Bill Backer was stuck in an airport. It was Gander, Newfoundland, and the year was 1971, not 1970 as many people misremember when they search for that specific era of advertising. It was foggy. Passengers were furious. They were stranded, tired, and honestly, probably pretty cranky. But as Backer watched them the next morning, he noticed something weirdly human. People who had been screaming at gate agents the night before were now sitting together, laughing, and sharing bottles of Coke.
That’s where the magic started.
Most people looking for a coca cola ad 1970 are actually hunting for the "Hilltop" commercial, which technically began its life in Backer's notebook in that foggy airport and hit screens in 1971. It changed everything. It wasn't just a jingle. It was a cultural reset that tried to heal a fractured America during the Vietnam War era.
The Messy Reality Behind "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke"
You've heard the song. "I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love." It sounds sweet, maybe even a little sappy by today's cynical standards. But the production of the coca cola ad 1970 era was an absolute nightmare.
Backer, an executive at McCann Erickson, teamed up with Billy Davis and Roger Cook. They wanted a song that treated Coke not as a product, but as a "tiny bit of common ground" between all people. That’s a bold claim for a sugary soda.
The first attempt to record the song with The New Seekers actually failed. They didn't have time. Eventually, they got it done, but then came the visual part. They tried filming in Dover, England. It rained. It rained so much that the "international youth" they hired looked miserable, drenched, and not at all like they wanted to save the world.
They moved the whole operation to Italy.
The hill they finally used was outside Rome. It’s funny because when you watch it, you feel like you’re looking at a global summit of peace. In reality, it was a bunch of tired actors and local kids lip-syncing to a radio hit.
Why the 1970s Shifted Everything for Coke
Before this, ads were pretty much "Drink this, it tastes good."
By the time the coca cola ad 1970 cycle began, the world was bleeding. The US was deeply divided over Vietnam. The Civil Rights movement had reshaped the social fabric. People were distrustful of "The Establishment."
Coca-Cola realized they couldn't just sell a drink anymore. They had to sell a feeling of togetherness. This was the birth of "Lifestyle Advertising" on a global scale. They stopped talking about the bubbles and started talking about the soul.
Honestly, it was a massive gamble. The company spent roughly $250,000 on the commercial. In today's money? That's over $1.7 million. For one ad. If it had flopped, Backer might have been looking for a new career. Instead, the radio stations started getting calls. Not for the drink. For the song.
People loved it so much that The New Seekers recorded a full version called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)." It sold millions of copies. Think about that. People paid money to own a longer version of a soda commercial. That's the kind of brand loyalty modern CMOs would trade their left arm for.
Deconstructing the "Hilltop" Visuals
The ad starts with a close-up of a young woman. Then the camera pulls back. And back. And back.
🔗 Read more: How the Just Do It Nike Ad Changed Marketing Forever
You see faces from every continent. You see traditional clothing mixed with 70s fashion. It’s a literal mountain of people.
What’s interesting about the coca cola ad 1970 aesthetic is that it didn't look like a high-gloss production. It felt raw. It felt like a documentary. That was intentional. They wanted it to feel like they just stumbled upon a group of hitchhikers who happened to be incredibly talented singers.
- The Casting: They didn't just use models. They wanted "real" looking people, even though they were mostly professionals.
- The Wardrobe: It was the height of the "flower power" leftovers, but cleaned up for a corporate audience.
- The Message: Total inclusivity. At a time when segregation was a very fresh and painful memory, seeing people of all races standing shoulder-to-shoulder was a radical act.
The Don Draper Connection
If you're a fan of the show Mad Men, you know this ad. The series finale implies that the protagonist, Don Draper, came up with the idea while meditating at a retreat in California.
While that's a cool piece of fiction, the real story is much more "business-prose." It was about a guy stuck in a Canadian airport with a notebook. But the show got one thing right: the ad captured the "New Age" spirit and bottled it for mass consumption. It turned the counter-culture into the monoculture.
The Business Impact of a Global Jingle
Let’s talk numbers because the coca cola ad 1970 era wasn't just about peace and love. It was about dominating Pepsi.
Coke was already the leader, but they were seen as "your father's soda." They needed the youth. By aligning themselves with the peace movement, they secured a generation of drinkers.
The "Hilltop" ad generated more mail than any Coca-Cola campaign in history. People were writing letters to the company thanking them for the message. Can you imagine writing a thank-you letter to a corporation today because you liked their YouTube pre-roll? Not happening.
✨ Don't miss: Why the 4 stages of team development are still the best way to fix a toxic office
The success of this campaign proved that a brand could have a "purpose." It paved the way for every "woke" or socially conscious ad we see today, from Nike to Patagonia.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Era
People think the 70s were all about this one ad. Actually, Coke was doing a lot of experimentation.
They had the "Things Go Better with Coke" campaign right before this. It was fine. It was catchy. But it lacked the weight.
The coca cola ad 1970 pivot was a response to the fact that "Things" weren't going better for a lot of people. The economy was shaky. Politics were a mess. By changing the slogan to "The Real Thing," Coke positioned itself as the one constant in an unreliable world.
Another misconception? That the ad was an instant global success the second it aired. It actually took a while to build momentum. It was the radio play of the song that really tipped it over into a phenomenon.
Lessons for Modern Marketers
If you're trying to capture lightning in a bottle like the coca cola ad 1970 did, you have to look at the ingredients.
First, vulnerability. The ad didn't lead with the product. The first bottle doesn't even appear for several seconds. It led with a human need—connection.
Second, timing. You can't run an ad about world peace when everyone is happy and bored. It worked because people were desperate for that message.
Third, the "Stickiness" factor. The melody of that jingle is what we call an earworm. It’s simple. Five notes. Anyone can hum it.
How to Use These Insights Today
You don't need a million-dollar budget to apply the "Hilltop" logic to your own projects.
- Find the Tension: What is your audience worried about? Coke knew people were worried about division. They sold the opposite.
- Humanize the Product: Stop talking about features. Talk about the moments where the product exists. Coke is just flavored water, but "buying the world a Coke" is a gesture of friendship.
- Simplicity Wins: The lyrics weren't complex. "I'd like to teach the world to sing." It's a grade-school sentiment that carries adult weight.
The 1970s started with a whimper for many brands, but for Coca-Cola, it was the decade they became "The Real Thing" forever.
Next Steps for Research:
To really understand the impact of this era, you should look into the "Mean Joe Greene" ad from 1979. It followed the same blueprint: take a tough situation (a bruised football player) and resolve it with a simple, human connection over a soda. Compare the cinematography of both ads; you'll see how Coke moved from "The Group" to "The Individual" as the decade closed. Also, check out the Smithsonian's archives on the "Hilltop" ad, as they actually hold some of the original production notes and materials from the McCann Erickson team.