Coca-Cola Bets Famous ‘Hilltop’ Jingle Still Has Fizz

Coca-Cola is betting on one of its oldest advertising messages to generate new feelings of harmony among a consumer base that can often find itself fractured by debate.

In a new ad slated to debut during Monday night’s telecast of the NCAA March Madness championship game between the University of Connecticut and the University of Michigan, the beverage giant will unveil a modernized version of the famous “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” song first heard in the classic 1971 commercial showing young people on a hilltop crooning a ditty about buying Coke to boost world peace. In this case, the singers focus on “America” instead of the world at large.

The spot aims to get people to associate Coca-Cola with America’s 250th birthday, which will be celebrated on July 4.

“It felt like an appropriately big moment where it helps to say the right thing,” says Alex Ames, senior director of content and creative excellence at Coca-Cola Co., during a recent interview. “We think this has the potential to run a lot this year — and maybe even potentially beyond,” he adds.

Coca-Cola is doing something only a handful of advertisers can, mining a decades-old archives of promotional material that can still resonate with an audience that has fewer pieces of popular culture most people recognize. Ad campaigns from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s struck audiences in eras when they had fewer media platforms from which to choose, increasing the likelihood that jingles, slogans and scenes from those efforts resound among a greater portion of potential soda buyers.

In 2019, Coke opted to resuscitate one of its most controversial marketing decisions, the ill-fated 1985 launch of New Coke. In the second go-round, scenes with New Coke were part of the third season of Netflix’ “Stranger Things,” and the company made about 500,000 cans of New Coke available to the public.

Bringing the “Hilltop” song back for a new spin isn’t something done lightly. Indeed, executives weren’t even thinking of the tune when they first went to work on this project, says Ames. Initially, documentary filmmakers were sent across America to capture scenes where Coca-Cola was already part of American culture — a long-standing billboard, for example. “There is not one placed piece of Coke branding in the spot. It was all signage that exists out there in the world. It’s a good reminder of how loved this brand is across the entire country. The assignment was to find examples of Coca-Cola in natural life, so to speak,’” says Ames. Filmmakers “went out there and tried to find these real magic moments.”

When Ames and his team tried to put music to the collection of images, they tested everything from 70s rock to modern blues. “Nothing felt just right.” Eventually, they realized the right song had been sitting under their noses the entire time.

The “Hilltop” ad is one of Madison Avenue’s most legendary concepts. The commercial, produced by the agency once known as McCann Erickson, stands among the ranks of TV ads that transcended their sales pitch and became landmarks of American culture — think Apple’s famous “1984” commercial” or Budweiser’s “Whassup!” campaign. The song, featuring the lyrics “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 / That’s the real thing” proved so popular a message that it became a popular radio hit as well.

Its true genesis comes in efforts by McCann executives to create radio jingles to be sung by the New Seekers, a British singing group. A McCann creative director, Bill Backer, was traveling to London for a session, but his flight was forced down in Ireland due to heavy fog, according to a history of the commercial presented on Coca-Cola’s web site. Backer witnessed a group of grumpy passengers soothed by the chance to have a snack and some Cokes, and the germ of an idea came into being.

Coke has dipped back into this well on a few occasions. In the mid 1970’s, the company created a holiday-themed commercial using the song and showing singers holding candles at nighttime. In 1991, the company ran an ad during Super Bowl XXV showing the original singers from the TV commercial taking another crack at the song, with family and children in tow. And in 2005, singer G. Love offered a new version of the song in service of Coca-Cola Zero.

And the company has spent a lot of its recent commercial time trying to depict its flagship drink as something that’s welcome everywhere, no matter who wants to drink it. One recent campaign shows Coca-Cola being poured in 13 different fast-food restaurants — from Popeye’s to Panda Express — across three different spots. Coca-Cola is a sponsor of both the NCAA March Madness tournament and the looming World Cup, where big audiences from around the world gather to watch a single event. “One thing people can agree on is that Coca-Cola is a brand they love,” says Ames. “And so that’s kind of the through line we’re after this year.”

Coca-Cola found its new singers for the song from all walks of life, says Ames — another bid to show people of different backgrounds coming together. “It’s not a choir,” says Ames,. “These are teachers, musicians. random people” — about 30 in all. “It was very much not manufactured. It was them working through the song together.”

The history of popular music is filled with multiple versions of the same song, from Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” to Miley Cyrus’ rendition of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” Can Coca-Cola launch a new version of its popular ad jingle on to the streaming charts? The new version is being made available on Spotify. “It’s a real earworm,” says Ames.