In your life, which advertisements have you encountered that were funny yet creative?

I have seen too many funny and creative advertisements. The first ones I watched were those for Durex and Coca-Cola. I think the advertising of these two world-class brands is really good. Durex's advertisements tended to be graphically creative in copywriting and images, while Coca-Cola's advertisements tended to be graphically creative in the early stages and later toward film and television creatives.

There is an advertisement that uses fruits to form the shape of Durex in order to highlight the green and healthy material of Durex. It makes people feel that Durex is made of pure natural materials and is completely harmless to the human body.

The early Coca-Cola advertisements were also very creative. For example, a cup was filled with Coke, and then the cup suddenly broke, and the Coke flowed out and turned into the shape of the sea. Then a surfer came out and skateboarded on Coke. In fact, this advertisement mainly wants to show the refreshing feeling of Coke in summer. Drinking Coke is like coming to the sea, very refreshing and hearty. Moreover, Coca-Cola’s posters are mainly red, which is very eye-catching. The picture content is very well-made, making people feel like they want to try it.

I saw a lot of impactful advertisements when I was a student. The most famous one was the Iwantyou advertisement from World War II, which left a deep impression on me. The picture of this poster is mainly about the image of a soldier, and then he points forward with his hand, with the sentence "I want you" underneath. Because it was during World War II, the company army was at war with the fascists. This poster was used to encourage more ambitious young people to join the war and fight against the fascists.

Early on, I also saw the work of a Japanese advertising master, Shigeo Fukuda, who used the relationship between reality and fiction to show the entanglement between men and women. This poster is also rated as the most classic poster work of the 20th century.

Early advertisements were still based on visual images, while today’s advertisements are mostly about copywriting and plot. Comparing the two, I think I prefer to use visual image creativity, because advertising originally uses graphics to speak. Was the image of Santa Claus red from the beginning?

Christmas (December 25th) is coming soon, and all high-rise buildings in Beijing have begun to carefully decorate and prepare to welcome this festive foreign festival.

When it comes to Christmas, everyone naturally thinks of the fat man with a white beard, wearing a red (specifically, red and white, but mainly red) big cotton-padded jacket. Cute Santa Claus!

In Western fairy tales, Santa Claus rides a sleigh pulled by 9 reindeer on the night of December 24th every year and enters the house through the chimney. After they are asleep, they quietly put the gifts in socks on the children's bedside or under the Christmas tree by the fireplace.

Nowadays, many people wear red Santa hats every Christmas. And the Santa Claus in every shopping mall or building is also red.

But was the image of Santa Claus red from the beginning?

Actually not.

So why did it turn red later? Today we will talk about the story of Christmas and Santa Claus.

Christmas, also known as Christmas, translated as "Christ's Mass" (Mass is a liturgy of the church), is a traditional festival in the West. Since December 25th of the Gregorian calendar is the day when Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus, it is called "Christmas".

Originally, Christmas was only a Christian holiday. Later, with the popularity of Christmas cards and the appearance of Santa Claus, people paid special attention to it and developed into a national holiday in Western countries. It is the most popular holiday of the year in Western countries. The grandest festival is equivalent to the Chinese Spring Festival.

The birth of Santa Claus originated from European folklore.

According to common parlance, Santa Claus refers to Nicholas, the bishop of Asia Minor in the 4th century AD. He was famous for his affability and generous aid to the poor.

But the image of Santa Claus we see now was created by the famous Swedish illustrator Hatton Sambu in 1931, based on his friend Lo Plantis. It was from 1931 that the image of Santa Claus began to be unified and fixed as the image of "an old man wearing a red robe, a white beard, a kind smile, and a naive attitude" that we can see everywhere today.

Before 1931, the colors of Santa Claus in Western countries were different, usually yellow and green (now Westerners use red, green and white as Christmas colors). And Santa Claus at that time was not a fat man; on the contrary, Santa Claus before 1931 was often haggard and skinny.

