Coke-a-Cola: The History
You might know Coca-Cola as a soft drink beverage. The thing I want to talk about in this paper is the history and all the hard work that it took to bring this famous soft drink into what it is now today. Dr.Pemberton All of this started with Dr. John Pemerton in May, 1886.
After being in the Civil War he started looking for commercial success. Usually everything he made failed. So he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and decided to try his hand in the beverage market. He made a beverage in his backyard which consisted of syrup and carbohydrate water. He took it to his local pharmacy and by the people who sampled it was deemed “excellent”. Pemberton’s bookkeeper Frank Robinson came up with the name of this beverage and wrote it in the script that is still used today.
Even though the beverage was being sold for 5 cents at a rate of 9 bottles a day, Adding this all together Pembeton made 50 dollars. Still he was under by 20 dollars. In 1888 Pemerton died and gave portions of his business to various parties. Another Pharmacist Asa Candler bought the formula from the parties for 2,300 dollars. The difference between Pemberton and Candler was that Candler knew how to advertise, he would put the logos in calendars, notebooks, posters etc. Candler at first stated Coca- Cola would help get rid of headaches and fatigue.
In 1898 Congress passed a law which taxed all medicines so Candler just patented it as a beverage. Robert Woodruff In 1923 the Woodruff’s got the Coca-Cola Company for twenty-three million dollars. Though Candler made Coca-Cola a nationwide beverage. Robert Woodruff wanted Coca-Cola to become and international beverage. Like Candler, Woodruff also was good with advertising. He convinced foreign markets and by that time there was Coca-Cola factories in France, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belgium, Italy and South Africa.
In 1928 the U.S. team and Coca-Cola where sent to Amsterdam for the Olympics. There the Coca-Cola team put there logo on various things like, on dog sleds and the walls of Spanish bull fighting arenas. Woodruff succeeded with all of these tactics almost all of the world knew what Coca-Cola was. Coca-Cola and World War II When World War II started lots of troops were sent overseas and Coca-Cola was right behind them.
The company told the vendors that anyone in uniform who wanted a Coca-Cola was to receive a bottle for five cents. In 1943 Dwight D. Eisenhower sent an urgent cablegram to Coca-Cola that they wanted Coca-Cola to build ten bottling plant. During the war a lot of Europeans got their first taste of this beverage. After the war when peace came the Coca-Cola Company started doing a lot of business overseas. From the time span of the 40’s to the 60’s the amount of bottling factories doubled.
By this time Woodruff’s dream or goal of making Coca-Cola an international company was becoming true Coca-Cola and the People After all of these achievements Coca-Cola was just seeking to make people happy. One of these ways was that the Coca-Cola Company tried to come out with new flavors. In 1961 they came out with Sprite, in 1963 they introduced TAB, and in 1966 they came out with Fresca. The Coca-Cola Company was now in Cambodia, Montserrat, Paraguay, Macau, Turkey and many other places worldwide. Advertising which was a very important way that Coca-Cola came to where it was at that time.
Coca-Cola made an advertisement where a group of young people from all over the world gathered in a hilltop in Italy and sang “I’d like to but the world a Coke”. The song was written by Bill Backer. He actually wrote the song because he going to travel to London to do some commercials. While on the plane when they almost arrived in Great Britain a big storm hit so the plane had to land in Ireland. There the people stayed in a hotel, but Backer noticed that people where talking about bottles of coke.
At that moment Backer noticed that Coca-Cola was just not a thirst quencher. People were now using the phrase “Let’s have a coke” meaning let’s just sit down and talk. Backer noticed this and when he finally got to London he talked with Billy Davis and Roger Cook. Together they made a song. On February, 1971 “I’d like to Buy the World a Coke” was shipped throughout radio stations.
At the beginning Coca-Cola bottlers hated the ad and no one wanted to put on the radio stations. Backer’s idea that Coke connected people appeared to be dead. Backer persuaded McCann to convince Coca-Cola that the ad was visible but needed a video. The company wasted 250,000 dollars for the commercial, at that time this was one of the largest budgets devoted to a television commercial. Though the song was a complete failure the commercial was a success.
The ad was first released in Europe where it grabbed people’s attention. It was released in the U.S. in July, 1971, a lot of Coca-Cola bottlers were getting letters of positive feedback. It was so good that people where now asking radio stations to play the commercial. Advertising surveys gathered information that this was one of the best commercials of all time, and the song still keeps getting sold after 30 years of the release.
Diet Coke and the “New” Coke In the 80’s when headbands and fitness was the big thing it was time for change, and it was also time for Coca-Cola to change. Since people wanted healthier things Diet Coke was invented by the Roberto C. Goizueta. Goizueta became the chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company in 1961. He had a strategy called “intelligent risk taking”. The Diet Coke was a huge success and became the top low-Calorie drink in the world, the second best drink in the world.
The original Coca-Cola being the number one drink in the world. Another risk that Goizueta took was he tried to make a new formula. In 1985 the formula was being tested, in the tests people loved the new formula. But in the real world, people had emotions for the original formula and people started pleading for the original formula to come back. Some critics called this move one of the biggest marketing fails ever. After all the begging the original formula was brought back.
Conclusion Dr. Pemberton probably never thought that this fountain drink would become one the bestselling beverages in the world. But we have to thank him for the idea. Coca-Cola is not just a drink to some people. It is a way to enjoy life. After all of the hard work that Pemberton, Candler, Woodruff, Goizueta put into making what the company we have to admire them.
Even though since the beginning it was all for the money it has just become more than that. Now Coca-Cola is a huge success and completed its main goal to become a huge commercial success. Coca-Cola goal is to make and deliver the best beverage in the world. Coca-Cola is consumed about 1.7 billion times a day.
Even though the Coca-Cola Company has made over 3,500 drinks and 500 brands, people will probably love the original Coca-Cola. What amazes me is that Coca-Cola is just a drink put it has not been treated like a beverage but as a sort of icon. Coca-Cola has been all over the world, 94% of the world will recognize the Coca-Cola logo. That just shows how good the advertising for Coca-Cola is. The way they have been all over the world, in every major event. This was really the main thing that made Coca-Cola what it is today of course the recipe helps but when you everywhere this makes the person believe you’re the best.
