Coca-Cola is putting its polar bears on ice and bringing back Santa Claus for this year's holiday TV campaign.
The campaign, called "Make Someone Happy," was created by Coca-Cola Germany with Ogilvy and was adapted to the U.S. market by Coca-Cola North America. Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, handles social and digital for the effort, which is set to Jimmy Durante's vocals of the song.
The holiday spot marks the first time since 2011 that the brand's classic Santa character has been the centerpiece of its holiday TV campaign in the U.S. (Mr. Claus appeared in a secondary ad called "Snow Globe" in 2012, according to the brand.)
Coke's classic version of St. Nick was created in 1931 by artist Haddon Sundblom and Coke has consistently used Santa since then.
However, the polar bears began taking a starring role in holiday TV ads for the 2012 season. In 2013, the bears were joined by a winged character named Puffin.
This year, Santa and the bears are essentially swapping roles, with Mr. Claus reclaiming the TV spotlight and the bears reduced to a supporting role for store-level retail executions. Still, a Coke exec did not rule out using the polar bears again in TV ads in the future.