Yes, it was not until 1931 that the image of Santa Claus changed from yellow or green and skinny to red and fat. The "mastermind" behind all these changes is not Hatton Sambuh. Although he personally created this classic image of Santa Claus, he was only entrusted by others. The real "mastermind" is actually the world-famous Coca-Cola. company.

At that time, the Coca-Cola Company signed a contract with Hatton Shanbu to create an image of Santa Claus drinking Coke, and insisted that the color of Santa Claus's clothes must be bright Coca-Cola red. Therefore, Hatton Sambuh created the classic "wearing a red robe, a white beard, a kind smile, taking off a red hat in one hand, and holding up a bottle of Coca-Cola" based on his friend Robert Prentiss. Santa Claus image. Later, Coca-Cola made this image of Santa Claus into a poster, and wrote the famous slogan: "The Pause That Refreshes" below the poster.

In the following thirty years, Hatton Sambuh continued to create hundreds of advertising paintings for the Coca-Cola Company. The image of Coca-Cola's red Santa Claus he designed also occupied the world with the large-scale sales of Coca-Cola, and the red Santa Claus became the standard image of Santa Claus.

Today, Santa Claus has become a global cultural icon.

It is no exaggeration to say that Coca-Cola Company single-handedly unified the image of Santa Claus. Therefore, Coca-Cola also registered the image of Santa Claus as its own trademark.

Yes, Coca-Cola Company created the classic image of Santa Claus, and in turn, Coca-Cola Company has always benefited from this. However, Santa Claus's influence does not stop there.

In the late 20th century, with the huge influence of Santa Claus, Santa Claus's House tourism appeared in Santa Claus' hometown - Rovaniemi in the Lapland region of northern Finland. Attractions. This Santa Claus Village currently has only 50 "genuine Santa Clauses" in the world who have been strictly audited, trained and licensed, and their appearance fees are even as high as 200,000 yuan.

In this way, the influence of Santa Claus is evident. Who invented CocoCola?

In 1888, one year after the Coca-Cola Company was founded, a man named Asa Kedler gave the embryonic company an incredible leap. He himself was a successful pharmacist.

Asa suffers from severe headaches. It was from a traffic accident during the Civil War. That time, Asa and his family got into a full carriage. The carriage jolted violently, and then hit a bump in the road. Asa was ejected from the carriage, and a wheel rolled over his head, crushing his skull. Although he saved his life, he lay in bed for more than a week, unable to see or hear, talking nonsense.

Later, he gradually recovered his vision and hearing, but he was still a little deaf in his left ear. But this car accident caused him to suffer from terrible migraines, which he would be unable to get rid of for the rest of his life. In addition to formulating medicines in the laboratory, he was always looking for medicine to treat headaches, so he wrote to his brother Warren: This damn headache has made me suffer too much, and I can't support it anymore. Others advised him to try the new product Coca-Cola. He tasted it and the pain immediately subsided.

From then on, he was determined to learn more about this new product. He wanted to know who invented Coca-Cola, what ingredients were in it, how to improve it, etc. He found out that this was Pemberton's achievement and was very happy. This is simply good luck, this is what he dreams of. Of course, he had also heard of Pemberton and knew that he had a reputation as an excellent pharmacist.

So he immediately became interested in that formula because he needed it. After trying it out twice, Asa was determined to get it. Within four weeks, he had the formula.

Asa is a shrewd businessman.

He has successfully launched several commercial products, including mouthwashes and other medications. He saw the potential and uniqueness of this new product. He believes that investing in this product is definitely profitable. So, he set out to invest in this area.

Asa’s ability is also reflected in the fact that he has his own pharmacy and can make it grow and develop. In addition to the drug store, he also has a large inventory of everything you want to buy, such as paint, oils, etc. He is an excellent salesman, and he really excels in this area. As long as it is a product he can trust, he can sell it.

To get this company, you must first separate Pemberton and his partners; these people did not realize the potential of the new product until Asa took over the company. Interestingly, he did not take office immediately, but worked with other investors to purchase company equity. This is his typical way of doing business. Once he sees that the company is going in the direction he envisions, he will buy all the shares from others even if they are reluctant.

