Happy Holidays, and welcome back to Marketing Qualified. This week, we’re gifting you with some marketing knowledge about:

• Santa, Coca-Cola, and the greatest marketing campaign you’ve never heard of. The story of how Coke ‘invented’ Santa Claus.

• How to win in Q5. Do these three things to keep momentum from late December through mid-January.

🎅 Santa, Coca-Cola, and the greatest marketing campaign you’ve never heard of.

When you think of Santa Claus, chances are you picture an image like this.

Red suit, white beard, chubby with rosy cheeks. A jolly guy.

But what if we told you that you picture Santa this way because of a marketing campaign?

Specifically, thanks to Coca-Cola.

How Coca-Cola ‘invented’ Santa.

It all started back in the 1930s when Coke looked at their revenue numbers and realized they had a problem. Consumers considered Coke a summer drink that you had in the heat. So, every winter, when the temperature dropped, sales dropped too.

They put their marketers on the case. And in 1931 launched their ‘Thirst knows no season’ campaign. At the center of it was this image of Santa. Dressed in Coca-Cola red, holding a glass of the drink, and with a big grin.

Now, the idea of Santa existed long before Coke. But before the Coca-Cola campaign, Santa Claus was depicted in various ways in different cultures based on their folklore. Often, he was shown wearing green and looking rather gaunt.

But similar to the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny, no singular image was used to portray Santa universally.

In 1931, Coca-Cola published their image of Santa as part of a magazine ad. It was immediately a hit.

The campaign performed so well that they brought back the same illustrator, Haddon Sundblom, to paint Santa every year for the next 30 years.

And in those years, the ads were so iconic that this image of Santa Claus became the only one in people’s minds.

All because of this campaign, Coca-Cola has succeeded in directly associating their brand with the biggest holiday of the year for close to a century. And now Coca-Cola red practically defines the holiday season.

Talk about great marketing.

📰 In the news this week.

🕒 Google’s 25-year time capsule.

😴  ChatGPT is getting “lazier.”

📈  2023’s biggest advertising trends (outside of AI).

🔄  How customer experience has evolved over the last decade.

🤖  20% of brands to go ‘acoustic’ amid rising generative AI concerns.

🏆 How to win in Q5.

“Fifth quarter” is almost here. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, fifth quarter (Q5) is the weeks following the holidays — late December to mid-January.

This is a notoriously tricky time for marketing and sales. B2B buyers are generally busy with the holidays, distracted by Q1 planning, or simply not in a purchasing mindset.

But that doesn’t mean B2B marketers should mail it in during Q5. Use downtime during this period to set yourself up for success when things pick back up in late January. Here’s how:

1) Validate your strategy.

Q5 is the ideal time to test and refine your marketing strategy and tactics. Take this time to optimize your campaigns. A/B test elements. Find what works and carry that into the rest of 2024.

2) Lean into post-holiday motivation.

Most people see the new year as a fresh start. Create content that capitalizes on that and aligns with consumers' New Year’s resolutions.

For example, something along these lines:

• The Biggest Email Mistakes Marketers Make and How to Avoid Them in 2024.

• Top Marketers Are Using This Tool to Crush Their Q1 Goals.

• 10 New Year’s Resolutions Every SaaS Engineer Should Make.

3) Sustain momentum.

It’s easy to get stuck in a lull during Q5. Especially if inbound is slow, but don’t fall into this trap.

To maintain momentum, keep campaigns consistent post-holidays. Avoid significant changes to successful ad sets to prevent declines in effectiveness. Don’t make substantial changes to budgets. Try remarketing campaigns to strengthen relationships with prospects who interacted with you in Q4.

😂 Marketing meme of the week.

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