The history of the company, the manufacturer of Coca-Cola drink, is a chain of competent management decisions in the field of production technology, marketing, advertising for over 100 years.

The Coca-Cola Company product is officially sold in more than 200 countries. He is known today for 94% of the world's population. Every day, customers in the world purchase a little less than a billion units of the company's products.

We offer you a brief history of the creation of the legendary drink and the success story of the world-famous company.

Making a drink

The history of the drink began with the pharmacist Pemberton. In search of a good tonic recipe, he decided to combine two powerful stimulants: he added cola nuts extract to the coca drink. The resulting mixture has a really strong tonic property. Refining the technology for preparing the drug, he demonstrated it in May 1886 to local investors. The money received went to the organization of production.

Frank Robinson

The syrup has been patented as a medicine to restore the nervous system. They began to sell them in the city’s pharmacies. In the summer, one of them, the seller Willie Venable decided to dilute the drug concentrate not with water, but with soda, at the request of the visitor. The guest liked the effervescent mixture, since then the drink was consumed in a carbonated form.

However, Pemberton Coca Cola drink did not bring a decent income. He was forced to sell part of his stake to pharmacist Venable, the first seller of carbonated cola. The author of the recipe for the legendary sweet water in poverty in August 1888 died.

Company birth

A few months later, a patented prescription was bought from the widow of a pharmacist by a native of Ireland, Kendler. The deal amounted to $ 2300. For comparison: the average annual salary of an American worker at that time was $ 570.

Aza Kendler - Founder of The Coca-Cola Company

The Irishman Kendler immediately believed in Coca Cola. He saw in it a drink that could cure many diseases and bring profit to its creators. With the help of Robinson, he develops a more perfect composition, using the original, improves its taste.

Together with three partners, Kendler in January 1893 registers an enterprise for the production of this product. Thus began the history of TheCoca-ColaCompany. If Pemberton is considered to be the author of the drink, then Aza Kendler is the founder of the company.

Kendler's Contribution

Under Kendler, the company for 9 years has turned into a successful corporation with a turnover of $ 120 thousand, and Coca-Cola has become a national soft drink.

First of all, the 42-year-old Kendler took up the organization of advertising. A simple, well-remembered and catchy logo began to accompany Americans, and then residents of other countries, everywhere. He could be found in fashion titles, seen on large billboards. Visual propaganda was accompanied by well-chosen appeals, slogans, laconic formulations. Vivid and conspicuous images featured in Coca Cola's advertising plots, with famous actors and athletes participating in them. All this was positively and enthusiastically perceived by the public.

The company creates a sales department, where smart and energetic people are recruited. New and unknown forms of product promotion are used.

So, in pharmacies, by agreement, they supplied a certain amount of syrup free of charge, and in return received the addresses of regular customers. Coupons were sent to each of them by mail, by which it was possible to purchase a free portion of Coke. People came to the institution, drank a glass, then, as a rule, ordered a second portion, but also bought home.

The drink was sold at bottling

The popularity of tonic grew every day. Since 1895, it has already been sold in all states of the country, and since March 1894, not only in bottling, but also in bottles.

The affairs of the company and its shareholders were increasing. Annually, the board paid decent dividends. In Tennessee, a plant built by franchise partners has come into operation. Activities began to unfold outside the United States. The first countries of foreign expansion were Cuba, and then Panama.

A popular drink began to fake competitors. The company had to make a lot of efforts in the war with manufacturers of counterfeit products: a total of 153 lawsuits were brought against them.

An important event in strengthening and developing the image of the company and its product was the appearance in 1916 of a branded bottle. It contributed to a further increase in Cola sales.

The evolution of the Cola brand bottle

The Age of Woodrof

The public of Atlanta insisted on the election of Kendler as the mayor of the city. He gradually retires, and in 1919 his brainchild was bought by Ernest Woodrof, a banker from Atlanta, for $ 25 million. He employs his son, and four years later Robert Woodrof is elected president of the corporation. Under him, the corporation has reached its present heights in its development.

