COCA-COLA Truck Sets Off - Christmas in Advertising Officially Begins

Coca-Cola Kicks Off Christmas in Advertising

Santa Claus, polar bears and trucks – iconic Coca-Cola symbols in the Christmas campaign

Christmas icons in one campaign

Can we imagine Christmas without Santa Claus, white polar bears or the iconic Coca-Cola truck? Coca-Cola reminds us of these well-known and beloved Christmas icons in its Christmas campaign this year. As part of the communication, the brand has prepared, among other things, Christmas labels, as many as two dedicated TV spots, OOH ads, POSM materials and a consumer lottery, and has engaged influencers and TikTokers to collaborate. The Christmas truck tour will also set off once again. Consumers themselves will decide which cities it will visit in an online vote.

"Feel the magic of Christmas" with Coca-Cola's Santa

Coca-Cola's role in shaping Santa's image

Few people know that the author of the most magical symbol of Christmas, Santa Claus, is Coca-Cola, which first used him in its advertising back in 1920. In turn, the image created in 1931 by the brand's illustrator, Haddon Sundblom, changed the face of Santa forever and became almost an archetype of this character. Now Coca-Cola's Santa is back to remind us of the magic of Christmas. He can be seen, among other places, in the TV spot, on special seasonal product labels and in POSM materials, and from December also on city streets – thanks to OOH media. Through these channels, he will carry a very important message – each of us can be like Santa, because we don't have to be magical to create magic!

Choose the city the truck will visit!

Truck route and voting

Christmas also can't happen without the already legendary truck tour. Since 1995, when illuminated vehicles first appeared in Coca-Cola's advertising, almost everyone has been waiting for it to visit their town! The ad featuring the trucks will air on 18 November and will be one of the main elements supporting the route of these vehicles across Poland.

After last year's spectacular success of the competition for an additional city on the Coca-Cola truck route, in which more than 1.5 million votes were cast, this year the brand decided to fully give consumers the choice of where the truck stops! Voting will start on 18 November, and thanks to it the magic of Christmas will reach selected cities in Poland – 1 December will mark the end of the first stage of the competition, in which we will learn the ten finalist towns, and on 6 December three winning cities will be selected from among them.

The Christmas campaign is carried out in a 360-degree format.

Behind the scenes of the campaign

Media planning and buying as well as cooperation with influencers are handled by the media house MediaCom, adaptation of local graphic materials – by the Fortis agency, adaptation of the TV copy – by McCann Worldgroup. Creation and handling of the digital campaign are managed by LiquidThread and White Paper Agency. PR activities were entrusted to the Big Picture agency.

Concepts from the article

OOH — Out of Home advertising. Advertising that reaches audiences outside the home, e.g. billboards, citylights, public transport media, airport advertising and large-format screens. It requires planning of locations and exposure.

Why it matters: It works where people already are: on streets, at bus stops, on commuter routes. It builds local reach and brand recall without fighting for attention on an overloaded internet.

When it is used: For building awareness, local campaigns and supporting launches; location and exposure decide everything.

What skipping it risks: A purely digital campaign bypasses people away from screens — and purchasing decisions are also made on the way to the store.

Summary

The Coca-Cola brand has launched a 360-degree Christmas campaign combining TV spots featuring Santa, seasonal labels, OOH ads and a consumer lottery. The key element remains the tour of the iconic trucks, whose route – as last year – will be chosen by internet users. Voting starts on 18 November, and the three final cities will be announced on 6 December.

Importantly, the campaign recalls the brand's historical role: it was Coca-Cola that popularized the image of Santa Claus, painted in 1931 by Haddon Sundblom. The activities are carried out, among others, by MediaCom, LiquidThread and the Big Picture agency, which shows the scale of involvement of several entities in a single undertaking.