The Coca-Cola Company has an incredible history that has been written about in depth. While some books detailing this company have created controversy, it is not the intent of this brief outline to either confirm or deny any of these stories. Rather, the purpose is to give an overview of how this company has evolved over the years in order to help readers better understand the objects that are collected. The history is divided into eras to show the nature of the advertising used during those times and their connection to the events taking place in American culture.
The history of this soft drink sold by its trademarked name “Coca-Cola” is certainly one of the most interesting in American business. Originated from an idea conceived more than 120 years ago, Coca-Cola has become the most popular and bestselling soft drink of all time.
The creator of Coca-Cola, Dr. John Stith Pemberton, was born in 1831 in Knoxville, Georgia. Attending schools in both Columbus and Rome, Georgia, he later went on to study at Southern Botanico Medical College of Georgia. After obtaining a degree in pharmacy, he began his career as a druggist in Oglethorp, Georgia. In 1853, Pemberton married Anna Lewis, and the following year she gave birth to their only child, Charles Ney Pemberton. In 1855, the Pemberton family moved to Columbus, Georgia, where he became a popular and successful druggist. While Pemberton's business was pharmacy, he also practiced medicine and performed some minor surgery. However, a great deal of his success and income was derived from the sale of proprietary medicines.
With the outbreak of war, Pemberton, now in his thirties, enlisted as a First Lieutenant in 1862. During 1862 and 1863, he served as Captain and eventually as Colonel of Company K, Robinson's Georgia Cavalry. In 1865, with the war actually over, Pemberton was seriously injured in one of the last engagements with Union soldiers. Recuperated but badly scarred, Pemberton attempted to rebuild his business. Towards that end he formed a partnership with well-to-do physician, Dr. Austin Walker. The relationship between Pemberton and Walker flourished, and in the late 1860s Pemberton began producing his own line of proprietary medicines, including a product that claimed to purify the blood — Extract of Stillingia — as well as Globe Flower Cough Syrup, and others.
Even with a fine laboratory and profitable business in Columbus, Pemberton felt true success would only come by moving to Atlanta, which he did in 1869. Continuing his experiments with proprietary medicines, he developed an impressive list of products including Gingerine, Indian Queen Hair Dye, Triplex Pills, and a number of other cures, elixirs, perfumes, and drinks. Pemberton's desire to create the perfect medicine and drink led him to experimenting with a remarkable substance, derived from coca leaves, which was supposed to aid digestion and extend life.
Burdened with financial problems complicated by a fire that destroyed much of his business, Pemberton began to rebuild his business and he continued to experiment to develop his line of medicines. His combination of wine and coca became known as “Pemberton's French Wine Coca.” Although it imitated other products on the market at the time, including Vin Mariani, Pemberton felt his product was much better and the answer to his desire for a perfect product. But the temperance movement that began in the 1870s was now gaining strength, and by 1886 the use of wine in medicine was about to come to an end.
Another product being developed by Pemberton was Coca-Cola, which, by the way, was listed along with French Wine Coca and other products like Gingerine on his letterhead at the time. After constant experimenting with this Coca-and-Cola drink, he finally felt it was right, and as the legend goes, it went to the Venable soda fountain at Jacobs' Pharmacy to be sold. It is important to point out at this time that any product developed by, or represented by, Dr. J.S. Pemberton is part of the history of Coca-Cola and very collectible. Although overlooked for the most part, these pre-Coca-Cola collectibles are now gaining in popularity and value, and I might add that products and advertising associated with either Venable's soda fountain or Jacobs' Pharmacy are also very collectible. The popularity of this new so-called “temperance drink” grew with the addition of carbonated water. Pemberton was finally pleased with his product and began devoting much of his time to it. While Pemberton was still creating and perfecting his then-unnamed product, two businessmen attempting to sell a printing machine came to Atlanta. Frank Robinson and his partner David Doe, from Maine, approached Pemberton with a deal and, along with Pemberton's partner at the time, Ed Holland, the four men started the “Pemberton Chemical Company.”