Robert Woodrof

The new manager immediately introduced standards in all work processes, up to the sale of the drink. Six-packs, special packaging boxes of 6 bottles, which later became popular for several decades, began to be offered to customers. The company was the first to use Coca-Cola bottled vending machines, remote refrigeration units, which were installed in various stores.

Standard pack of six bottles

We do not sell a drink, but a lifestyle

Woodrow radically revised the strategy for the large-scale sale of finished products. Since Coca-Cola was not superior to its analogues in consumer qualities, he proposed to sell not so much a product as a lifestyle. The drink acquired a special image, it became not so much a means of quenching thirst, but as if involving its owner in a circle of prosperous lucky people, or in a circle of strong and courageous heroes.

As a true psychologist and marketer, Woodrof persistently pursued the line that you should definitely follow the client with your product. A bottle of cola should accompany an American everywhere: at work, on vacation, during hours of difficult trials. The drink is distributed at gas stations that are multiplying throughout the country. He comes to the cinema, appears on the screens of movie theaters and becomes inseparable from the American way of life.

During the American participation in the World War, Woodrof took billions of dollars in loans to build a network of factories for the production and bottling of Coke in bottles for American soldiers in Europe, North Africa, China, and the Pacific. The first of 64 plants was opened in Algeria.

After the war, Cola's popularity grew even more. Constructed foreign enterprises have become a springboard for the conquest of foreign sales markets. In 1968, the company received half of the profits from foreign transactions.

Woodrof resigned as head of the company in 1954, but remained on the board until 1984.

Where did the name come from

The history of Coca-Cola brand is very simple and ordinary. When in 1886 Pemberton began to prepare for a patent for the invention, the question arose of the name of the liquid. His partner Frank Robinson suggested composing it from the names of the two components of the syrup: a coca drink and cola nuts. It turned out Coca-Cola. The name was rooted and it was to everyone's taste: both sellers and buyers.

Today, the phrase Coca-Cola according to the results of marketing research is considered the second most famous after the word "okay".

Logo options

The Coca-Cola logo, like the name, was invented by the same Frank Robinson.

The history of the logo has more than 130 years, but despite such a long period, the overall style of the emblem-inscription has remained unchanged. Over time, the style of the letters has slightly changed, it has become more vivid.

Logo evolution

For the first time they tried to portray the logo in a different way already in 1890. The attempt was found to be unsuccessful, the bizarre style did not attract the attention of visitors. Three years later, Kendler returned the old image.

During World War II, the style of the inscription approached the modern one. In 1958, a red background appeared on the emblem. After 11 years, a white wave was attached to the inscription. In 1980, the wave began to slightly intersect with the inscription. The word CLASSIC appeared on the image. After 23 years, three waves of white and yellow appeared. All of them are placed to the bottom of the inscription.

The modern image was made in 2007. Instead of three waves, one again appeared, it is located under the text of the name. There are also specially prepared versions of the logo, made for the 125th anniversary of the drink and the 100th anniversary of the first glass bottle.

The company officially classified the Coca-Cola formula. Upon Kendler’s order, the original copy of the recipe was deposited with Trust Company Bank. Since 1925, it was kept in another bank in Atlanta. In 2011, classified material was transported to a special storage facility of the corporation, built near the main office.

In 1980, Cola was the official drink of the Moscow Olympics.

1982 Diet Diet Coke was developed and launched.

1988. For the first time in the USSR, Coca-Cola production began at the Moskvoretsky brewery.

Hong Kong residents drink hot Coke to treat colds.

Famous ad campaigns

Since 1928, when Coca-Cola provided 1000 boxes of its water at the Olympics in Amsterdam, the company is constantly sponsoring the Olympic movement. Coca-Cola sponsors all major sporting events, including soccer and hockey world championships, top-level tennis tournaments.

Coca-Cola was the first Western company to place its ad in 1989 in Moscow on Pushkinskaya Square.

In 1931, Coca-Cola came up with its own image of Santa Claus for the Americans. The image of an elf was replaced by a good-natured cheerful old man with a thick white beard. It was painted in a red coat, emphasizing the colors of the brand, and in his hands held a bottle of incendiary drink. Everyone liked the image and became a symbol of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

How the company’s work is built

Currently, Coca-Cola has secret recipes for three thousand types of drinks, and has rights to hundreds of brands.

