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Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Arghh"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

The Coke Polar Bear trilogy wraps up with the Giants bear screaming disgust at the finish to the game… and then drinking a Coke.

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Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Catch"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Coke's Polar Bear trilogy continues with the Patriots bear pulling off an impressive bottle catch, but only after knocking out a lot of his friends on the ice.

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Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Superstition"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Coke's trilogy of Polar Bear commercials kicks off with one bear wearing a red scarf, representing the New York Giants, while the other wears a grey/blue scarf, illustrating the New England Patriots.

The holidays are here and I can't let them pass by without showing you a classic set of Sundblom Santa cans from Coca-Cola. Cola-Cola has featured the Sundblom Santa on their packaging since 1931. Haddon H. Sundblom is perhaps best known for his work for The Coca-Cola Company with his rendition of St. Nick based on the popular poem, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" (a.k.a. "A Visit from St. Nicholas", Moore, 1822). Sundblom also created the "Sprite Boy" and the Quaker Oats man. Sundblom's association with his Santa Claus artwork is so strong that he is often thought of as the first person to depict him as the modern image of "jolly old St. Nick". This, of course, is not true as St. Nicholas can be traced back to the 4th century and the jolly fat man with a white beard had his origins in the late 18th century and more so by the mid-19th century.

The Coca-Cola Company in the United States chose four of Sundblom's pieces to print on their Coca-Cola Classic cans in 1996. Each 12 oz (355 mL) can has "1996 EDITION" in gold at the bottom left of the artwork and they all stay true to their bold red color branding, unlike recent can designs. Likewise, all four cans have a little history followed by the title of Sundblom's work on one side of the can. The historical text under the Always Coca-Cola logo reads: "The Coca-Cola 'Sundblom' Santa: From 1931 through 1966, The Coca-Cola Company commissioned artist Haddon H. Sundblom to create Santa Claus illustrations for its Christmas advertising. Since then, people everywhere have identified this Santa Claus with The Coca-Cola Company."

The first can is Sundblom's "The Pause That Refreshes" from 1958. Here we see Santa kicking back in a green chair as jolly as can be with a bottle of Coca-Cola. He is missing a boot and is in the process of sliding off his remaining black boot with the red sock covering his left foot. Below the chair is a fawn, peacefully sleeping. The "Pause" could mean Santa is taking a break from his Christmas deliveries. Let's go with that. The illustration text on this can reads, "'The Pause That Refreshes,' was rendered in 1958. This holiday season, the only pause that refreshes is ice-cold Cola-Cola."

Sundblom's "Refreshing Surprise" from 1959 is on the second can. In this illustration, a small boy catches Santa sneaking into his family's refrigerator. He is smiling at a surprised Santa who is starting to use a bottle opener to open a bottle of Coca-Cola. The illustration text reads, "This creation, entitled 'Refreshing Surprise,' was rendered in 1959. Surprise your guests with real holiday refreshment. Serve them ice-cold Coca-Cola."

The third can features Sundblom's "When Friends Drop In" from 1961. Here a small dog has spotted Santa. Santa is in front of a decorated Christmas tree holding a bottle of Coca-Cola in one hand and holding up a finger from his other hand to his lips to tell the dog to stay quiet. The illustration text reads, "This creation, entitled 'When Friends Drop In,' was rendered in 1961. Make sure you always have plenty of ice-cold Cola-Cola when your friends drop by in this holiday season."

Sundblom's "Season's Greetings" from 1962 is on the fourth and final can of this set. In this illustration we see a happy Santa enjoying a bottle of Coca-Cola while playing with a toy train set. The illustration text says, "This creation, entitled, 'Season's Greetings,' was rendered in 1962. This holiday season greet your guest with ice-cold Coca-Cola. THE ONLY REAL HOLIDAY REFRESHMENT". To me it looks like they forgot to add an "s" to the word "guest"… unless they think you are only going to have one guest. If that's the case, it would mean that you wouldn't need to buy as much ice-cold, refreshing, Cola-Cola. Nah… I really think they forgot the "s".

The Sundblom Santa and Coca-Cola go hand in hand with the holiday season. It was refreshing to dig these 15 year old cans out of my collection to share with you this week. They are all great designs and when you look at them, you can't help but feel the warmth and happiness of Christmas… and perhaps a craving for an ice-cold Coca-Cola. Happy Holidays!