Robinson, who incidentally is credited with creating the Coca-Cola, soon forgot his printing equipment and began devoting his entire attention to producing and promoting the beverage. Robinson was very excited about the new product and, with very little available money, promoted Coca-Cola well through the use of oilcloth banners, newspaper ads, and free sample tickets. In addition, evidence suggests that he also used paper posters and streetcar signs. These very early advertising pieces are These very early advertising pieces are almost unheard of in the Coca-Cola collecting community, and anything from this era is considered extremely rare.
By the spring of 1887, one partner of the Pemberton Chemical Company, David Doe, decided to call it quits. M.P. Alexander, a pharmacist from Memphis, took his place and the company pushed forward with much needed company pushed forward with much needed cash and more help — including the addition of Woolfolk Walker and Pemberton's son Charles, as the company's salesmen. In 1887, Dr. Pemberton applied for a patent for the Coca-Cola trademark, which was granted in June 1887.
In July 1887, for some unknown reason, Pemberton sold the majority of his interest in Coca-Cola to Willis Venable and George Lowndes. Pemberton retained the remaining interest for his son, Charles. From July of 1887, when Pemberton sold his majority interest, until December of that year, much confusion and many transactions took place, including many new names and claims being introduced. Some of these names like A.O. Murphy, J.C. Mayfield, Mrs. Dozier, and others would play an important part in the future of The Coca-Cola Company some years later.
In early 1888, with the enticing of Frank Robinson, an Atlanta druggist named Asa Candler, who was interested in obtaining new products, became interested in Coca-Cola and soon began taking control. With part of the interest owned by Joseph Jacobs of Jacobs' Pharmacy, Candler was able to acquire his share, and in March of 1888 Candler, Charles Pemberton, Woolfolk Walker, and Walker's younger sister, Mrs. M.C. Dozier, filed to incorporate The Coca-Cola Company. Within weeks of the incorporation on April 14, 1888, Charles Pemberton was bought out for $550, and on April 17, Candler bought half of the interest owned jointly by Walker and Dozier. During the summer of 1888, Dr. Pemberton died of cancer. The death of this well known and popular gentleman ended the first era in history of The Coca-Cola Company.
Asa Candler continued to acquire control of Coca-Cola, and in August of 1888 bought out Walker and Dozier for a grand total of $1,000. So, after a great deal of change, transfers and buyouts, Asa Candler, for the most part, took complete control as the sole proprietor of Coca-Cola. Asa Candler was born December 30, 1851, one of eleven children of Sam and Martha Candler of Villa Rica, Georgia. As a youth during the Civil War, Candler received little education but War, Candler received little education but did complete some high school after the war. In 1870, Candler quit school and became an apprentice in a drugstore in Cartersville, Georgia. While working and living at the drugstore, Candler kept his dream of becoming a doctor alive by studying chemistry and medicine in his spare time. Over the next couple of years, Candler became interested in pharmacy and he gave up hope of being a physician. But he felt this hope of being a physician. But he felt this could best be done in the big city of Atlanta.
Candler arrived in Atlanta in January 1873 with hopes of landing a position with a local druggist. Disappointed that the job was not available, he canvassed all of Atlanta until he got lucky at a drugstore owned by George Howard. Candler worked hard for his boss, and in 1877, Howard offered Candler and another employee, Marcellus Hallman, an opportunity to buy one of his stores. The partnership was good, and with hard work, smart business deals and luck, they built a very good business in a couple of years.
In 1878, Asa Candler married Lucy Howard, his former boss' daughter, even though Dr. Howard felt his daughter was much too young. In December 1878, Lucy gave birth to a son, Charles Howard Candler, who was the first of five children — four boys and a girl. In 1881, after ending his partnership with Marcellus Hallman, Asa Candler entered into a partnership with his father-in-law, Dr. George Howard, and in 1886 bought out his interest. The company then became Asa G. Candler and Company.