The strategy of the corporation is based on the promotion of the product in all countries of the world in order to take a dominant position in the global industry. In this, the company has achieved outstanding results, and its history is a classic example for the study of marketing.

The giant’s activity is based on the organization of a system of work with partners-botlers.

Bottlers are regional firms that produce and sell products directly to consumers.

The company supplies them with concentrates, provides support in setting up production, training personnel, acquiring commercial equipment, provides advertising materials and carries out quality control.

Now the company employs about 300 bootlers around the world, among which there are both large international companies and small enterprises.

Coca-Cola has been operating in Russia for 36 years. There are 12 factories in the Kola system, which employs 11 thousand people. More than 65 thousand work in related fields, supplying companies with sugar and other components of production.

Coca-Cola Plant in Moscow

In general, the position of the corporation can be called stable. However, in the past 2017, sales of the beverage decreased by 4.3%. In the United States, there is a drop in demand for carbonated sweet drinks, some experts suggest a decrease in the value of the company's shares in 2018.

The story of the creation of the drink, called Coca-Cola, began in the largest city in the United States - Atlanta (in the state of Georgia) in 1886. It was invented by John Stiet Pemberton, who was once an officer in the American Confederate Army, who later became a pharmacist.

His accountant, Frank Robinson, is the same person who coined the name Coca-Cola. The inscription "Coca-Cola" was displayed in curly letters very beautifully (Frank had a good calligraphy), and still it is the logo of the drink.

Coca leaves (3 parts) and tropical cola tree nuts (1 part) are the main ingredients of Coca-Cola. It is worth noting that once coca leaves were used to get a drug - cocaine. John Stee has patented his drink as a cure for any nervous breakdown. Jacob's City Pharmacy, the largest in Atlanta, first began selling Coca-Cola through a vending machine.

According to Pemberton, his Coca-Cola can help in healing impotence, and anyone who is addicted to morphine can go on with this drink (it is worth noting that Pemberton himself was not indifferent to morphine). At that time, cocaine was not considered a prohibited substance, and it was not known about its negative effects on health.

The story behind Coca-Cola started with some problems. At the beginning, the sale of the drink was not very good, on average there were 9 buyers per day. $ 50 - this is the revenue in the first year of work, while $ 70 was spent on the manufacture of the product (the drink was initially unprofitable). However, gradually, over time, Coca-Cola became more and more famous, and profit from its sales also increased.

In 1888, Pemberton sold the rights to make a drink and sell it. Asa Griggs Candler - businessman and founder of The Sosa-Cola Company (1892), now had all rights to Coca-Cola. His company is engaged in the production of this drink today. Since 1902, Coca-Cola has become the most famous drink in the United States, with a turnover of $ 120,000!

Later, in connection with the ban on cocaine, “squeezed” coca leaves were used in the manufacture of the drink (there was no cocaine in them) instead of fresh ones. The popularity of Coca-Cola has since grown significantly. Fifty years after the invention of the drink, it has become for many Americans a kind of national symbol.

If since 1894 Coca-Cola was sold only in bottles, then, starting in 1955, it began to be sold in banks. A designer from Terry Ot (Indiana) in 1915 invented a six and a half ounce bottle. If you believe the existing legend, then in its outlines it resembles the stylized silhouette of actress Greta Garbo, the sex symbol of the time. The volume of bottles in which Coca-Cola began to be produced in 1955 was 26, 12 and 10 ounces.

Dietary "Diet Coke" appeared on the shelves since 1982. Coca-Cola entered the USSR market in 1988.

The new glass bottle that the company introduced in December 2007 has a capacity of 330 ml. 13 mm shorter and 0.1 mm wider than the previous one. The weight of the new bottle of 210 grams decreased by 20% compared with its predecessor.

