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The Creation of the Syrup
John S. Pemberton had created a syrup with coca leaves and wine. After tasting the tonic, he ran to the nearest pharmacy for others to give it a try. -
The Deal
Asa Candler, a well-renowned businessman, had tried the drink. Right there at that pharmacy, he asked to buy the rights for the drink for $2,300. -
Moved to the Fountains
With it being so popular, the drink was first put into soda fountains all across the US. -
New Rights, New Packaging
Joseph Whitehead and Benjamin Thomas, two lawyers from Chattanooga, decided to buy the rights to the drink. They wanted to expand its horizons from just being a fountain drink, to something you can hold in the palms of your hands—cold glass bottles with an engraving of the Coca-Cola logo. -
Copy Cats
To their booming popularity came some companies with less-than-original ideas. They tried to copy the style of the logo on the bottle, yet still dodged copyright claims because their design was just a tad bit different. This confused consumers about what to buy, as they didn't know which bottle was an actual Coca-Cola bottle. -
A Race for a New Design
The company decided to create a bottle, not a label, so distinctive you can recognize it anywhere. They hired ten glass companies to design the new bottle, so copycats could not copy their drink. -
Striking Green
The Root Glass Company was one of their designers, and they went to work on this new glass bottle. It was then that they were inspired by the coca bean itself- one of the main ingredients of the original Coca-Cola. They incorporated ridges giving the bottle an oblong shape, but the font on the label wasn't like the kind we all know and love today. They had to keep that part a secret. To add more originality, they even made the bottle green! -
Santa's Comin' to Town
Coca-Cola wanted to expand its advertising horizons by buying an ad in a magazine. It wasn't just any ad, as this was the first iconic Coca-Cola ad with Santa Claus drinking the soda! -
New Faces
Coca-Cola wanted to continue expanding its beverage horizons. They bought the Minute Maid Corporation and created a new drink we're all familiar with today: Sprite. -
Plastic is the New It!
Coca-Cola saw how much of an environmental impact their glass bottles had, and wanted to make a change. There, they switched to plastic bottles instead of glass. -
A Grave Mistake
Coca-Cola wanted to change the recipe for its core soft drink. Marketing it as "New Coke," people had given the change to their favorite beverage a taste. The negative responses were overwhelming, and in just seventy-nine days, Coca-Cola reverted to its original recipe for its drink. -
Reducing Waste
Coca-Cola didn't want to continue hurting the environment, so the company created its bottles made of 100% recyclable plastics. This would reduce the impact of the more oil-based plastic by 20% by 2021. -
Christmas Mistake
To diversify its brand, Coca-Cola switched its red aluminum cans to white ones during Christmas. Since the design was so similar to Diet Coke, this confused a lot of consumers. They originally wanted the new white Coke to stay on the shelves until February, but it was discontinued during the peak of Christmas fever. -
Adding Labels
In Australia, a new campaign for Share-a-Coke started. Then, they put 250 of the most popular names on bottles for a more personalized experience. This skyrocketed sales, in just one summer, they sold 250 million bottles! -
Y3000 Coke
To keep up with the times, Coca-Cola has now added a new flavor: Y3000. With the help of AI, Coca-Cola took data to see what kind of colors, flavors, and designs the new generation likes to create this more "futuristic" drink.