THE COCA COLA COMPANY
By:
Rachelle L Goude
May 27, 2006
Summary of the History of Coca Cola
On May 8, 1886, Dr. John S Pemberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia, USA mixed the syrup that became ?Coca-Cola'. His friend and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, thinking that the two C's would ?look well in advertising', suggested the name ?Coca-Cola'. He wrote the words in his now familiar Spenserian script, and the world's most recognized trademark was born.
Selling his creation from Jacob's pharmacy for five cents a glass, Dr. Pemberton promoted his new product by distributing thousands of coupons that could be exchanged for a complimentary sample. In the first year, he spent $46 on advertising. Pemberton sold the rights for ?Coca-Cola' to Asa G. Candler who founded The Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Candler was a confirmed believer in the power of advertising. He fervently plunged into the world of mass-merchandising, ensuring the ?Coca-Cola' trademark was depicted on countless novelty products such as fans, calendars, clocks, ornate led
glass chandeliers and urns.
His efforts were well rewarded. Just three years after the official incorporation of The Coca-Cola Company in 1892, Candler was proud to announce that ?Coca-Cola' was now drunk ?in every state and territory in the United States'. A major leap considering that in its first year on the market, Coca-Cola had sold on average a mere nine drinks per day. Expansion was so impressive that in 1898, a new headquarters was housed in a large building in Atlanta. Candler naively described the three-storey building as ?sufficient for all our needs for all time to come'. Needless to say, the building was too small after just a decade.
In 1923, Robert Winship Woodruff was elected president of ...