Atlanta was a boomtown in 1886 and Candler, at thirty-five years old, was on his way to building his fortune. Before taking total control of Coca-Cola, Candler bought the rights to an impressive list of proprietary medicines and other products including Electric Bitters, De-Lec-Ta-Lave, King's New Discover, Everlasting Cologne, Bucklen's Arnica Salve, and others. Any advertising relating to these products that were owned and distributed by Asa Candler, including the very popular Botanic Blood Balm (B.B.B.), which came later in 1889, is very collectible. Trade cards, calendars, and ads (especially mentioning Asa Candler, Wholesale Druggist) are an important part of the history of Coca-Cola and are becoming more popular and valuable as collectors better understand their history. From 1888 to 1890, Candler conducted his wholesale and retail drug business on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, with Frank Robinson handling the manufacturing of Coca-Cola and one man handling sales of not only his patent medicines but Coca-Cola as well. With business doing well, another salesman, Sam Dobbs, Candler's nephew, was added to the payroll. As sales of Coca-Cola grew during this time, Candler realized the potential of his soda fountain drink and began divesting himself of all of his patent medicines with the exception of De-Lec-Ta-Lave and B.B.B., which were still selling very well.
By 1891, Candler sold his drug business and moved Coca-Cola manufacturing to 42-1/2 Decatur Street, after selling off De-Lec-Ta-Lave and B.B.B. He filed to incorporate The Coca-Cola Company on December 29, 1891. With the sales of Coca-Cola continuing to soar, Candler sought to spread out his sales and shares in his new company and he found an investor in Boston. Seth Fowle & Sons, Proprietary Druggists, bought fifty shares of stock along with all rights to the New England area for the next twenty years. It proved to be a great move. They flooded the New England area with advertising, and sales skyrocketed. Because of this early relationship between Fowle and Coca-Cola, some rare and unusual pieces have come out of the New England area over the years. Seth Fowle also published The Coca-Cola News in the 1890s and early 1900s. These small fold-over papers were directed to drugstores and soda fountains in the New England area, and they are considered rare today.
During the early 1890s, with sales continually on the increase, a considerable amount of advertising was produced incorporating the distinctive Coca-Cola script logo on signs, calendars, newspaper ads, and anyplace else where the public could notice that now-recognizable trademark. While this early advertising was for the most part medicinal, the product was called “Delicious and Refreshing” right from the start. These advertising pieces proclaiming that Coca-Cola was the “Ideal Brain Tonic,” and that it “Cures Headache,” and “Relieves Exhaustion” are the most valuable, rare and interesting of all Coca-Cola memorabilia, and highly in demand by collectors. By 1894, free drink tickets were being used, as they were earlier, to get people to try the product. The tickets were mailed out and handed out by the thousands. The system of giving away free drink tickets worked well, and began a practice that Coca-Cola continued for many years. These free drink tickets are always collectible, especially the early versions.
By 1895, the product Coca-Cola was being sold in every state and territory in the United States. As the 1890s were coming to an end, The Coca-Cola Company slowly decreased its medicinal claims, leaving many ads simply to claim that Coca-Cola was “Delicious and Refreshing.” This practice continued as Congress passed a tax on proprietary medicines, but not beverages. With the Internal Revenue ruling that Coca-Cola was a drug, it was ordered to pay the tax. A long battle with the government continued until it was finally decided, in 1902, that Coca-Cola was indeed a soft drink. However, as the turn of the century came to an end, occasional mention of “Relief for Headache” and other benefits remained.
During the last half of the 1890s, syrup plants and branch offices were opened in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. In 1899, an office in New York City was added, continuing the company's growth and contributing to popular acceptance of the product. Just before the turn of the century, in July 1899, an event took place that had a dramatic impact on the future of the company. Two lawyers from Tennessee, Benjamin Franklin Thomas and Joseph Brown Whitehead, after repeated attempts, finally entered into an agreement with Asa Candler to sell Coca-Cola in bottles. Candler, not thinking very highly of the idea, signed the contact believing that with this franchise he had very little to lose. However, the contract had huge implications. Following the signing of the contract, the company approved franchised bottling, the practice of putting the product in a bottle. Five years earlier, Joseph Biedenharn of Vicksburg, Mississippi, who sold Coca-Cola at his soda fountain, felt it could be sold in bottles to people who lived in areas that had no soda fountain. At the time, Asa Candler was not impressed. So, technically, the Thomas and Whitehead contract was the beginning of company-authorized bottling and their timing was perfect.
