Coke Plans to Revive Famous Ad Song

Coke wants to teach the world to sing, again.

The song, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke,” which first appeared in a TV commercial for Coke in 1971, will make an encore in a new commercial expected to be aired during the 1990 Super Bowl.

In the original ad, young people from 30 countries gathered on a hilltop outside of Rome and sang the song. Two modified versions of the song, retitled “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” went on to become top 10 radio hits, according to Coke.

Now Coke has filmed a new, $1 million-plus version of the commercial, using many of the same singers and their children.

“The ad will be very relevant and very contemporary,” said Tony Tortorici, a Coca-Cola USA spokesman in Atlanta. “And it will be the showcase spot for our new campaign theme.”

Although the commercial itself is being kept tightly under wraps, sources say that while the parents sing the old theme line, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke,” their children will respond by singing the new line, “Can’t Beat the Real Thing.”

The new commercial was recently filmed on the same Italian hillside about 45 miles outside Rome, where the original ad was shot.

In 1971, the commercial song was so popular that Coke quickly had a second version recorded for commercial distribution by the London vocal group the New Seekers. At the same time, a country and western version was recorded by a group called the Hillside Singers. Both versions became hits.

Many rank this ad, created by the New York agency McCann-Erickson Worldwide, with one of Coke’s other most popular ads--which featured the hulking Pittsburgh Steeler “Mean” Joe Greene handing his football jersey to a timid fan.

Should Coke revise an old ad? Opinions vary.

“Unquestionably, the old one was a great ad,” said Tod Mackenzie, a spokesman for rival Pepsi USA. “But we don’t typically believe in bringing back old ads. Pepsi likes to always be looking one step ahead.”

But Coke is probably on target with this move, said Harry L. Davis, professor of marketing at the University of Chicago. “There’s always the risk that the ad may disappoint some people,” said Davis. “But that ad had a sense of community--which is what people are all looking for these days,” he said. “Besides,” he added, “there was something about that ad that was so powerful, it almost had a life of its own.”