Coca-Cola: “Hilltop — "I'd like to buy the world a Coke"”
A choir of young people from around the world sings "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" on an Italian hilltop.
- Brand
- Coca-Cola
- Year
- 1971
- Agency
- McCann Erickson
- Category
- Drinks
It starts with a single young woman singing. The camera pulls back to reveal dozens of young people from many countries, standing in rows on a sunny hilltop, each holding a bottle of Coca-Cola and singing "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company".
The idea came from McCann Erickson's Bill Backer in 1971, reportedly after watching stranded travellers chatting over bottles of Coke at an airport. The ad was filmed on a hill near Rome. The tune was so popular that it was re-recorded without the brand name as I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing and became a hit single.
Decades later, the ad gained a new audience when it appeared in the final scene of the TV series Mad Men. It remains a symbol of 1970s optimism and of Coca-Cola's long strategy of selling togetherness rather than taste.
Watch the full ad on YouTube
Could you recognise it with the logo hidden? This ad is one of 129 famous commercials in Guess the Ad.
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- Coca-Cola — “Holidays Are Coming”1995 · The glowing red Coca-Cola trucks that, for many viewers, mark the start of Christmas.
- Coca-Cola — “Northern Lights (Polar Bears)”1993 · Computer-animated polar bears watch the northern lights while sharing bottles of Coke.
- Coca-Cola — “Mean Joe Greene”1979 · An injured football star cheers up after a kid offers him his Coke, and throws him his jersey.