By 1900, the cumbersome, difficult-to-use Hutchinson stoppered bottles were being replaced with a new bottle designed with a top that allowed a metal crown to be crimped and sealed over it. This crown would change the course of the bottling industry, and the impact on collectors of these early bottling attempts is tremendous. Hutchinson bottles are becoming more and more valuable as collectors insist on having examples of them in their collections. Values of these bottles have increased steadily over the years.
Brown and Whitehead flourished, both hard-working businessmen who became the forerunners — the “Parent Bottlers” — who were experiencing phenomenal sales and reaching rural areas that fountain sales could not normally reach. But because of differences that they could not settle, they decided to split their territory and by the following decade 379 bottling and by the following decade 379 bottling plants were operating. With the task still much larger than the two men could handle, they decided to further divide their large domain. This resulted in the formation of four parent bottling companies.
Even though Joseph Biedenharn had been bottling Coca-Cola without a contract since 1894, he finally agreed to a formal contract for The Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Many bottlers followed as The Coca-Cola Bottling business flourished. Although the product was the same, the package varied from bottler to bottler. The large variety of bottles used has created a wealth of resources for today's collectors to search for a wide range of variations. This lack of uniformity would soon end. Along with the bottling sales successes went continued success with syrup sales through soda fountains. The sale of 370,877 gallons of syrup in 1900 was exceeded by one million gallons annually by 1904. The combination of popular soda fountains and a progressive bottling industry marked a time of exceptional growth. By 1917, sales skyrocketed to over twelve million gallons annually. With consistent growth and great leadership, and while serving as mayor of Atlanta, Asa G. Candler decided to give his business to his wife and five children, while keeping only seven shares in his name. In less than two years the most important business transaction the South had ever seen took place. The Coca-Cola Company was sold for $25,000,000. The majority ownership at the time of the sale was held by Asa Candler's five children, Judge J.S. Candler, Sam Dobbs, Frank Robinson and Samuel L. Willard. The sale of the company was consummated on September 12, 1919. The buyer was Ernest Woodruff, backed by The Trust Company of Georgia, of which Woodruff was president. Along with the Chase National Bank and the Guaranty Trust Company of New York City, the new company was incorporated in the state of Delaware. Ernest Woodruff expanded the facilities of The Coca-Cola Company and added a syrup plant in New Orleans in 1919. The continual growth under Ernest Woodruff leadership brought an end to the Candler era.
The Coca-Cola Company was poising itself for a period of growth that was unprecedented, but first it had to correct some problems. From the beginning, as Coca-Cola gained popularity, the company battled off hoards of imitators who attempted to capitalize on the beverage's success. (This subject is covered in more detail in another section book, “Coca-Cola and the Competition.”) of this book, “Coca-Cola and the Competition.”) While Harold Hirsh was in full charge of The Coca-Cola Company's legal affairs and continually fought and won these battles with the imitators in the courts, he became increasingly frustrated with lack of uniformity of the Coca-Cola bottle.
The bottles used by the hundreds of bottlers around the country varied too much from clear to several shades of green, and from light amber to dark amber. The sizes varied, as did the shapes; some used labels and some did not. The result was a hodgepodge of bottles that looked just like all other pop bottles of the time. Coca-Cola needed a new package, a bottle that would stand out far and above any other. Convincing bottlers of the need for an expensive new bottle would not be easy, but Harold Hirsch, at the 1914 Bottlers Convention, stressed the importance of spending the money now for the protection it would bring in the future. In June of 1915, a number of glass manufacturers were asked to create a distinctive package for Coca-Cola. It was an employee of The Root Glass Company who came up with an unusual sample that would later become known as the “Hobbleskirt” design. At The Coca-Cola Bottlers Convention in 1916, the design of the bottle was accepted. However, getting all the bottlers to switch over to the more expensive bottle would take a number of years. By the summer of 1917 new problems arose. With the United States entering World War I, sugar rationing became necessary. The Company recommended that bottlers make no attempt to expand their market because of the effect this lack of sugar would have on syrup production. The Coca-Cola Company used the problem to its benefit, asking the public for its patience and producing patriotic ads to show that the company was behind the war effort. In 1919, with the war over, The Coca-Cola Company made a quick recovery from sugar rationing, and sales dramatically increased from 10,314,727 gallons in 1918 to 18,730,167 in 1919.
