In the final season of AMC’s “Mad Men,” set in 1970, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola was mentioned as lead character Don Draper’s potential perfect client, the one that would match the most brilliant mind in advertising with one of the most marketing-savvy companies in the world.
Creator Matthew Weiner does not say so explicitly, but the final scene on the show implied this fictional ad man came up with Coca-Cola’s iconic 1971 advertisement “Hilltop.” A spokesperson for Coca-Cola said the company provided the ad for the show to use but didn’t know how it would be used.
The ad gathered hundreds of young people of all races and nationalities on a hilltop to sing about buying the world a Coke (among other things). The message captured how universal the Coke brand had become, that consumers from Africa to Asia to America were tied together by that sweet, fizzy drink. The inspirational song was so popular, it was turned into a top 40 hit, a rare time when an ad jingle became a genuine pop song.
In the final episodes of “Mad Men,” Draper left New York ad agency McCann Erickson without explanation and took a quixotic journey west, where he landed at a hippy-like spiritual retreat in California. A broken man, he found a new way to lead his life there and inspiration for the ad.
In reality, an actual McCann Erickson account executive stuck in an airport in Ireland came up with the concept. You can read the story behind the ad at www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-hilltop-story.
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