Coca-Cola History Page

Coca-Cola is so famous in the world that it is difficult to believe that the syrup as well as the company producing it have a precise history. Today, a century after it was mixed for the first time, the beverage is "sold in 200 countries and is advertised in over 80 languages. Its red and white trademark is probably the best-known trademark on earth." 1 For a long time, the Coca-Cola Company produced only Coca-Cola. Then, it has begun to manufacture also for other industries such as food products, clothing and entertainment and became the largest soft drink company in the world.

John Styth Pemberton (1831-1888), a pharmacist, who liked to mix medicines, came to Atlanta from Columbus, Georgia, in 1869. He was a war veteran and also may have been addicted to morphine. In 1885 Pemberton created a new version of Vin Mariani, which was a very famous drink at that time. It was a wine with coca-leaves, which served as aperitif as well as stimulant. Even famous people, like Jules Verne, Emile Zola, the Russian Czar, and Pope Leo XIII, drank Vin Mariani, but Pemberton named it French Wine of Coca. He was not very successful with it. In 1886 he changed the formula and took out the wine. Still wanting to produce a stimulant drink, he did not put the coca leaf out and added a bit of the African kola nut, which contains caffeine, like coffee and tea do, too. Coca and kola are very bitter, so Pemberton gave sugar to his mixture. He sold it as a headache remedy. By researching, Pemberton noted that his syrup helped against indigestion and exhaustion and that it was a refreshing drink in addition to that. During its beginnings, Coca-Cola was sold at pharmacies as a syrup that you can take as is or mix with water. "Coke was stimulant, health tonic, and beverage" 2. Atlanta was the center of Coca Cola since 1885.

But the drink was not Coca-Cola, before it had the name. It got it from Pemberton's bookkeeper Frank Mason Robinson, a veteran of the Union Army. He came to Atlanta in December 1885 and named the new syrup after two of its ingredients, the South American coca leaf and the African kola nut. He changed the "k" in kola to C and put in a hyphen. Then, he created Coca-Cola's very famous label in the Spencerian script. Its value is estimated by experts as high as $60 billion today. It is one of the most expensive trademarks of the world. "Pemberton was seen as the father of Coca-Cola and Robinson as the father of the idea of Coca-Cola." 3 Thanks to Robinson, Coca-Cola did not die out in its early years, although Pemberton wanted to get Robinson out of business.

Coca-Cola was not immediately successful. At its beginnings, the business went really poor. Because of that and also because of his bad health, Pemberton sold out two-thirds in 1888. In 1891 the druggist Asa Candler (1851-1929) became the owner of the entire enterprise. Because Dr. Pemberton died so early, he never got to know the enormous success of his drink in the following century. In 1892 Candler, Robinson and three others founded the Coca-Cola Company. Asa Candler had a very good sense for business and was an important figure in Atlanta as a citizen as well as a leader. He spent more than $8 million to Emory University and its Wesley Memorial Hospital. Without his aid, the University would never have come into existence. Candler was chief executive of operations (CEO or president) for 26 years and during this time, the Coca-Cola Company grew very fast. From 1888 to 1907, the factory and offices of the business were moved to eight different buildings for keeping up with the company's increasing growth. Candler was most interested in the quality and promotion of Coca-Cola. In 1901 when people complained about the very small amount of cocaine in the syrup, he wanted to remove it completely. World War I and the following sugar rationing hindered the growth of the company. Coal supplies were very short, too. Candler's son, Charles Howard, invented a process, in which sugar and water could be mixed without heat. This process saved the cost of fuel and also a lot of time, because the syrup did not have to go through any cooling period and the company did not need a boiler. This process of mixing is still used today. In 1916 Candler retired and became the mayor of Atlanta.