The Coca-Cola Company created fabulous advertising during the teens. It had a vision of what the “All American Girl” looked like, and demanded it on its advertising. “The Coca-Cola Girls” of the teens are among the most beautiful of all their advertising. Starting in 1914 the calendars produced by the company became larger and featured full-body images, dressed in the latest fashions of the day. These girls, even though different models, had the same general features — the eyes, parted mouth, and the hair — all working together to create the “Girl Next Door” look. These calendars are the highlight of collectible Coca-Cola advertising during the teens.
By 1923, Robert Winship Woodruff, the thirty-three-year-old son of Ernest and Emily Winship Woodruff, took over as President of The Coca-Cola Company. Robert was born in 1889 in Columbus, Georgia, and was brought to Atlanta in 1893. He attended school near his home in Inman Park, and then Georgia Military Academy. His early employment included The General Pipe and Foundry Company in Atlanta, The General Fire Extinguisher Company, and The Atlantic Ice & Coal Company as purchasing agent. On October 17, 1912, he married Miss Nell Hodgson of Athens, Georgia. After his marriage he took a job with the White Motor Company and within a year was a branch manager in Atlanta. By 1916 he was elected to the Board of Directors of The Trust Company of Georgia, at just twenty-seven years old. After a stint in the war with the motor corps, Woodruff became Vice President of the White Company in 1922, but resigned in 1923 to become President of The Coca-Cola Company.
The Woodruff era was to mark a dramatic change in Coca-Cola advertising. The D'arcy Advertising Company took on the Coca-Cola account at the same time Robert Woodruff took over presidency of The Coca-Cola Company, mainly because D'arcy employee Archie Laney Lee, a former reporter for the Atlanta Georgian, was a personal friend of Woodruff. The business relationship strengthened their personal relationship, and the results had an incredible positive effect on the company's advertising that would last for the next quarter of a century.
With standardization of the bottle back in 1916, Robert Woodruff felt it necessary to continue the process. The next big move to standardize the bottlers came in 1924, with the formation of the Standardization Committee. Woodruff believed that Coca-Cola in bottles was the future of the Coca- Cola business. The committee, headed by Charles V. Rainwater, held its first meeting and recommended a standard design for trucks, cases, stationery, checks and many other things, including uniforms for drivers. Subsequent meetings resulted in the development of standardized plans for bottling plants. In 1929, the committee published a booklet titled Coca-Cola Bottler's Standards. The booklet presented the rules of standardization along with specifications and actual samples. These books are prized collector items. Since the standardization committee began in the 1920s, The Coca- Cola Company has continued standardization to this day. With standardization in place and in light of Woodruff's favorable feelings toward bottle sales, he called for increased advertising that emphasized Coca-Cola in bottles. The policy showed big results from 1923 to 1928. While fountain sales grew twenty percent, bottle sales increased by sixty-five percent.
The “Bottle vs. Fountain” advertising creates some interesting variations for today's collectors. The same artwork modified with a glass for fountain sales or a bottle for bottle sales provide perfect additions to collections. The advertising that Woodruff and Lee developed presented Coca-Cola as much more than a soft drink. It was actually part of a lifestyle, distinctive and enjoyed by every segment of society, and meant to symbolize the pleasant things that life had to offer. By 1925 The Coca-Cola Company and local bottlers shared a vision to use of billboards nationwide to advertise Coca-Cola. In 1927, The Coca-Cola Company began using commercial radio to advertise and continued the practice for the next twenty-five years until the advent of television.