The phrase Coca-Cola is heard by every inhabitant of the planet. Even if the soda that bears this name is not included in the daily diet, almost everyone has heard about it, at least once in my life I tried it. For more than 100 years of the Coca-Cola brand, the popularity of the soft drink has been growing every year. Even the tales and speculations that Cola “eats us from the inside out” contain a narcotic substance - cocaine does not stop citizens from consuming invigorating liquids, but the company from systematic forward movement. But at the very beginning of development, the manufacturer suffered losses, far-sighted businessmen did not stop this circumstance. Now Coca-Cola Corporation has a truly expensive global brand, and the company's value exceeds $ 75 billion. What is the secret of the brand's stunning success? To understand, you need to plunge into the history of business.

How it all started

A drink arose in 1886 with the filing of chemist-pharmacist John Stith Pemberton, who brewed it in the form of syrup "from the nerves." The first taster was an accountant, concurrently a friend of the inventor, Frank Robinson. The drink greatly impressed him, which prompted John to patent the prescription and conclude a contract for the sale with Jacobs ’Pharmacy, the largest pharmacy of the time. The composition was rated only 5 cents per standard bottle of 200 g. Customers were asked to purchase a "panacea for all nervous disorders", the inventor claimed that the syrup with the inscription Coca-Cola is able to get rid of morphine drug dependence, and also helps to cope with impotence.

The name, and later the logo, is due to the same accountant Frank Robinson. It was he who recommended dubbing the syrup by the name of its ingredients (the composition included coca leaves, nuts of the cola tree). He, being the owner of a calligraphic handwriting, made a Coca-Cola note with curls. It all started with that. The beverage recipe has undergone significant changes over the course of a century, its name and logo have remained the same for many years. The company has kept the exact composition, the method of preparation of the drink in strictest confidence for many years, and also in every possible way protects the logo and corporate identity of the Coca-Cola brand from “attempts”.

Coca-Cola logo story

Founding of Coca-Cola

Some time after its creation, Coca-Cola was sold exclusively in pharmacies as a medicine, and did not attract much attention. This happened until laziness prompted pharmacist Willie Venable to mix syrup with soda and get a truly magical "pop." The discovery prompted the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating an enterprise for the production of soda. The introduction of the Prohibition at the same time has become an undoubted advantage for the development of the soft drinks business.

John Pemberton found it difficult to organize his own business. The result was shaky health, the financial situation left much to be desired. The decision to sell most of the business was the only right one. John won 2 thousand dollars, but this did not work out to correct his situation. The partner, owner of 2/3 of the beverage company, was Willie Venable, who made a wonderful discovery of "pop." Things were going poorly at the initial stage, business development was difficult, activity brought only losses.

2 years after the founding of an invigorating Cola company, John Pemberton died without succeeding in his business. The recipe for a drink from a widowed wife was bought by an enterprising Irish immigrant Asa Kendler. A few years later, he registered the company The Coca-Cola Company, a brand familiar to many. The authorized capital of the newly created company amounted to 100 thousand dollars, the development went rapidly. At the end of the year, the shareholders of the company already had small dividends. From this moment begins the gradual ascent of the brand to the heights of Olympus.

Steps to success

The new owner turned out to be an excellent leader. Together with Frank Robinson, who was at the forefront, Asa Kendler improves the formulation of the drink, takes the first steps in advertising, promotion of goods. Many marketing moves (tasting, distribution of souvenirs) turned out to be crucial in doing business. The innovations used in the promotion of goods gave impetus to the development of the brand, and also formed the basis of the art of sales, which is used in modern times.

Important!   By the beginning of the 20th century, Coca-Cola brand is recognized as the most famous brand producing soft drinks, and the cash turnover exceeds 120 thousand dollars. In 1906, the company’s position was so strong that a decision was made to open production facilities in Cuba and Panama. This event served as the basis for the emergence of global promotion of the drink.

In 1915, the introduction of a unique “waist” bottle brought Cola to a new level of development. The original capacity attracted much more attention, allowed the brand to gain massive interest. Now Coca-Cola brand is recognized against the background of similar products not only by its original logo, but also by its special packaging.