In 1894 Joseph A. Biedenharn of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the first bottler of Coca-Cola and installed a bottling machinery in his candy store. In 1899 bottling began with two young lawyers from Chattanooga,Tennessee. Candler allowed Benjamin Franklin Thomas and Joseph Brown Whitehead to bottle and sell Coca-Cola nearly everywhere in the United States. Their first bottling plant opened in Chattanooga the same year. With the financial aid of John T. Lupton, the entrepeneurs then founded community bottling companies, from which a lot are still locally owned and operated. Today the bottling system is very important for the company's soft drink operations and was an independent and local business until the late 1970's and early 1980's. In 1986 the Coca-Cola Company united some of its operations with two large ownership groups: the John T. Lupton franchises and BCI Holding Corporations bottling holdings. These bottling operations were combined into Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.. In the 1990's the bottling company began marketing outside the United States and also went to Europe. Today Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. is the world's largest bottler of products of the Coca-Cola company. The classic and "sexy" Coca-Cola bottle was designed in 1915 by a worker at one of the bottling plants - Alex Samuelson of the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1956 the Coca-Cola script on the bottle was pressed on the glass and not engraved anymore. In 1957 the so-called family bottle entered the market and in 1988 the recycling-bottle appeared. In 1963 the Coca-Cola can was introduced.

In 1919 the Coca-Cola Company was sold to a group of investors, which was led by Atlanta businessman Ernest Woodruff. His son Robert Winship Woodruff became president of the Coca-Cola Company at the age of 33. He was the company's leader from 1923 to 1955, had left college before graduation and had a lot of different jobs. He was vice president of an Atlanta motor company before becoming president of the Coca-Cola Company. When he entered, the company was in a bad situation, so Woodruff worked to improve Coca-Cola's financial condition. The company could maintain good relations with its bottling franchises. Woodruff emphasized quality control and also started advertising and promotional campaigns that were much cleverer than those before. Beginning in 1920 shoppers were able to buy Coke also for home consumption, because the six-pack carton was developed. At the end of 1930 Coca-Cola had exactly the same taste everywhere. He led the Coca-Cola Company through a period with some very important events, so that even the depression and the stock market crash were no problem for it. With World War II Coca-Cola was introduced into the world market and grew to one of America's first multinational companies.

Coca-Cola was the largest consumer of cane sugar of the world in 1919. The sugar-rationing during World War I had nearly destroyed the whole company and Ben Oehlert, who led the lobby for the company in Washington, did not want this to happen again. He thought about ways to convince the government that Coca-Cola was necessary to the war effort. Oehlert had the idea that men and women needed refreshing pauses in their work day, even in wartime. Woodruff declared Coca-Cola's wartime policy, so that entire bottling plants were brought to the front lines. When the battle front moved, the bottling company moved, too. It is right to say: "When America went to war, Coca-Cola followed." When the U.S. began to involve in World War II, many American soldiers were sent into other countries. They were homesick and yearned for the "moments", where they could drink an ice-cold Coca-Cola. At first soldiers could not get more than two Coca-Cola's a week. So, a black market was introduced, where the price of a bottle was much higher than a nickel (5 cents). A sergeant in Italy got more than $1000 for selling a single bottle of Coke. Soldiers began writing letters to the company about the feelings they got from Coca-Cola. One sergeant from Kansas wrote home to his parents during World War II "It's the little things, not the big things that the individual soldier fights for or wants so badly when away. It's the girl friend back home in a drugstore over a Coke (...)."4 Coca-Cola created a picture of the ideal America and the bottle became a synonym for the home country and survival. The brown drink in its familiar bottle gave the soldiers the same feelings as letters or photos from home did it. Also the other countries chose Coca-Cola as an American symbol and the enemies did this, too, putting it in a negative way: Otto Dietrich, the German press chief, once said "America never contributed anything to world civilization but chewing gum and Coca-Cola". And in Japanese radio, you could hear the words: "With Coca-Cola, we imported the germs of a disease from American society." 5 During the war Coca-Cola spent $5.5 million to build more than 64 bottling operations in other countries. But it was worth doing that. More than 11 million former soldiers came home with a "lifelong attachement" to the drink. During wartime they had refreshed themselves with Coca-Cola more than a billion times. In a survey of GI's in an American magazine, they preferred Coke over Pepsi by a factor of 8 to 1. In the following years, Coca-Cola stabilized its position in the American heart and mind.

