Coca-Cola has just released this year's Christmas advert

From dusting off your decorations and finally putting the tree up to tucking into your advert calendar and starting the faff of the festive food shop - there are a whole bunch of things we do every year that really get us into that festive feeling.

One of which is the annual Coca-Cola Christmas advert which many people find themselves looking forward to each year to officially inaugurate the season.

Well, luckily for you, the waiting time is finally over as the company has just dropped its latest 2023 film titled 'The World Needs More Santas'. Check it out:

So, while I'm sure Crimbo fanatics all over are beyond buzzing to feast their eyes on this year's advert - let's rewind way back to when it all began.

Now, the Coca-Cola brand has had a longstanding affiliation with the image of Santa Claus following its initial use in Christmas adverts in the Roaring Twenties.

Around a decade or so later, however, the history of Coca-Cola and Christmas changed forever.

In 1931, Coca-Cola commissioned a chap called Haddon Sundblom, a Michigan-born illustrator, to create images of Santa Claus to be worked into the brand’s holiday adverts.

You know? The big rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes, perfectly-formed laughter lines from too much cheesing, and the distinctive white beard - you know the guy.

Coca-Cola

Well, while a load of us will be able to identify that particular depiction Santa a mile away - what many don't know is that the iconic imagery now synonymous with Coca-Cola is actually a self-portrait based off of Sundblom himself.

Before that, Santa - who we now know as the jolly big fella in a red suit - was depicted as everything from a tall bloke on the leaner side of the spectrum to a spooky-looking elf.

Can't imagine that looking as appealing on the back of a can.

In short, Coca-Cola effectively helped shape the image of the Santa we all recognise and love to this very day nearly a century on.

Talk about legacy - eh?

Coca-Cola

The eagerly-anticipated festive campaign was first screened at the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Lapland, where LADbible sat down with Coca-Cola's Global Head of Creative Strategy & Content, Islam Eldessouky, to find out a little more about it.

Eldessouky tells us that the values of Coca Cola have always been about bringing people together, explaining: "We were always trying to bring the spirit of the holiday [and] the spirit of Christmas."

And it seems that acts of kindness are on the very top of Santa’s Crimbo list with this year's Christmas campaign being titled 'The World Needs More Santas'.

Geared around celebrating the spirit of Santa Claus in all of us, Coca-Cola uses the iconicity of Santa Claus as a symbol of kindness, generosity and goodwill.

The new Coca-Cola Christmas film starts off in a buzzing city where people prepare for the special day; from sorting some last-minute laundry at the dry cleaners and doing a mad dash to the shops for Xmas gifts, to getting in a quick gym sesh and grabbing some scran out with a mate.

Coca-Cola

Oh yeah, and absolutely everyone walking the snow-coated cityscape is Santa.

The advert sees the Santas helping out their neighbour, sharing the last Coca-Cola at a vending machine, or just offering a small act of kindness to a stranger in need.

Anchored in a narrative that focusses on the magic of kindness, the most poignant part of the advert is about halfway-through when all the Santas are congregated in a train station.

A train pulls up and, in an instant, what was previously a platform and carriage fully of jolly chaps in red become your regular civilians donning winter coats and commuter attire - revealing that what viewers have been witnessing all this time was in fact a manifestation of people’s 'inner Santa'.

While the bushy white beards and festive hats are now nowhere to be seen, the kindness and warmth of the people remains.

Coca-Cola

One shot sees a man running to make it onto the train before the doors close before a woman on board very helpfully keeps them open for him.

Another sees a group frolicking making a snowman complete with twig arms, coal eyes but no nose.

And, lastly, a situation I'm sure we're all too familiar with - a woman rushes towards a post office to get her parcel in only to be met with the shutter closing.

Luckily for her, however, the postie decided to spread the Christmas spirit and let her inside just in time to catch the last post.

Coca-Cola

The whole advert is soundtracked by British singer-songwriter Celeste's 'super magical' cover of 'Anyone Can Be Santa' which is quite fitting given the storyline.

"The music, we felt, we needed a layer that really goes straight to your heart," Eldessouky explains. "We needed a voice that, when you listen to it, it makes you feel warm.

"It makes you feel like the song is hugging you in a way while you're watching."

OK - so we know what virtues are associated with the Christmas spirit, but how would your average person 'be more Santa' in other everyday life outside of on the tube and at the post office? Like, maybe, at the pub?

Well, you'll be happy to know you can channel your inner Santa at your local simply by putting a smile on your face.

Eldessouky says: "I think it's an invitation. It's open. It's also comfortable.

"Like, if I receive you with a smile. You already feel welcome."

You could also equally try getting a round in and, if you're in good company, will hopefully have the bevs returned back to you at some point...