A new round in development

In 1919, Asa Kendler decided to sell the already successful company at that time for $ 25 million.   The main owner is banker Ernest Woodruff, with the advent of which the Coca-Cola brand begins its promotion on the world market. After 4 years, Robert Woodruff is already at the head, whose name is associated with a 60-year improvement in the drink, brand, and level of production.

A young, energetic manager is happy to innovate. Packaging is being improved - a cardboard box of 6 cells appears, a can, a plastic bottle. Active promotion continues, strengthening the status of the brand. Since 1928, Coca-Cola has always been present at all Olympic Games and other large-scale sporting events as a sponsor. New brand products are being developed - Fanta, Sprite. These circumstances allow the brand to reliably gain a foothold among the masses, and a large number of citizens, including foreign ones, can try the drinks.

Since 1979, Roberto Gisueta took over as the head of the corporation for 16 years. The manager is rightfully recognized as the most successful global leader. During his leadership, the value of Coca-Cola increased by $ 15 billion. The legendary manager was a master at creating formulas for success, rather than achieving the desired results in the shortest possible time with ease to change course. That is why the history of his leadership was marked by the development of the product line. The brightest example is Diet Coke, which crashed consumer demand. Roberto Gisuet’s special merit is recognized that brand drinks began to be sold in almost every country in the world.

Competitive fight

Coca-Cola paid special attention to the brand struggle throughout the development path. The individual right to bear a sonorous name and use a recognizable logo was carefully defended. Numerous lawsuits sometimes reached the point of absurdity - the company demanded to ban competitors from using curls in the spelling of a name or a color scheme that repeats the style of the famous brand.

A particularly tense situation developed on the battlefields with the main enemy - the Pepsi-Cola brand. From the moment a competitor emerges to this day, battles do not stop.

Another clash with PepsiCo in 1939 becomes the largest-ever litigation in the history of Coca-Cola's fierce fighting for the brand. The event marked the beginning of the Cold War between the giants. Even with documented reconciliation, companies continue to support the struggle for leadership.

Despite competitive battles throughout history, Coca-Cola invariably holds the palm. Definitely say what the secret of success is not even taken by experts. Perhaps this is a well-chosen niche. The Coca-Cola brand has always maintained traditions, family values, which bribed the vast majority of consumers. Farsighted managers and a clearly planned marketing policy of the company helped to go to the heights of the championship, to develop confidently.

Coca-Cola in Russia

1979 was marked by the appearance of an invigorating drink in the vastness of the USSR. This is due to the conclusion of a contract on the eve of the Olympic Games. According to the agreement, the production of Coke was established at Soviet factories, vending machines were brought from Germany, but the famous figured bottle did not reach Russian consumers at that time.

The next stage in the implementation of Cola in the Russian masses is associated with the general democratization of the perestroika period. 1989 was marked not only by the appearance of the drink on sale, but also by the placement of foreign advertising on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. A luminous brand name plate proudly towered in the very center of the capital.

Since 1991, a representative office of the corporation has appeared in Russia. Gradually, the development of a new territory, the construction of factories, the introduction of the usual schemes of work. Since 2001, Coca-Cola has completely switched to a well-established system of activities.

Since 2005, the company begins active work to “capture” the territory. The largest manufacturers of juices, water, kvass are purchased. Investments in the Russian economy amount to $ 4 billion. In the near future it is planned to increase this figure by $ 1.4 billion.

Company development today

The company grows and develops annually. The arsenal of the manufacturer has more than 200 items: carbonated drinks, juices, cold teas, energy mixes. Brand products are sold in more than 200 countries around the world, and are the most demanded. Daily sales exceed 1 billion units. The Coca-Cola brand is recognized as one of the most expensive in the world, the net profit of the corporation exceeds $ 8 billion. The giant has wide prospects for further development on which he does not think to stop.

The enterprise grows, develops, and never ceases to amaze with its uniqueness, social orientation, and scale of activity. Drinks under the Coca-Cola brand are familiar to 95% of the world's population and this is far from the limit.

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Unwritten corporate history.

Coca-Cola mega-factories.

