate with Santa Claus was created for a CocaCola’s campaign doesn’t seem to be true, it is true that Santa Claus first appeared in a CocaCola ad in the 1920s. The character’s features varied until in 1931, commissioned by the company, the cartoonist Haddon Sundblom create the Santa Claus of CocaCola, as we know him today.
A snow globe that encloses Christmas
Santa Claus has appeared in many of CocaCola’s Christmas campaigns. But here we bring a very special one: “ Shake it up Christmas“, with the snow globes as the main character. It was CocaCola’s campaign for Christmas 2010, and included outdoor advertising, television and film ads, applications and in-store promotions. The campaign was created by McCann Spain and the spot was shot in Sofia (Bulgaria).
In the ad we see scenes starring “lonely” beings: a young shop assistant, a dog in the street, a boy and a girl sitting on a bench away from each other … The camera reveals that they are all inside a snow globe that Santa Claus has on his table. When he shakes the snow globe, the famous CocaCola delivery truck comes into action, and the magic happens: the couple from the bank approaches, the clerk falls into a shopping trolley that takes him home to his waiting family, and the dog goes home. In short, every time Santa shakes his snow globe, a moment of happiness arrives somewhere in the world.
I think that one of the great things about the ad was the music. The song “Shake it Christmas”, performed by Train, a Californian pop and rock band, whose official song video exceeds ninety-two million views on YouTube. Its Spanish version Despierta la magia de la Navidad doesn’t have in my opinion, the same strength as the original one. A revamped version of the campaign was launched in 2011 keeping the original song. Once again Santa Claus every time he shakes his snow globe brought people and families together in heartwarming Christmas scenes.
Promotional snow globes
CocaCola merchandise and collectibles also include snow globes. Sometimes these are official products. Like the snow globe enclosing the famous truck that often appears in Christmas spots, carrying the drink anywhere in the world. It can be purchased at the brand’s official online store at a reasonable price.
On other occasions, CocaCola snow globes have been the subject of local promotions. An example are these five models of snowb globes, with different Christmas characters, distributed in Chilean burguer restaurants and that Andy Zito has in his collection.
CocaCola inspired snow globes
CocaCola characters and scenes have been recreated in snow globes produced outside the brand. Here we bring two examples. The first is “ Share the joy” produced by Bradford Exchange . It is a limited edition handmad production inspired by vintage CocaCola advertising. It encloses a Santa Claus’ figurine holding a bottle of the soft drink, flanked by two fir trees and his bag of presents. The base is decorated with garlands and in the center in agan the figure of Santa as recreated by Haddon Sundblom. Both the base and the crystal sphere itself light up while the melody of the well-known carol “Jingle Bells” plays.
The second example is the snowball created by Hallmark , the famous North American manufacturer of greeting cards. We also see inside Santa Claus surrounded by toys and with a bottle of CocaCola in hand. In this case, movement is combined, at the base there is a train of four cars that rotates, and music. 
And here lies, in my opinion, the main charm of this snow globe, since what we hear is the melody of the famous song “I’d like to buy the world a Coke “-which in Spanish became popular as” To the whole world I want to give… “.
Hilltop
The song was the jingle of the campaign “ Hilltop “created in 1970. In the spot we saw a large group of young people from different backgrounds singing the song on the top of a hill. Each one held a bottle of CocaCola labeled in the most diverse languages. The song became what today we would call a global hit.
And if it wasn’t enough to have been an anthem of the seventies, a time of peace and love, many years later (2015) campaign and song were resurfaced to occupy a place of honor in the hearts of the fans of the TV serie Mad men. Both close the last scene of the series that attributes the supposed authorship of “Hilltop” to its protagonist Don Drapper. There are many lists in which this ending appears among the ten best endings in the history of TV series.
As soon as you search the Internet, you will find thousands of snow globes created or inspired by CocaCola. I have brought here a few that for one reason or another I like or find more significant. But all of them have undoubtedly done their bit to make the brand, as we said at the beginning, one of the most recognised on the planet.
If you feel like it …
Here You will find the story of snow globes in the advertising of another well-known brand: Louis Vuitton.
