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Coca-cola was created in 1884 by pharmacist John Pemberton as a medicinal drink, later popularized by Asa Candler who founded the Coca-cola Company. Robert Woodruff, who took over the company, innovated its branding and marketing, making it a global bestseller, especially during WWII. The company faced challenges in the 1980s with the introduction of New Coke, but ultimately rebounded and expanded internationally after the discovery of the original recipe by Mark Pendergrast.

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CC 1stmg3f 2

Coca-cola was created in 1884 by pharmacist John Pemberton as a medicinal drink, later popularized by Asa Candler who founded the Coca-cola Company. Robert Woodruff, who took over the company, innovated its branding and marketing, making it a global bestseller, especially during WWII. The company faced challenges in the 1980s with the introduction of New Coke, but ultimately rebounded and expanded internationally after the discovery of the original recipe by Mark Pendergrast.

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A short and personal history of Coca-cola

Coca-cola was created by a pharmacist called John Pemberton, as a medicine for stomach ache in
1884. It was called Coca-cola because there were cocaine and kola nuts (cocaine was replaced by
cafeine in 1902). At the time, every pharmacist made their own medicines.

A bar owner called Asa Candler tasted Coca-cola and liked it so much that he decided to sell it in
his bar as a soft drink. At the time, every bar made their own drinks. Candler was a good
businessman, so he ended up owning 5 bars. He founded the Coca-cola Company in 1886 to sell it
in his five bars, and soon other bar owners ordered from it too.

Candler had a daughter, Anna, who had two suitors. Candler gave her hand to Mark pendergrast,
and as a consolation prize, he gave the Coca-cola Company to Robert Woodruff. They made a
family picture with Asa, Anna and Mark, and Robert with a poster of the recipe.

Woodruff dedicated his life to developing his consolation prize. He invented the logo (and patented
the concept), the hobbleskirt bottle (supposed to represent a woman’s body), sponsoring for the
Olympic Games in 1924 (and patented the concept), mass advertising.

Their first important competition was called Coke. They copied the logo, so Woodruff sued them,
and took their name and logo. Coca-cola now had two official brand names.

In 1931, Woodruff was the first to give a coherent and consistent representation to Santa Claus, to
appeal to children. Before World War II, Coke was already the bestselling soft drink in the USA.

During the war, he passed the GI deal with the army: he offered one free bottle of Coke to every
American soldier every week. The idea was that for every soldier with a Coke, thousands of new
customers would want it. Coca-cola became the bestselling drink in the world.

Soon, it became apparent that the recipe (the 7X formula) was secret. President Truman himself said
that if he had to entrust the nuclear codes, he would give them to Coca-cola. This led to pop culture
characters like Astérix and James Bond.

Woodruff then developed new ideas: the six-pack (and he patented the idea) and the tin can
(patented as well).

The 1980s were a dark time for Coca-cola. Robert Woodruff died. His successor, Roberto Goizueta,
introduced the company in the stock exchange, so it became a shareholding company. Then the
competition launched “the Pespi challenge”, which demonstrated that Pepsi tastes better than Coke.

Goizueta decided to change the recipe and launched New Coke. The sales plummeted: people didn’t
want a better soda, they wanted America in a bottle. Coca had become a symbol, and you can’t
change a symbol. So, he doubled back, and fortunately Pepsi made a mistake the following year
with Crystal Pepsi. It enabled Coca-cola to take the lead again, but they had been almost bankrupt.

In 1992, Mark Pendergrast (Anna Candler’s grandson) found an old family picture in the attic, with
the recipe for Coca-cola. He tried to blackmail Goizueta, who told him to publish it. He did, and it
opened the possibility for Coca-cola to sell in countries that demand the exact recipe of any
alimentary product, like India and China. The sales skyrocketed overnight.

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