Many other groundbreaking advertising campaigns went into effect in the 1920s. Archie Lee's use of the word “Pause” in Coca-Cola advertising led to one of the greatest expressions of American advertising: “The Pause That Refreshes.” The late 1920s also saw the first “big city” electric sign, spectacular in New York's Times Square. During the Depression of the early and mid-1930s, Lee continued creating advertising landmarks by hiring artist Haddon Sundblum, who produced the familiar Santa Claus icon that has become an annual tradition. During the early 1930s, The Coca-Cola Company started associating Coca-Cola with food. The slogan “Natural Partner of Good Things to Eat” continued portraying Coca-Cola as more than just a drink to quench your thirst. Good at home, at work, with food and everywhere!
The advertising of the late 1920s changed dramatically as the 1930s unfolded. The flappers and pretty girls that were displayed earlier on calendars were now replaced by the “Down Home” images of young boys fishing, with great artwork by Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, and others. Since calendars were mainly brought into the home, these images were important to The Coca-Cola Company, which wanted to portray Coca-Cola as a family drink that was as popular with the children as the grown ups. The connection of Coca-Cola at home carried through the late 1930s with the introduction of the open top six-bottle carton, letting consumers know that it was “So easy to take home.”
In 1940, one of the most successful advertising and public relations campaigns in the company's history was launched with publication of the first of a series of three booklets titled Flower Arranging in the Home. Over five million of these booklets were given away over the next three years, continuing the growing sales of Coca-Cola by the six-pack for home use. As sales continually skyrocketed, Archie Lee continued to create groundbreaking advertising, including the use of the trademark “Coke” making its first appearance in national advertising in 1941. In 1942 “Coke” was highlighted by the image of “The Little Sprite,” or what collectors now call “The Sprite Boy.” This little pixie, created by Archie Lee and delineated by Haddon Sunblom, helped emphasize the connection between “Coke” and “Coca-Cola.”
As America entered World War II, Robert Woodruff set the direction of The Coca-Cola Company's business efforts by stating “We will see that every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca- Cola for five cents wherever he is and whatever it costs.” During the war sixty-four bottling operations were set up as close to battle areas as possible. During the war over 5,000,000,000 bottles of Coke were consumed by the men and women of the armed forces. By 1946, over one hundred and fifty Coca-Cola Bottling Plants were in operation around the world in the former areas of military operations. World War II devastated many areas of the world. With so many countries in economic ruin, it would be quite a while before many could enjoy a normal economy, and not until the 1950s did Coca-Cola reopen many of those markets. In 1949, the first plant to produce Coca-Cola syrup outside the United States was in Brussels, Belgium.
Wartime advertising produced by The Coca-Cola Company is always of special interest to collectors. Because of the war effort, metal was not used in advertising, which meant no serving trays, tin signs, etc. But this didn't stop the advertising campaign. With wood and masonite replacing the tin signs, companies that produced specialty advertising like Kay Displays, Inc., flourished. Magazine advertising was increased with beautiful, colorful patriotic ads showing our service people in uniform. These gave the country a sense of pride. The war effort showed up in much of the company's advertising with sets of signs called “Airplane Hangers” which depicted our aircraft winning the air battles of the war. This wartime advertising is always very popular among collectors, with the cream of the crop being a set of cardboard cutouts showing servicewomen from the five branches of the services, enjoying a glass or bottle of Coke. Produced in a small set as well as a full- size set, these are certainly among the best advertising done during this period.
With the war over and our servicemen coming home, the United States was preparing for a period of prosperity and relaxation. The 1950s saw the servicemen home with their families, picnics, ballgames and leisure time — meaning Coke time — and Americans drank it like never before. It took The Coca-Cola Company until 1944 to sell its first billion gallons of syrup, with the second billion gallons being sold by 1953. Collectors should note that with the leisure and fun times of the early '50s came an influx of picnic coolers by The Coca-Cola Company. Between ballgames, picnics and the beach, the need to keep those Cokes cold was very important, and the use of picnic coolers became very popular. Because of this, most of the picnic coolers from the '50s and '60s are fairly common today. With the world starting to get back to some type of normalcy in the 1950s, Coca-Cola was quickly becoming a worldwide drink with no other soft drink ever enjoying such worldwide popularity.
