The Uncola 1968 - 1974

How do you engender patronage from youth who want to be different? Position your product to be as unconventional as they are.

J. Walter Thompson executive Bev Corbin put it best in the title of his Nov. 1966 paper: "Conform with the Non-Conformists." In order to be successful in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 7up and J. Walter Thompson had to come up with a new campaign that would mimic the rebellion that then characterized much of society, especially the huge and expanding youth market. (Corbin and others were aware of the irony of telling consumers to "be different" whilst advocating the widespread consumption of a single uniform brand.)

In Advertising in the 60s: Turncoats, Traditionalists, and Waste Makers in America's Turbulent Decade, Hazel G. Warlaumont writes, "Advertising in the 60s developed a 'turncoat' strategy, distancing itself from the ideology of the establishment, that is, big business and the power elite, and taking sides with the people instead. Advertising seemed to go against itself, abandoning its determined quest for 'authority,' its hierarchical portrayals of elitism, its persuasive sermons on consumption, in favor of a flippant indifference and disassociation with its previous ideology and 'all knowing' approach." (Warlaumon, xiv)

To conform with the non-conformists, in 1968 J. Walter Thompson positioned 7up as the "Uncola"--a product that was as different from colas as rebellious teenagers were from "the Establishment." In The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture and the Rise of Hip Consumerism, Thomas Frank points out that "[7up] managed to produce a fairly serious commercial critique, equating the tyanny of mass society with the cola monopoly." (Frank, 164) Whereas cola was dreary homogeneity, Frank argues, 7up was the beverage of difference, daring and rebellion.

Appealing to youth was critical for the "Uncola" campaign, both because they represented a huge, highly desired demographic (Hollander and Germain, 114) and because they were the group most invested in individuation themselves, and therefore the group most likely to be receptive to a campaign of differentiation like the "Uncola." To this end, J. Walter Thompson and 7up used punchy and humorous copy, concert and record co-promotions, youth fashion, and minority awareness to appeal to youth. None of these techniques were present in the least in the "You Like It... It Likes You" campaign.

As it turned out, the "Uncola" echoed the market perfectly and proved an unqualifed success. As a result of the campaign, sales went up 56 percent in one year. (Marshall, Advertising Age, 2/13/1978) In Aug. 1971, Chicago Today quoted Edward T. Wilson, chief of J. Walter Thompson's Chicago office (where 7up's account was managed) as saying that 7up sales in supermarkets increased by 42 percent over the preceding three years and that the "Uncola" campaign topped all soft drinks in correct theme identification. (Lazarus, Chicago Today, 8/5/1971) What's more, "Uncola" became a national catchphrase, still recalled by many to this day.

Skyrocketing sales and notoriety? Without a doubt, the "Uncola" was right for the times.

In this, the first of the "Uncola" advertisements, individuation is being offered in the form of 7up. The Uncola is distinguished from the norm--in a positive way, in that it is "un in a million" and "does the colas one better."

Note the chirpy, easy-to-digest sentences, which appealed to the youth market.
The puns hit hard and heavy in the "Uncola" campaign, beginning with this early advertisement. While they may seem unamusing today, puns were a fresher sort of comedy back in 1968. Moreover, any sort of "humor" was rare in advertising before the 1960s and was seen by many as refreshing. In a 1970 article in Business Horizons, advertising executive Lee Adler mentioned "'more wit, honesty, verve, self-deprecation and irreverence'" as characteristic of the advertising of his era. (Frank, 117)

The upside-down cola glass was a successful promotion for 7up that underscored its rebellious, turn-the-world-on-its-head image.

According to the copy, "untraditional is 7up tradition"... though it was a tradition of only several years that contrasted dramatically with its previous advertising efforts.