Although there were anti-American feelings in the Weimar Republic, Coca-Cola entered the country at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. The company was in competition with Germany's breweries and cola-imitators. After 1933 they began to cooperate with Germany's Nazis. At the end they had found a way to survive the war as an American-owned company. After World War I America became a symbol for all the things that Germans did not like in their country. Under such circumstances the company decided to distance Coca-Cola from its American origin. The company's German business began with Ray Rivington Powers in 1929, who built a shop in Essen. He had some problems. The reasons for his difficulties were the imitators Sinalco and Afri-Cola on the one hand and he had to convince the German people that Coca-Cola tastes better than their beer on the other hand. The success in Germany was because of the fact that the ads of Coca-Cola did not mention its U.S. roots. A group of German prisoners in New Jersey were really surprised to see Coca-Cola signs there, too. They did not know the drink's real origin. Due to the war, you can get Coke in Germany, but the man, who helped to its survival there, was Max Keith.

Because of the shortage of some of its ingredients, Coca-Cola was not produced in Germany between 1942 and 1949. Keith mixed his own soft drink using some other ingredients, which were available to him. He called his beverage Fanta. This drink existed until the end of the war. Even then, the company did not stop marketing Fanta. The Coca-Cola company worked with the Nazi-regime during the years from 1933 to 1945 and sold millions of its beverages to Germany under Hitler's leadership. During that time many international companies had to cooperate with the Nazis, just to survive in Germany. For an excuse, it can be mentioned that the Coca-Cola GmbH supported the Nazis only in a few cases and they did it just to stay alive. But they also needed one another: Coca-Cola took advantage of Germany's economic growth and for the Nazis, modern companies like this one, served as models for mass production. Cooperating with the Nazis and supporting events, which were organized by them, made consumers and the American government think that Coca-Cola was on Germany's side.

During the time from the end of World War II to 1980, many things changed in the company. Although Woodruff was not president anymore in 1955, he still influenced the company's decisions over the upcoming years. There were some other chairmen and presidents before J.Paul Austin became president of the company in 1970. From 1950 to 1960 Coca-Cola built approximately fifteen to twenty plants a year throughout the world. The company grew very fast during that time. In the 1970's the drink came to Russia as well as to China. It also reached Egypt in 1979. Austin believed in free trades and was against boycotts. In his opinion, international business should be made to improve the country's economy. It also helped to avoid war. He started educational programs in Third World countries and sponsored sports programs in countries, which had not enough money to finance it on their own. Emphasizing on international growth, he went in negotiation with foreign countries and ruled the company's relations with the U.S. government.

Roberto Goizueta became Chairman in 1981. He replaced Austin. Goizueta was born in Cuba and "embodied the American dream: immigrant, tireless and loyal employee, friend of the boss, the boss himself, paragon of capitalism"6 . When he began as Chairman, Coca-Cola was very conservative. The company did not want to produce new beverages. It did not invest and tried to avoid risks as far as possible. Then, the new chairman made two important decisions: The first one was the purchase of Columbia Pictures in 1982. In Goizueta's opinion, the entertainment sector had a very good future and it could benefit from the company's increasing growth. Goizueta's second decision was the introduction of Diet Coke. Until then, the trademark only stood for the original formula. But something had to be changed, because of the decreasing sales of Coca-Cola and the competitor Pepsi, which shared 22.8% of the market in 1984, while Coke only had a 21.6% share. These decisions of Goizueta were good, because Diet Coke is still American's number one soft drink and Columbia Pictures has done well. In 1985 Goizueta decided another very important thing: Because of blind taste tests, where people preferred a more sweeter Coca-Cola, he changed the formula of the drink to fight the competitor's growing popularity. The American public was not very happy about this. Goizueta did not think of the emotions, the name "Coca-Cola" evoked in people. "It stood for stability, memories, and the idea of a golden America." 7 Less than a year later, the company brought back the "old" Coke with the name "Coca-Cola Classic" and continued to produce both mixtures, whereby Classic Coke sold better than "new" Coke. The company became more successful again and in September 1987 "Tri-Star Pictures" bought Coca-Cola's entertainment business and then changed its name to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment". This sale was done to increase the effectivity of the company's entertainment sector, for it could itself concentrate on other investments.

