A Coca-Cola Christmas 🎅🏻
Did Coke invent commercial Christmas?
No.
But they (specifically ad legend Archie Lee) did make the greatest psychological play in the history of advertising: They made Santa red — Coke red.
🎅🏻
Even in the 30s, Coke execs understood the modern advertising concepts of salience/mental availability.
They knew that seducing the mind is about making relevant associations between the brand and the life of consumers.
Today, after decades of dedicated advertising, there’s a huge number of people who CAN’T HELP but think of Coke during the holidays.
It’s why Coke sales rise an average of 30% every December vs other soft drinks which rise about 10%.
…Now THAT is what “mental availability” is all about.
“This is all well and good,” says the SMB owner, “but what does it mean to me?”
Well, I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean — it doesn’t mean you should have your design team deck ole’ Saint Nick out in brand colors to try and conquer Christmas yourself. That’s not going to happen.
Why?
Because SANTA’s mental availability is SATURATED.
Understand?
Trying to mentally associate your brand with Santa Claus is like a Mom-and-Pop pizzeria trying to associate with the Empire state building or the Statue of Liberty đź—˝
…You’re thinking way too big.
The smaller your brand the more local / niche must be the seductive part of your overall ad-strategy.
Here’s an example from my portfolio:
- Client: Palm Tree Auto
- Association: Burt Reynolds / Smokey and the Bandit
- Why it works: In Palm Beach County, Burt Reynolds is very well-known (especially in the town of Jupiter). But Burt Reynolds is not “saturated.” His image, in other words, has mental availability up-for-grabs…SO, since I had an AUTO client in Palm Beach County whose most famous movie just so happened to be related to cars / racing / fast-driving fun…Presto
Every brand on the planet can do great seductive advertising. The opportunities are endless.
You just need to know how to think about advertising (or work with someone who does — me, for instance).
When you understand the underlying mechanisms of advertising, suddenly every movie, every album, every pop-culture moment becomes a chance to seduce and attract.
Remember, mind-share becomes market-share.