The 1950s added a whole new dimension to Coca-Cola advertising — television. The Coca-Cola Company was well aware that television was not only revolutionizing entertainment in the home, but everywhere, and they took advantage of it. The Coca-Cola Company sponsored a Thanksgiving special in 1950 that featured Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, marking their first TV appearance. This show was followed by the Christmas special “One Hour in Wonderland,” which starred Edgar Bergen and Walt Disney's animated characters. In the later '50s, Coca-Cola and Disney teamed up again, sponsoring “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Because of the baby boom of post World War II, The Coca-Cola Company felt it important to reach children, and what better way than via television. In 1951 they sponsored “The Adventures of Kit Carson,” which starred Bill Williams. The popular cowboy was a big hit with the kids. In 1953, seeking to appeal to all age groups, they sponsored Eddie Fisher in “Coke Time,” another popular show that resulted in exactly what Coca-Cola was looking for: a family show with appeal beyond just the kids. These early television shows resulted in a tremendous amount of related material to collect, from records, toys, premiums, posters, and magazine ads to a cardboard cutout of Eddie Fisher. These TV-related collectibles are very popular with a generation that remembers these shows so vividly.
In 1955, Coca-Cola introduced a number of new packages, including a twenty-six ounce family size and two king-size bottles — a ten-ounce and a twelve-ounce with a modified hobbleskirt design. The mid-1950s saw big changes in American life, new entertainment resources like TV, and a resurgence of traditional recreation activities such as bowling, roller skating and movies were putting a big dent in the popularity of the drugstore soda fountain. Large supermarkets were putting the corner grocery stores out of business. Rock and roll was taking over the teens, and the automobile had become much more important than just a means of transportation to work. In 1954 a chain of hamburger stands owned by two brothers named McDonald were bought out by Ray Kroc. He offered customers Coca-Cola with his hamburgers and fries, starting a relationship that proved to be fantastic for both McDonald's and Coca-Cola.
With music becoming more popular in American life than ever before, Coca-Cola and its advertising company, McCann-Erickson attempted to keep up with the popular music of the day. New advertising initiatives included The McGuire Sisters, Ricky Nelson, Anita Bryant, and the popular program the “Hi-Fi” club. The “Hi-Fi” club was a series of dance parties sponsored by the local radio stations and Coca-Cola bottlers. (More detailed information on the “Hi-Fi” club can be found later in this book).
In 1962, J. Paul Austin became the President of The Coca-Cola Company. Austin, a graduate of Harvard Law School who had commanded a PT Boat in World War II, led The Coca-Cola Company into a whole new decade with the addition of newly created diet drink, Tab. In 1963, McCann- Erickson and Coca-Cola needed a song — a theme that would sum up everything about Coca-Cola in one short verse — and they found it. Written by Bill Backer, the song and campaign “Things Go Better With Coke” became so popular that it was heard and seen everywhere. The 1963 “Things Go Better” campaign created a whole new area of collectibles, including music boxes, musical lighters, novelties, signs and a whole new “fresh” look to Coca-Cola advertising.
These 1960s collectibles are becoming more and more popular. By 1965 the soft drink industry was doing very well, with an annual two hundred and sixty drink per capita consumption, and Coca- Cola held forty-one percent of the market. The mid-1960s also saw the addition of Duncan Foods products such as Minute Maid Orange Juice and Hi-C to The Coca-Cola family. These new additions were advertised as refreshing drinks that could be enjoyed any time of the day, and they were sold in vending machines.
By the late 1960s, a new Coke theme song was heard everywhere. The song and the campaign “It's the Real Thing” flooded the airwaves. At the same time, The Coca-Cola Company felt it needed a new look and hired the New York firm Lippincott and Margulies to create that new look. The result was the “Dynamic Ribbon” or as collectors call it, the “Wave Logo.” Although advertising produced after this point is collectible, this is essentially where this book ends. The 1970s saw many changes in Coca-Cola, and in the following decade, the Woodruff era ended on March 7, 1985, with the death of Robert Woodruff at ninety-five.