THE STORY BEHIND COCA-COLA’S POLAR BEARS
One day in 1992, Ken Stewart got a storm of ideas hoping that he will become to the next brilliant ad for Coca-Cola, when suddenly in his Los Angeles office appeared his four-legged inspiration. His best buddy, the Labrador Morgan, gave him the inspirational spark that he was looking for. His brain started to work rapidly. He always thought that Morgan looked like a polar bear. Usually he called him “little polar bear” or “baby polar bear”. And then he thought: “Polar bear. Coca-Cola…cold, refreshing. Excellent! “He knew he had to connect the polar bears in a commercial, and rest, is history.
“Always Coca-Cola” or “Polar Light” debuted in February 1993, while the Awards Academy was taking place in Los Angeles, and became an instant hit between Coca-Cola fans all over the world. Simple, authentic story that with a little help from the computer animation, gave live to polar bears.
Ken Stewart speaks about how polar bears came to live in Coca-Cola ads and why “the polar light” is one of the best Coke commercials ever. This text also includes the commentary of Coca-Cola’s archive man, Ted Ryan.
Peter Sealey was Chief of marketing and distribution in Columbia Pictures where Stewart worked as senior vice president and creative director. Sealey left Columbia and came back to work in marketing, in the Coca-Cola company. Wanting to try something different he asked Stewart If he would be interested in contributing with some of his ideas. Stewart thought that this could be an incredible opportunity for him. He asked Peter right away for some Coca-Cola ads from before 15-20 years. He looked through them for a long time, searching in them for something that could be his new mission. What was most special for him and many other people was the “Meet Joe Green” commercial. That ad had so much love and warmness, so simple, yet a very powerful story. Those exact emotions were the ones Stewart wanted to bring back to Coca-Cola ads, just like in the 80’. He thought that Coke needed to go more on the emotional side.
He tried to discover how to do that, on a new way, and he didn’t manage to do it in one day. After a long time of watching commercials and writing, his Labrador Morgan finally gave him the inspiration he needed. He looked at him and said to himself: “If I could just get the feeling I have for that dog into the commercial, that would be a new “Meet Joe Green”.”
He wondered what would the bears do in the ad? While drinking Coke, he was usually watching a movie in a cinema. What would polar bears have to do, to get that same feeling? Than he thought: “Oh, yeah, they’d hang out in a group in the Arctic, watching the northern lights and having a Coke”. And that’s it!”
He knew that it should be something revolutionary, which ultimately came down to animation, but not as cartoon animation. He decided to go with digital animation from the “Rhythm & Hues” company which had a big history in this job. They indicated something magical. They proposed fur, after which, Stewart asked for wind that will blow through it, and not to look like a cartoon, but as real fur. Animators did their job. They hired a sculptor, to make a clay model of a polar bear head based on Morgan, from which later they made a laser transformation into points that they could animate. He didn’t want to give the bears too much definition, which is why there is no dialogue. That would leave a mark in the minds of people and would not be a product of their own imagination. This should have been a journey into a mystical world. For me, says Stewart, Coca-Cola was feeling a lot more than a product. Coca-Cola has a certain mythology attached to it. That mythical and magical feeling of Coca-Cola is something that Stewart wanted to continue.
The process lasted four months, 16 people were working full-time job just to create an ad, 30 seconds long. From the beginning, it felt like a rocket launch. Everyone believed that they could reach the moon. But there were a lot of crashes on the launch before they got there. As a reminder, in 1993 the Internet was not fully functional yet and ad makers did not have all the tools that are available today when anybody can make a movie on their home computer. The company “Rhythm & Hues” did groundbreaking work to bring these bears to life.
According to Stewart, “less was more”. Therefore, the spot wasn’t cluttered and viewers didn’t feel like they were being manipulated. The ad gave feelings to have a real, human experience related to Coca-Cola and If he had to do it again, he would do it the same way. He chose not to have human voices, but only sound effects. In 1993, it wasn’t something that was used in advertising. Ads were wall-to-wall sound, with hero shots in the beginning, middle and end. This was not that. This ad was trying to break through the clutter. And the team was able to do that with a minimal amount of sound. First we can hear the bear grunt and the crunch of snow, but no one recognized these sounds. The sound goes into a frame to be recognized. Only after that, you can actually tell it’s a polar bear. Thus, the viewer establishes the natural sounds off-camera and image, then he’s led right into this mystical world.
The original bear voice was the voice of Stewart. It was not planned. They were looking for a bear growls and grunts, but none of them matched the inflections of the bears in the spot. So, Stewart recorded message saying: “That’s what we need.” The sound made him think like a bear …. sounds that try to convey the emotion attached to the movements. Finally, they all liked it, so it stayed like that.
At the briefing for the journalists in New York, the media appreciated and greeted the ad with applause. And the public’s perception was the same. So, Coca-Cola had a hit.
When Peter Sealey phoned Stewart in Los Angeles it was 6:30 in the morning. He asked Stewart if he has the New York Times and to look at the business section. On the front page of the section, stood a picture of the polar bears.
Then Coca-Cola asked for three more ads by December 1993, Stewart had to expand the world of polar bears and it was great. Stewart and his team, for the first time introduced Santa Claus into the animation and made an ad with two small cubs that were pushing a tree up a hill.
Ken Stewart and company “Rhythm and hues” made a series of ads, including one for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics where the bear goes down with a luge.
The same year they made three more ads. Finally, Stewart adds seal as a character, as polar bears and seals are natural enemies. Polar bears in a hunt for seals, is something they believed was an emotional point that can be achieved, where two enemies become friends through Coca-Cola.
In all of these ads, the bear family enlarges, but it’s still that same essence of fun, togetherness and enjoyment. The bear universe is happy and it is the one you want to belong in.
Several facts about the Coca-Colas polar bears
The polar bear is an icon just like “Mean Joe Green” and “Hilltop”, because those are the ads that communicate to everyone. They tell a simple story and they tell it well. You see the bear playing in the snow with friends while watching the Northern Lights. With ‘Mean Joe Greene’, you should understand the humanity of throwing the jersey to a kid and creating a hero. And with ‘Hilltop’, you should understand the unity and the message of love. In this case, the animation and the bears bring a simple storyline of togetherness. You can watch it today and still understand it.
“The only thing that I am most proud of is its emotional authenticity. When you can hit that mark and you do it on a high emotional level, it lasts forever”, Ken Stewart finishes his story.