Coca-Cola has a long tradition of releasing holiday cans. Some years we see their famous Haddon Sundblom Santa Claus who was first introduced on cartons of bottles in 1931. Some years we see the Coca-Cola Polar Bears, having first starred in commercials in 1993 and which Coca-Cola holds as a beloved icon since 1922. This year Coca-Cola partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to raise awareness and money to help "Save the Polar Bears." As part of this campaign, Coca-Cola decided that this year they would put polar bears on their Coca-Cola cans.

Coca-Cola made a public announcement on October 25, 2011, in the United States that beginning in November 2011, they were going to release the Polar Bear can design on their flagship brand, Coca-Cola. To make the cans stand out, they proposed something that had never been done before… make the Coca-Cola cans white.

The release window for these cans was slated to be from November 1, 2011, until February 2012, with 12-pack cases for the 12 oz. (355 mL) size and in 8-packs (with a special red plastic band holding the cans together) for the 7.5 oz. (222 mL) size. The can designs showcased a solid white background with a mother polar bear and two cubs in silver. The polar bears are walking across the silver snow in the Arctic. Not only was the red background turned white, but the white Coca-Cola logo was now red. Both cans display the text, "Protect the Polar Bear's Home. Join us at COKE.COM/ARCTICHOME." The design looks great. It was a very bold move by Coca-Cola to change history by changing the color of their cans.

Coca-Cola was very excited about this promotion to help the WWF and the polar bears. They made an initial donation of $2 million to the WWF and invited Coca-Cola consumers to make a $1 donation to the WWF by texting the package code to 357357. Coca-Cola also promised to match all donations made with the package code by March 15, 2012, up to a total of $1 million.

Fast forward to the beginning of December 2011, when Coca-Cola learned a very important marketing lesson concerning branding. For those not familiar with this concept, it encompasses recognition of a product, most notably visual aspects of the brand such as a logo and colors. For example, everyone associates dark blue with Pepsi, green with Mountain Dew, orange with Sunkist, and red with Coca-Cola. Coke themselves have promoted an initiative they called "Red-Black-Silver" to denote their regular, Zero, and diet lines. Let's not forget that Coke Zero originally was released in white packaging here in the U.S., before eventually setting on the black color used today. Other companies, such as Pepsi (with Pepsi Max) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group (with Dr Pepper Ten) have adopted this color association of black/grey to mean "calorie-free soda" aimed primarily at men vs. "diet soda" which finds more favor with women.

Perhaps we'll never know why history had to repeat itself, but it did. Last week, countless articles appeared in print and online in many news sources including The Wall Street Journal reporting on the backlash from consumers concerning the white and silver Coke can. The headlines were very creative… "A Frosty Reception for Coca-Cola's White Christmas Cans" (WSJ) and "Green promotion with white cans has consumers seeing red" (Examiner.com). Consumers felt tricked as many thought the white cans were actually Diet Coke cans. Numerous cans were returned and consumers received refunds for unopened cans from retailers. Diabetics complained that they were also fooled by the color of these cans and their health was affected by the extra sugar. Flight attendants were reported serving the white cans to passengers asking for Diet Coke because the cans looked like Diet Coke. Many of those that correctly read the labeling claimed that the formula changed and that the soda in these cans didn't taste like regular Coke, but instead it tasted closer to Diet Coke. There are even YouTube videos with people performing blindfolded taste tests claiming that Coke out of a white can tastes different than out of a red can. Finally, Coke purists called the color change on Coca-Cola's 125th Anniversary blasphemous.

In response to this backlash, it was reported that Coca-Cola decided to pull all of the white cans off of the shelves and replace them with red cans. This information later changed to Coca-Cola not pulling the cans, but instead, stopping production of the white cans. Coca-Cola planned on selling the rest of the existing cans and phase in red cans of the same design.

As an attempt to save face, Coca-Cola published a press release on December 1 announcing that the red polar bear cans will be hitting shelves in early December. In the release, they stated , "People have told us that they love the limited edition white 'Arctic Home' Coca-Cola cans, and we know they love our iconic red cans, especially during the holidays. So we're introducing the next limited-edition 'Arctic Home' can, which will still feature the same polar bears, but with our iconic red Coca-Cola background." There no mention of any customer complaints or the similarity to Diet Coke.

In fact, Coca-Cola went as far to create an updated (and unannounced) Coca-Cola Holiday Cans Fact Sheet (PDF) which was publicly available on their website detailing the can design release schedule and the differences between the white cans and the Diet Coke cans. Please note that this fact sheet is linked to from a Company Statement dated November 15, 2011.

