A BRIEF HISTORY OF FANTA

How many times did you have to choose between soft drinks? Coke-Cola? Pepsi? Fanta? Sprite? Seven-Up? 

One would think that most of the people choose Coke-Cola or Pepsi over the rest of the options. But many of us prefer buying Fanta...Have you ever asked yourself when did it all begin? When was Fanta born? How did it get to us?

We decided to do a little research...and this is what we came up with.

Fanta originated as a result of difficulties importing Coca-Cola syrup into Germany during World War II due to a trade seizure. To circumvent this, Max Keith, the head of Coca-Cola Deutschland (Coca-Cola GmbH) during the Second World War, decided to create a new product for the German market, using only ingredients available in Germany at the time, including whey and pomace – the 'leftovers of leftovers', as Keith later recalled. 

The name was the result of a brief brainstorming session, which started with Keith's exhorting his team to 'use their imagination' (Fantasie in German), to which one of his salesmen, Joe Knipp, immediately retorted 'Fanta'. 

The plant was effectively cut off from Coca-Cola headquarters during the war. After the war, the Coca-Cola Corporation regained control of the plant, formula and the trademarks to the new Fanta product—as well as the plant profits made during the war. 

Fanta was discontinued when the parent company was reunited with the German branch. Following the launch of several drinks by the Pepsi corporation in the 1950s, Coca-Cola competed by relaunching Fanta in 1955. The drink was heavily marketed in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America –including Argentina-. 

But... how did it get so famous? 

Fanta is known for its upbeat advertising; in the United States, it showcases The Fantanas, a casted group of young female models, each of whom promotes an individual Fanta flavor. For the re-introduction of Fanta in the United States, Coca-Cola worked with the ad agency Ogilvy (NYC) in 2001. 

After a brainstorming session, the Ogilvy creative team of Andrea Scaglione, Andrew Ladden and Bill Davaris, created the tagline 'Wanta Fanta!' which became the jingle for the Fantanas in the broadcast campaign. The campaign lasted from summer 2001, in the form of a successful trial run, to October 1, 2006. Three years later, in June 2009, Fanta re-launched the campaign. They also held a talent search to find the pineapple Fantana, and, in September selected Shakira Barrera to become the fourth Fantana. After Barrera won the contest, she spent a year at her post, with the latter six months as an actual Fantana called Lilly.

In our country, the advertising of Fanta was –and is- always pushing boundaries and is directed to a young audience.

We managed to pick only three of the most representative T.V. commercials.

Enjoy!

Hey, Fanta! (1982)

Tomás Fanta, estás bambucha (2006) 

Vuelve 'Baila Fanta' (2015) 

Santiago Isola, Ara Fermadjián, Mariano Dib and Julián Lovito Guevara - 4th Year