Marketing at the Coca-Cola Company

Founded in 1886, The Coca-Cola Company is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce nearly 400 beverage brands. The corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, with local operations in over 200 countries around the world.

1.The formula

Coca-cola was invented by Dr. John Stith Pemberton in 1886. It was the doctor second drink with coca leaves and the kola nut as a basis. By combining the names of the ingredients used to prepare the drink, the name of the most popular drink ever, was born : Coca-Cola.

The doctors first coca leaf drink , Pemberton's French Wine Coca, was actually an immitation of Vin Mariani, a coca-wine drink invented by Angelo Mariani in 1883. Although there were several immitators of the French Coca-Wine, Pemberton's formula was superior. He was actually quoted saying "I believe that I am now producing a better preparation than that of Mariani."

The exact formula of Coca-Cola is an infamous trade secret. The original copy of the formula is held in SunTrust Bank's main vault in Atlanta. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola Company's initial public offering in 1919. An urban legend states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula.

Although the Coca-Cola Company has long denied it, the Peruvian anti-drug agency, DEVIDA, acknowledged in January, 2005 that the company buys 115 tons of coca leaf from Peru and 105 tons from Bolivia per year, which it uses as an ingredient in its secret formula.

Robert Goizueta ex-executive director of the company used to say : “if our bottling plants and our facilities would vanish from the face of the earth, the value of our company would not be affected; the value of this company is in it’s trademarks and in our knowledge”. The trademark "Coca-Cola," used in the marketplace since 1886, was registered in the United States Patent Office on January 31, 1893 and it’s value is estimated at 70 billion dolars.

1. The ads

Advertising for 'Coca-Cola' has always been acclaimed internationally. The first advertising theme was introduced in the early 1900's: the decades since, have seen a wealth of popular themes which quickly became recognisable around the world.

Here are some of the most popular Coca Cola themes :

1. 1886 Drink 'Coca-Cola'

2. 1904 Delicious and Refreshing

3. 1922 Thirst knows no season

4. 1929 The pause that refreshes

5. 1939 'Coca-Cola' goes along

6. 1948 Where there's 'Coke' there's hospitality

7. 1952 Have a coke

8. 1957 Sign of good taste

9. 1959 Be really refreshed

10. 1963 Things go better with 'Coke'

11. 1970 It's the real thing

12. 1976 'Coke' adds life to…

13. 1982 'Coke' is it

14. 1988 You can't beat the feeling

15. 1992 Cant beat the real thing

16. 1993 Always 'Coca-Cola'

17. 1999 Always cool

18. 2000 Enjoy!

Almost from the very outset, the firm employed feminine charms to promote its product -- in magazines and on billboards and signs, store displays, fans, calendars, thermometers and trays. There were prim and pensive Victorian young ladies then-prominent actress-singers named Hilda Clark and Lillian Nordica. In 1914, there was a popular dark-haired model known only as Betty. There were girls driving early automobiles and girls, fully dressed, on the beach. The 1920s girls were more daring, seen in knee-baring swimsuits and bobbed hair. Movie stars such as Jean Harlow and Joan Crawford were used. Then there were numerous World War II girls in uniform and athletic girls next door into the '60s. The first television ad created for The Coca-Cola Company was on Thanksgiving Day 1950 .The sponsorship of this program and its advertising were both by the D’Arcy Agency of St. Louis.