Seattle tastes the feeling of Coca-Cola on this ferry route

Hate it or just don't care. Either way, it's the real thing. Those seem to be the common reactions to a Coca-Cola advertisement that recently popped up on a Washington State Ferry route.

It may be difficult to miss the bright red display painted across the face of the Seattle-Bainbridge Island boat, but according to Washington State Ferries, this is not the first time an ad has been given prime Puget Sound real estate.

"Historically, exterior advertising on vessels has been done in the distant past ... and to a lesser extent recently," said Ian Sterling with Washington State Ferries. "We worked with a healthcare provider to place a large mask graphic on front of one of the Seattle-based boats during the pandemic, and with the non-profit Movember to place mustaches on the exterior of some boats in the last few years."

The Seattle Times also notes that 40-foot banners were placed on ferries in 1962 to advertise the World's Fair.

Coca-Cola's ad campaign was not only able to catch a wave on the exterior of a ferry, but also inside the boat, and at the Seattle and Bainbridge Island ferry terminals. The main message, aside from hyping Coke, is that its bottles are recycled.

Not since 2014, when Jägermeister painted a mural in Capitol Hill has an ad placement prompted so much local attention. X, formerly known as Twitter, was ablaze with commentary. An entire Reddit thread got a taste of the feeling from locals, which ranged from "tacky" to "my eyes feel violated," and also the sentiment that WSF can paint the entire boat with ads as long as it pays to keep the ferries on time and in service. Would that be: I'd like to buy Seattle a coke ... and an operational ferry.

"The ad is on a busy route and it's red," Sterling said. "Perhaps that is why it is getting noticed. Revenue from the ad helps offset the price to taxpayers across the state who pay to subsidize ferry ticket prices. The cost to operate ferries is only partially paid by the customers who use ferries, much of the rest is from taxpayers."

WSF has worked with an agency to sell advertising on ferries for a few years, but Sterling said Coca-Cola is the first major advertiser to take up space on the exterior of a boat. For the 2023 fiscal year, so far, total advertising throughout the Washington State Ferry system has added up to $450,000. That money goes into the Puget Sound Ferries Operations Account to offset the cost of running the ferries.

Washington State Ferries would not confirm how much Coca-Cola paid for the current ad campaign, which is slated to run through Nov. 19.

Sterling said that more ads on ferries like this are possible in the future, but he is not aware of any interest to make it real at this time. Your move, Jägermeister.