Unfortunately, Pemberton did not wait until the day when the product became a great success. He died in 1888, just a year and a half after the product came out. A few years later, in 1892, Asa purchased all the shares from his partners and became the full owner of the company. He only spent 2,300 US dollars to have the formula of Coca-Cola. Now, it's time to make it profitable.

Asa is full of confidence and motivation. He invested all the funds accumulated through so many years of hard work into the production of Coca-Cola. His first order of business was to make a few tweaks to the recipe. He kept the secret so tight that the formula of the product could only be concocted by himself and his son, and had never appeared in writing. If any employee wanted to know what those seven mysterious ingredients were, they could only guess like everyone else because Asa removed the labels from all Coca-Cola bottles in the factory. Adjusting the formula gives their products better prospects.

In order to obtain coca extract to produce Coca-Cola, the caffeine in the coca leaves must first be removed. Asa and his son process coca leaves as well as its by-product, a white powder. He sold the powder to other pharmacists because he didn't need the stuff, he just needed the coca leaves for spices.

This creates two potential profits. You can sell Coca-Cola and you can also sell by-products. It’s really killing two birds with one stone. The content of kola nuts, which provide caffeine and are the source of pleasure, has also been reduced. In the early days, this drink did contain a limited amount of caffeine, which may be the reason for the many rumors.

Subsequently, the various ingredients were balanced in the way he expected, producing a desirable taste.

Next, Asa Kedler launched a market war. Because no matter how great your product is, it doesn't matter if it's unknown. Asa's firm belief in this product never wavered, and he took great risks to challenge the public in a completely new way. He is very good at understanding consumer psychology. As early as the 1890s, he came up with the idea of ??giving out coupons, a promotional method that is still used today, with the supplements of Sunday newspapers filled with such ads. But it was indeed very novel and rare at that time.

Asa Kedler had people stand on the streets of Atlanta handing out coupons to pedestrians, who could use the coupons to get a free Coca-Cola at local soda outlets. After you try it and like the taste, you will pay for it next time.

In the early days of Coca-Cola sales, they were prepared over the counter in drugstores. There is also an elaborate preparation ceremony to accompany the sale, which is completely different from today's martini. First, stir the ingredients, then shake them well, pour them out, and then give them a real demonstration.

Asa Kedler's nephews also learned this ritual, and they traveled around the South in carriages with barrels of syrup behind them. Go to a completely unfamiliar town to do sales, go to a drugstore to train employees to prepare drinks, and then perform it seriously.

The young man brings the lady he likes to sit where Coca-Cola is sold, and after a drink, the staff comes over to offer Coca-Cola and completes an elaborate ceremony to make the customer feel that the trip is worthwhile.

In order to advertise the product, Asa Kedler also used a variety of promotional items.

He invented a tray with an image of a beautiful lady drinking Coca-Cola printed on it. He distributed these trays to soda fountains, and no matter what you bought, you would receive a promotional item with the Coca-Cola logo. He invented a variety of promotional items that were easy to distribute, such as bookmarks, stamp albums, travel bags, and small wallets, which were distributed to thousands of people. He also invented calendars with the Coca-Cola logo, posters, and curtains to hang at drugstore entrances. In this way, at the beginning of the 20th century, Coca-Cola's advertising information had a very wide coverage, far exceeding that of any other consumer product.

The company also uses the reputation of celebrities to promote "Coca-Cola". They once invited an opera star named Louis Iannadika from the Metropolitan Opera; they also invited a female acrobat named Hilda Clark; their images appeared on plates, posters and various promotions products to attract customers’ attention; even baseball star athletes advertise Coca-Cola products.

Asa is very insightful when it comes to advertising. He found that people liked to be associated with those who were wealthy and famous and the advertisements they advertised, so Coca-Cola became a product that everyone could have. As a businessman with firm beliefs, Asa has always believed that the Coca-Cola he sells is a recreational product, and the price must be considered reasonable and moderate by ordinary consumers. He believes in the slogan: "The rich drink champagne, the poor drink beer." , Coca-Cola is their unique choice."