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There is a company which has got a secret. This secret is kept in a safe. Although everywhere in the world it is enjoyed, there have never been more than three persons who know the formula definitely. After the American Civil War America started with the reconstruction of the South and the people who were living in the South were looking for pain-killers and o they were an easy prey for wonder doctors.
One of those wonder doctors was John S Pemberton. He was addicted to morphine and was searching for an alternative. Pemberton was a genius who knew much about plants and concocted a mixture, similar a wine-bowle, made from the leaves of the coca-shrub and extracts from the kola nut. First John S. Pemberton introduced his Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886. He brought it down to Jacob's Pharmacy, where consumers could enjoy a glass of Coca-Cola for five cents. In this year Coca -Cola sold nine drinks per day and its production started. By chance Pemberton got red barrels and so red became one colour of his product. Pemberton had a partner named Frank M. Robinson. It was Robinson who was responsible for the white flowing script in red background that would become the most famous trademark in the world. He also took over the responsibility for manufacture, promotion, and advertising of the new product.
In 1891 Asa Candler became the owner of the five-year-old Coca-Cola business. He acquired it for $ 2300. Within four years, his merchandising flair helped to expand consumption of Coca-Cola to every part of the nation. Two years later the trademark "Coca-Cola" was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The candy merchant Joseph A. Biedenharn had the idea that people should be able to take their refreshment with them wherever they go, so he began offering bottled Coca-Cola. In 1899, large scale bottling was ushered in by two Chattanooga, Tennessee entrepreneurs, - for a dollar - bought the rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola across the United States. That operation was the forerunner of the largest, most widespread production and distribution network in the world. In 1903 Asa Candler also had the cocaine removed from Coca-Cola when it became clear that cocaine is an addictive drug and not as harmless as earlier drug journals had indicated. In 1908 the Coca-Cola script had been spread across 2.5 million square feet of walls and 10,000 windows displayed Coca-Cola signs. Much of the success of Coca-cola can be directly attributed to Frank Robinson.
Three years later the U.S, government protested against Coca-Cola, they thought, that in a beverage for children should not be caffeine. Coca-Cola answered, that the drink was not for children. That was a big mistake, because mainly children drank it. So there was a law in the Coca-Cola Company that they were not allowed to show a child under the age of 12 in there advertising. Therefore the Coca-Cola Company searched for very young looking models.
Around 1915, many bottles used in the soft-drink industry were very similar, and Coca-Cola had many imitators which consumers were unable to identify until they took a sip. The answer was to create a distinct bottle for Coca-Cola, one that everyone would recognise, even if it was felt in the dark. As a result, the genuine Coca-Cola bottle with the contour shape now known around the world was developed by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indianan.
Four years later the Coca-Cola Company is sold for $ 25 million to the Atlanta banker Ernest Woodruff and a group of investors. In 1923 Robert W. Woodruff, the son of Ernest Woodruff became president of the Coca-Cola Company. He was responsible for the commercial success. Five years later Coca-Cola made its first Olympic appearance when 1000 cases of Coke accompanied the (.S. Olympic Team to Amsterdam. By the 1930´s Coca-Cola was taking advantage of new media. They advertised on radio, gave Coke away at movie sets, employed movie stars, and sports hero's and even Santa Claus.
Today only few people know that Coca-Cola created the Santa Claus how we know him toddy. In 1931 the artist Haddon Sundblan actually helped to create Santa Claus. Until this point Santa Claus had often been depicted wearing blue, yellow or green, and he was usually tall and gaunt and his name was St. Nikolaus. Haddon's illustrations always depicted Santa Claus as the fat, jolly man, dressed in Coca-Cola-red-
In 1936 the Coca-Cola Company celebrated its 50th anniversary. A three-day bottler convention, a motion picture chronicling the Company's early years, and even a special anniversary logo were part of the celebration.
"It's the real thing" was first used in Coke advertising in 1942.
Up until W.W.II Coca-Cola was offered world-wide, but was only popular to a real degree in Canada, Cuba and Germany. After the start of W.W.II Robert Woodruff insured that no matter where the soldiers were, they would always have Coca-Cola available to them. Coca-cola was already thought of as something American, and the military believed that Coca-Cola would be an excellent means to boost morale .Coca-Cola bottling plants were built all over the world to help supply the soldiers, and by the time the war had ended there were 64 bottling plants that spanned across every continent except Antarctica.
In 1955 Fanta was launched in Naples, Italy. Today Fanta is the number one soft-drink in the world. In 1979 Coke introduces "Have a Coke and a Smile", a campaign of heart-warming emotion best captured by the television commercial.
Robert Goizueta introduced Diet Coke in 1980, the first soda produced by Coca-Cola that shared the flagship's name, and it was a huge success. Unfortunately Goizueta is not remembered for this huge success, but he is remembered for the biggest mistake in corporate history. Pepsi had been conducting the "Pepsi Challenge". First started in Dallas, Pepsi sponsored blind taste tests, and the majority preferred Pepsi to Coke. This taste tests went nation-wide, and with the same results. Worse yet, when Coke did their own test, they also found that the majority preferred Pepsi. So Coca-Cola decided to change the formula. Before this formula change could occur, the "Boss" still needed to be consulted. At his time Woodruff was 95 Years old and was dying. Woodruff agreed with Goizueta, that the public now preferred a sweeter drink, and the bite of Coca-Cola was now a drawback - he gave his permission to change the formula. A couple of months later, before the new Coca-Cola was released, the "Boss" died. The new Coca-Cola flopped, and on July 10th, they brought back the original Coke as Coca-Cola Classic and the New Coke disappeared. The threat of replacing the original formula with a new version turned out to be exactly what Coca-Cola needed to revitalise itself, but the marketing success can only be attributed to stupid luck and not ingenuity. In this year, 1985, also Cherry Coke was introduced.
In 1986 Coca-Cola, Georgia and the Statue of liberty celebrate of their 100th anniversary. In 1988 an independent world-wide survey confirmed that Coca-Cola was the best known, most admired trademark in the world.
In 1990 World of Coca-Cola, an attraction featuring a historical and futuristic look at Coca-Cola as well as a chance to sample the Coca-Cola Company products from around the world in Atlanta.
Seven years later World of Coca-Cola Las Vegas opened with a complete 100-feet-tall Coca-Cola contour bottle.
The Coca-Cola Company sponsored the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, marking the 70th anniversary of the Company's Olympic partnership .New products Citra and Surge hit the market. And Douglas Ivester was named as the chairman of the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola Company. He is the 10th chairman of the board in the company's history in 1997. One year later, sales of Coca-Cola and other company products exceed 1 billion servings per day.
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