Ira C. Herbert; Retired Coca-Cola Executive

Ira C. (Ike) Herbert, 67, the retired Coca-Cola executive vice president who helped create the jingle “It’s the Real Thing.” Herbert, who worked at the McCann-Erickson ad agency before joining Coca-Cola, will be inducted posthumously into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame later this month. He was also credited with helping create another popular promotional campaign for the soft drink, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke.” He was a past president of the Advertising Council and was active in the American Advertising Education Foundation and the National Captioning Institute. He began his career with the McFarland Aveyard advertising agency, moving to Edward H. Weiss & Co. before joining McCann-Erickson, where he handled the Coca-Cola account. He began working for Coca-Cola in 1965. On March 4 in Atlanta of a heart attack.