On October 18th 1997 Goizueta died of lung cancer at the age of 65. During the sixteen years he was CEO, he has shown that he was an excellent manager, making money just with a simple mixture of sugar, water and caramel colour. One dollar invested in Coca-Cola in Roberto's early days was worth $65, when he died. The company's market value has increased from $4 billion to $150 billion. His successor is M. Douglas Ivester, who has been working for the company for 18 years. In December 1997 he decided to take over the lemonade-producer Orangino from the Pernod Ricard group, its French producer. This was a reaction to Pepsi's great expansion. He also wanted to increase sales with his decision. Ivester aims at expanding Coca-Cola's turnover in the whole world: In USA he wants to increase its market share from 43.1% to 50% and in France, where Coca-Cola's market share is 49.6%, Orangina should add 10%.

With the union of the Minute Maid Corporation and Coca-Cola in 1960, the company's enormous growth began. The Duncan Foods Corporation joined the company in 1964. In 1969 they bought the Belmont Springs Water Company Inc., which produces natural spring water. Then they got Aqua-Chem, Inc., manufacturers of desalting machines. In 1977, they acquired the Taylor Wines Company and also other wineries, which were sold again under Goizueta's leadership. The Coca-Cola Company began to make more and other products and grew in this domain, too. Since 1960 you can get Fanta in the USA. Sprite as well as Diet Sprite were introduced in 1961 and Tab in 1963. Today the Company's products are sold in nearly 200 countries in the whole world. It is the world's most famous manufacturer as well as distributor of soft drinks. The company has two different business sectors: the North American and the International Business Sector. The North American Business Sector consists of Coca-Cola USA manufacturing in the United States, of Coca-Cola Ltd. selling the drinks in Canada and of Coca-Cola Foods, which produces juice drinks. The International Business Sector is made up of four operating groups, where each one has the responsibility for one part of the world: The Greater Europe Group operates in the European Union, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Soviet Union, while the Latin America Group is responsible for Mexico and Central as well as South America. The Middle and Far East Group oversees the countries of the Pacific and the Middle East and the Africa Group manages sub-Saharan Africa.

In 1892 the Coca-Cola Company used materials like free-sample tickets or clocks and lampshades with the word "Coca-Cola" upon them. These advertising strategies were the largest promotional campaign for one product until then and for selling the syrup, salesmen traveled through the entire country. Coca-Cola was sold in every American state in 1895. You could get it also in some Canadian cities and in Honululu. Plans were made to introduce it in Mexico. When Asa Candler left the company, Coke was sold in Cuba, Jamaica, Germany, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, France and England, too. In 1906 the D'Arcy Advertising Agency was hired for advertising Coca-Cola. Woodruff and Archie Lee of the D'Arcy Advertising Agency wanted the people to combine Coca-Cola with the American way of life. While Candler advertised just for the wealthier people, Woodruff wanted to reach all Americans, the rich as well as the poor, with Coca-Cola's advertisements. William D'Arcy had the opinion that the advertising should create scenes that integrated people in the happy moments of everyday life. He showed beautiful and smiling persons drinking Coca-Cola while playing games or going shopping.