This music order offer was clearly aimed at the younger generation. Note the preponderance of rock music, which was, at the time, established but not as widely accepted as it is today. Many people over 40 abhored the clatter of rock music, and certainly would not be interested in purchasing albums by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, or The Who. The point that the campaign was courting youth is driven home when you consider that a large number of J. Walter Thompson executives were probably not even familiar with many of these acts.
This concert, one of quite a few sponsored by 7up, was probably not attended by many of the rebellious youth that 7up was courting, judging by the relatively tame lineup. However, 7up's music efforts were generally directed to young people. A 1968 radio promotion invited teens to join the "Uncola Underground" and receive an "Untrigue Bag" with an "Un Code dictionary." (JWT News, 10/11/1968) A series of promotions on "teenage radio station" WABC tried to establish the brand as a "'hip' undercurrent movement nationally." (JWT News, 10/24/1969) And, in the summer of 1969, 7up gave Woodstock a run for its money when it sponsored such acts as James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, and Blood, Sweat and Tears at a Mount Vernon, N.Y. music festival. (JWT News, 10/24/1969) That, certainly, would appeal to the kids.

Another promotional offer. Note the cheeky humor of "Win England!" as a title--no doubt an aim at those non-conformist types who appreciated irreverence.

England in the late 1960s had special allure for the youth market, as the home of The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, and many other rock acts. Indeed, one of the prizes in this promotion is a Kingston electric guitar "outfit."

7up made several forays into fashion during the "Uncola" years. Here, we see an offer for a butterly-shaped pocket patch. This is, with out a doubt, directed at youth seeking to distinguish themselves. Vaguely affiliated with the counterculture, the butterfly is something to be worn by peace-loving students, not buttoned-up types. (When suggesting things to sew it on, a backpack is mentioned.)

The copy on the ad is a mockery of the serious sell that was common in the "You Like It... It Likes You" years. "That's right, uncola lovers," says the ad with a wink.

The title says it all. In this strange advertisement, 7up associates itself with youth fashion, apparently as some sort of sponsor. Clearly, it is appealing to youth.

7up's "difference" comes through with the flying contraption at the top of the ad. Perhaps a blimp of sorts, it reappears frequently in the brand's promotions and advertisements in the "Uncola" era. It is utterly unlike any other object, which is probably the point.

This advertisement, presented in trade magazines, explicitly highlights 7up's goals in the youth market. It claims, flat-out, that young adults 16-24 are 7up's primary audience. The "Student UNion" in the left frame refers to a union between 7up and students, in which the students apparently accept 7up because of its "low-key, highly styled and humorous advertising approach."

A dabbling in psychedelic-style art, with a hippie-influenced girl.

Aligning brands with the counterculture was actually not that common in the soft drink industry. Despite Pepsi's appeal to a new generation, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi were sensitive to the implied relationship between the counterculture and drugs. (Dietz, 173) Even 7up's countercultural imagery, as we have seen, is quite limited.

As an aside, notice how few people there are in the "Uncola" ad campaign. In keeping with the theme of individuation through consumption of the beverage, it makes sense to show that not everyone is drinking 7up. Certainly, it is keeping with the rebellious era.
The blimp-like contraption makes another appearance in a 7up ad, this time as a poster offer. The text is irreverent, comical, and youth oriented, addressing consumers as "college folk," joking about "one of those 'progressive' schools," and self-deprecatingly calling the poster "semi-beautiful" and claiming that it is hanging at The Louvre... Car and Body Shop, Paris, N.D. The mockery of the old hard sell ads continues, with the copy announcing that the poster is "FREE, FREE, FREE." By presenting such a ridiculous offer, J. Walter Thompson is clearly hoping students will obtain the poster as an absurdity and hang it on their walls as a free marketing device.
Here, 7up points to its own new image as aligned with youth and, to an extent, the counterculture. Note the psychedelic images.
After years of having very few African Americans in its advertisements at all, 7up now offers a black history game. This ad does not present a particularly non-conformist approach, but it does position 7up to attract the high esteem of people interested in black history in light of 1960s "reclaim the past" cultural movements that included the book and miniseries Roots and the establishment of the Kwanzaa holiday. Such interests were also associated with radical, rebellious groups like the Black Panthers.

This final item is not an advertisement, but is a piece in an art magazine called Art Direction on 7up's outdoor graffiti advertising efforts in New York City. The story was printed in Oct. 1975, after the "Uncola" campaign was mostly fazed out, but J. Walter Thompson "ad men" used the the brief phrase to place groups of three signs in subway tunnels across the city.

One key idea is that people as unconventional as graffiti artists will see 7up as "hip" because the brand encourages graffiti on its ads, according to the quotation by the J. Walter Thompson spokesperson.

 

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