Yesterday I learned something totally mind blowing.
Did you know that...Coca Cola invented Santa Claus?!?!
About 100 years ago, Coke had a marketing problem. Consumers only thought of Coke during the summer, and Coke wanted to increase sales in the winter.
So Coke invented a character called Santa Claus.
Yes, Santa existed before Coke, but he was usually depicted as a scary, blue, fucked-up-looking elf. Coke rebranded Santa as a jovial old man and, crucially, decked him out in Coca Cola colors (red and white). Then Coke ran a shit-ton of advertising showing Mr. Claus drinking delicious cola in winter settings.
100 years later, we would call this Ehrenberg-Bassian marketing. Coke increased its mental availability (the winter CEP) by investing in a distinctive brand asset (Santa), consistently marketed at scale (advertising).
It worked then, and it works now.
Ho ho ho.*