In the 1910's Coca-Cola ran an ad of a good-looking woman drinking a Coke. The text for the picture was: "Nothing is so suggestive of Coca-Cola's own pure deliciousness as the picture of a beautiful, sweet, wholesome, womanly woman." 11 Coca-Cola asssociated itself with the ideal American girl. D'Arcy was very successful. He also used a topic, which attached all Americans in the same way and this was baseball. By reading D'Arcy's descriptions of Ty Cobb playing baseball, people got thirsty for a Coca-Cola. In the 1920's the middle class could be found in the drinks' advertisements, creating images that the people of America wanted to reach. In 1929 the stock market crash made all people suffer. Before it, the famous slogan "The pause that refreshes" was printed for the first time in the Saturday Evening Post. During that year the consumption of Coca-Cola doubled. The depression decreased sales, but Coca-Cola advertisements were not touched. In 1931 artist Haddon Sundblom invented the famous Santa Claus images. By associating itself with Santa Claus, Coca-Cola got a positive image everywhere around the world and the advertisements with Santa Claus continued in the 1950's and 60's. They are still in use today. During the 1930's Coca-Cola became one of radio's commercial sponsors and in 1950 the Company's first television advertising appeared.

Wallace Mack, the leader of the Pepsi-Cola company, began advertising in the radio, which, at that time, was a new medium. This was a huge success for him. The Coca -Cola company had nothing to compete with Pepsi's radio song. It was looking for methods to become number one again. At that time World War II helped Coca-Cola to overhaul the Pepsi company in sales. In December 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Woodruff announced Coca-Cola's wartime policy: "We will see that every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for five cents wherever he is and whatever it costs." 12 This was a very successful marketing method.

In 1943 General Eisenhower asked for Coca-Cola plants being set up near the fronts in North Africa and at some places in Europe. So, Coca-Cola entered the world market. The company tried to create the same American images for advertising, but using pictures from the war. In February 1942 you could see two smiling soldiers instead of the young couple sitting at the soda fountain in the Saturday Evening Post. In 1943 the Coca-Cola company wanted people to buy U.S. War Bonds and War Stamps in their advertisements. Coca-Cola was known as the "Global High Sign" in 1944, an ad campaign, where men in uniform were shown together while they were drinking Coca-Colas. These advertisements appealed to friendship and community. Coca-Cola became a symbol of America at home as well as abroad. The advertising methods before, as well as during the war, helped a lot to the drinks' huge success. Beginning in the 1950's you could find black people in Coca-Cola advertisements. More and more ads were made for minority groups. The company also advertised with American icons drinking Coca-Cola, like the Beatles or the American presidents. Advertisements never showed the problems of the world, but only the good and happy life. After 50 years with the D'Arcy Agency, the Coca-Cola company began working with Mc. Kann-Ericson. He made large promotional campaigns with the advertising slogan "Things go better with Coke". In 1969 there where advertisements showing Napoleon, Henry VIII or Caesar with the context: "Things would have gone better with Coke." In 1982 the famous advertising slogan "Coke is it" came up, and in 1993, "Always Coca-Cola", which is still in use today. The advertising has always been going with the time and always reflected the mood of the time.

There are a lot of exhibits, where you can find soda fountains from the past and the future, follow the development of the Coca-Cola bottle and taste exotic company products from different places around the world. Even J. Pemberton's original handwritten formula book and the patent document for Coca-Cola are shown and you can watch TV commercials from the past. Since 1990, when the museum opened for the first time, more than six million people have visited it. Its success mirrors the special way, in which a lot of people feel attached to the drink. When I visited the museum, I was very fascinated by the "Every Day of Your Life-Theater" and "the Spectacular Soda Fountain". At the "Everyday of Your Life- Theater", a short video is shown, where it is illustrated that Coca-Cola is consumed in the whole world. At the "Spectacular Soda Fountain", your glass gets filled with the soft drink you have chosen and this happens in a very spectacular way: While you enter the fountain, there are a lot of lights around you, then your glass begins to vibrate and liquid falls into it. Finally, it changes to the colour of your chosen drink. This was really funny and impressive.