Coca-Cola makes Santa Claus look like an illegal immigrant

Coca-Cola says welcome Santa Claus despite him being a stranger sneaking across lands carrying strange packages

Coca-Cola, a four-time global winner of the World Branding Awards, has launched its biggest Christmas campaign with its reportedly biggest media spend to date with its traditional Christmas Truck as well as a global ad.

In the UK, the brand ran its ‘Holidays Are Coming‘ TV ad at the end of November which featured the same music and visuals Brits are used to from previous years with a few new scenes.

The latest ad released by Coca-Cola, however, takes a beautiful tone which does not seem so beautiful at first. A narrator can be heard speaking suspiciously of Mr Claus himself. “He’s a stranger trying to sneak across our lands, carrying many packages, after learning information about us.” The spot quickly takes a turn, however, and the narrator urges everyone to welcome Santa into their homes.

The ad campaign seems to hope to remind everyone that there are more things that unite us than divide us.

“For many people, the Coca-Cola Holidays Are Coming campaign signals the start of the festive season said Kris Robbens, Marketing Director at Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland.

“This year, we have taken the iconic and much-loved campaign and made it the biggest yet by bringing back the elements people love and adding new partnerships, activity and special moments to bring it to life in even more ways that we hope our existing fans and new ones will love.”

Previous activations included a number of karaoke takeovers of the Piccadilly Lights which livestreamed consumers’ favourite Christmas songs for 90 minutes each time. This was accompanied by a choir, who encouraged a festive singalong with the public.

The brand has also partnered with Snapchat and has created a lens to drive social engagement; with that is also a partnership with Waze that sees Santa giving directions and navigating people to the closest Coca-Cola shop around.

Coca-Cola has also brought back its limited-edition zero sugar cinnamon for the second year.