• Phase I – (Nov. 1 – Dec. 2): Coca-Cola White "Arctic Home" 12 oz. Can
• Phase II – (Dec. 2 – Feb 2012): Coca-Cola Red "Arctic Home" 12 oz. Can
• Diet Coke "Holiday" 12 oz. Can [no dates mentioned]
• Coca-Cola "Arctic Home" 7.5 oz. Mini Can [no dates mentioned]
• Diet Coke 7.5 oz. Mini Can [no dates mentioned]

Here's where the story gets strange, as if Coke is attempting to rewrite history. If you view the properties of the Coca-Cola Holiday Cans Fact Sheet (PDF), you can see that it was created from a Word 2010 document by "mdoser" on 11/30/2011 12:24:06 PM and Modified on 11/30/2011 12:32:29 PM. This is well after the November 1, 2011, release of the Arctic White cans at the beginning of the promotion, and after the November 15 date on the Company Statement that links to it within the text of the statement. It's as if Coca-Cola wants to brush this whole debacle under the rug and have the public forget about it. Are they thinking they can trick us into believing that this was the plan all along? As a can collector I welcome the white and red cans into my collection. As a consumer, I have lost respect for Coca-Cola, not for turning the cans white, but for not being honest enough to admit they failed.

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Siege"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Is it a DreamWorks animated film packed with ridiculous CGI? Nope, just another brand commercial for Coke!

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Border"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

It's a showdown between two border guards… but a bottle of Coke brings them together!

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Sleepwalker"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

A guy goes sleepwalking through the Africa savannah… and nothing eats him. But hey, Coke is around, so it's all good!

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Hard Times"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

It's "The Simpsons" and Coke, together at last!

This commercial portrays the character of Mr. Burns losing his fortune, and having everything he owns taken away… quite a reflection on our current economic times.

Of course, it ends with Burns being given a bottle of Coke, which makes everything better. Open Happiness indeed!

Coca-Cola Plus Catechin
(Source: CocaCola.co.jp)

Case in point, Coca-Cola Plus Catechin. Here's how the Associated Press describes it:

Green tea-flavored Coca-Cola will hit Japanese stores June 8, Coca Cola (Japan) Co. spokesman Katsuya Sato said Thursday. It contains tea antioxidants called catechins, leaves a slight green tea aftertaste and is mainly targeted at health-conscious women in their 20s and 30s, Sato said. [Source]

Coca-Cola Plus Catechin
(Source: AP)

At the same time, Pepsi is rolling out what seems to be their yearly theme of Japanese novelty flavors. Hitting in late June, the latest is Pepsi Shiso, reported to have a basil flavor. Per Wikipedia, Shiso is also known as perilla, and is like a mint leaf.

Pepsi Shiso
(Source: Suntory.co.jp)

Like the rest of the world, Coke is the beverage leader in Japan, which leaves Pepsi to play catch up. And while here in the U.S. they try to do that with niche drinks like Pepsi Throwback, Pepsi Natural, and Sierra Mist Ruby Splash, in Japan the tastes seem to be a little crazier.

Pepsi Ice Cucumber
(Source: Suntory.co.jp)

For example, in 2007, Japan's Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd., rolled out Pepsi Ice Cucumber. It didn't actually contain any of the namesake vegetable in the ingredients, but did contain "the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber," according to spokeswoman Aya Takemoto (per The Associated Press).

Pepsi Blue Hawaii
(Source: Suntory.co.jp)

Last year, Suntory followed that up with Pepsi Blue Hawaii, a combination of pineapple and lemon flavors. Our friends over at The Impulsive Buy noted that the taste was quite "sweet and artificial, especially the pineapple," but it eventually grew on them. Apparently, it tasted nothing like Pepsi Blue.

Pepsi White
(Source: Suntory.co.jp)

Then in late 2008, Pepsi Japan did it again with the introduction of Pepsi White, described as containing a Pepsi and yogurt flavor. The folks over at the A.V. Club remarked that it didn't actually taste like yogurt, but there was a creamy flavor with a hint of lemon.

While these drinks are probably all disgusting and on par with something you might find in a Jones Soda Holiday Collection, it's still pretty fascinating how these kinds of flavors come to market in Japan. Oh well, I guess we'll have to settle for some Mountain Dew Throwback while it lasts!