[3] In 1971, Backer created the Coca-Cola campaign and accompanying song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony).
[3] His parents were William Bryant Backer, a real estate developer who died when Backer was six years old,[2] and Ferdinda Legare, who, after her husband's death, moved with her son to her hometown, Charleston, South Carolina.
[3] In 1944, Backer graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, where he wrote musical comedies.
[5] While he was in college, Backer worked as a production assistant at Columbia Pictures and ran a small freelance music operation.
[8] In two years, they had billed more than $200 million and were ranked 29th in United States advertising agencies worldwide.
[9] Backer stayed as a consultant for a few years before leaving when Donald Zuckert became the ad agency's president.
[10] During his career, Backer created ad campaigns for Beech Nut Gum, Buick, Campbell's soup, Coca-Cola, Dole, Exxon, Fisher-Price, Hyundai, Löwenbräu, Miller beer, Miller Lite, Nabisco, Oreo, Parliament cigarettes, Philip Morris, Quaker Oats, and Xerox.
[3] In 1971, Backer created the Coca-Cola campaign and accompanying song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony).
[3][1] In Virginia, he bred and owned several stakes performers, including 2009 Grade 3-Turf Virginia Oaks winner Blind Date (by sire Not for Love) and also seven-time stakes winner Applause (by sire Shecky Greene).
[3][1][2] In 2016, Backer died of complications from colon cancer surgery at Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton, Virginia at the age of 89.