Coca Cola...

Household Names and the People Behind Them​
Check out our next series via Curricula & Co blog page, Household Names and the People Behind Them. We have some extraordinary entrepreneurs who have founded some of the  world best household products…… Over the next few weeks we will be going behind the scenes to discover more about these visionaries  Read More Stories

Travel wherever you will, anywhere in the world, and you will encounter Coca Cola in clothes, signs, packaging, art - everywhere.
-Judith Evans

In New York harbour in 1886, at the time the iconic Statue of Liberty was being built, a pharmacist named John Pemberton got curious. He was playing around in his lab one afternoon, when he concocted an unusual caramel-like syrupy liquid. He combined it with fizzy water and took it to Jacobs’ pharmacy, near where he lived.

Coca Cola - always the real thing -1990 slogan

Here, he allowed people to sample it for 5 cents a glass. Frank Robinson, his accountant, named it Coca Cola. He wrote it out in his own handwriting, which remains the timeless  slogan we all know today.

In Coca Cola’s first year in business, only nine glasses a day were sold at the very most. Three years later, ASA Candler had gained rights to the business for around $2,300. His influence would shape the future of the brand.

As the drink grew in popularity, it was imitated by other businesses. This prompted Coca Cola’s advertisers to focus their campaigns on the originality and authenticity of the brand, persuading customers with slogans such as “demand the genuine” and “accept no substitute”. This push for authenticity was cemented by the arrival of the iconic Cola bottle, which was introduced by Joseph Biedenharn. Candler was opposed to this new development, and despite his business expertise, did not count on the future possibility of demand for portable beverages.

To Candler’s surprise, the bottle took off! It embodied the brand’s authenticity that people grew to love. By 1920, after much rapid success and growth, the company had 1000 bottling plants.

Robert Woodruff purchased the company from Candler in 1923. He was later to introduce Coca Cola to the world. Woodruff was a marketing expert. He used the 1928 Amsterdam as a vehicle for promotion. This was the first of Coca Cola’s associations with global sporting events. This was a great springboard for the growing focus on the drink being something that people can enjoy while on the go.

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As the USA became embroiled in WWII, in 1941, Woodruff exiled thtat every soldier, no matter where he was, would get a bottle of Coca Cola for 5 cents, whatever it cost the company.

After the war, America was optimistic and prosperous. Coca Cola soon came to be associated with he fun, happy, enthusiastic American culture. Advertising really took off in the 1970s. It's growing international presence was characterised by a TV commercial featuring a group of people from across the globe gathering on a hill and singing “I'd like to buy the world a Coke”.

In the 1980s, as fitness crazes were taking control, the company introduced Diet Coke which, in two years, wa the top low calorie drink in the world. In the next 30 years, Coca Cola bought up many other drink brands including Limca, Maaza and Thums Up.

To this day, the brand continues to build strong relationships with global sports. In the 21st century, it has taken on a new emphasis towards sustainability and healthy community life.

Click on this link to discover more cool stuff about Coca Cola on their official website:http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/homepage

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