Coca-Cola (" Coca Cola") - non-alcoholic carbonated drink. Drink" Coca Cola"Was invented in Atlanta (Georgia, USA) on May 8, 1886 by a pharmacist John Stith Pemberton, a former officer

The main ingredients " Coca-Cola”Were as follows: three parts of coca leaves (from these leaves in 1859, Albert Niman isolated a special component (drug) and called it cocaine) on one part of nuts of a tropical cola tree. The resulting drink was patented as a medicine " from any nervous disorders”And began selling through a vending machine at Jacob’s largest city pharmacy in Atlanta.

It should be noted here that cocaine was not a prohibited substance at that time, and nothing was known about its health hazards. Therefore, cocaine was sold freely, and it was often added for pleasure and tone in drinks instead of alcohol - Coca-Cola was not a novelty in this. At first, only 9 people bought the drink on average daily.

Sales revenue for the first year was only $ 50. It is interesting that $ 70 was spent on Coca-Cola production, that is, in the first year the drink was unprofitable. But gradually the popularity of Coca-Cola increased, and profits from its sale, too. In 1888, Pemberton sold the rights to produce a drink. And in 1892, businessman Asa Griggs Candler, who had the rights to " Coca Cola»,

founded the company The coca-cola company", Which is engaged in the production of Coca-Cola to this day. Since 1894. " Coca Cola"Began to be sold in bottles. In 1902, with a turnover of $ 120 thousand, Coca-Cola became the most famous drink in the United States. But in the late 1890s, public opinion turned against cocaine, and in 1903 in the newspaper “ New york tribune"A devastating article appeared stating that Coca-Cola was to blame for the fact that the negroes who had drunk on it from urban slums began to attack white people.

After that, not fresh coca leaves were added to Coca-Cola, but already “ squeezed"From which all cocaine was removed. Since then, the popularity of the drink has grown and already 50 years after the invention of Coca-Cola has become for Americans something of a national symbol. Since 1894, Coca-Cola was sold in bottles, and since 1955 - in banks.

In 1915, designer Earl R. Dean from Terre Hot, Indiana, invented a new 6.5-ounce bottle. The shape of the bottle was inspired by the cocoa fruit (according to one version, Dean confused the words coca and cocoa, according to another, he could not find anything about coca or cola in the library). To make the bottle stand better on the conveyor, an extension is made below. Over the following years, more than 6 billion of these bottles were produced.

In 1955, Coca-Cola began to be sold in bottles of 10, 12 and 26 ounces. In 1980 " Coca Cola»Became the official drink of the Olympic Games in Moscow. In 1982, the release of dietary Diet coke". In 1988, " Coca Cola»Entered the USSR market, production was established at the Moskvoretsky brewery. Later, under the pressure of competitors producing coffee-free and sugar-free drinks, The Coca-Cola Company began to produce Classic Coke, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, and Caffeine-Free Tab.

Pharmacist John Stiet Pemberton, who made caramel-colored syrup in May 1886, was busy looking for a cure for headaches and indigestion. The new product, which soon appeared at Jacob’s Atlanta pharmacy under the name Coca-Cola, instantly gained popularity - not as a medicine, but as a refreshing drink.

The beginning of great success

Pemberton made up a viscous syrup from medicinal plants, phosphoric acid, tropical cola nuts, coca leaves and sugar, which was diluted with water before use. Beautiful curly letters on the label, still serving as the company logo, were written by Pemburton's accountant Frank Robinson, who owned the calligraphy. But the real success came to Coca-Cola only after Asa Candler purchased for $ 2,300 a syrup recipe, and now the remaining secret company, along with a calligraphically written name. In 1893, he patented a new drink and began to sell it throughout the country. In 1906, the recipe had to be changed, since the use of cocaine in America was banned. From now on, the invigorating effect of Coca-Cola provided caffeine. In 1915, the shape of the branded bottle was developed, which remains almost unchanged to this day.

American lifestyle symbol

The standardized appearance of the products - uniform bottles, glasses and labels, lucid advertising campaigns, including a chubby Santa Claus in a suit of corporate colors - red and white, which became the prototype of Santa Claus, as well as the franchise system - ensured Coca-Cola world triumph. In the 1980s before it fell even the bastions of communism - the USSR and China.