Coca‑Cola Blog: Heritage

I joined the Coca‑Cola Company in 1997 as the Manager of the Archives collections in Atlanta, USA. Since that time, I have been preserving the artifacts and heritage of the Company.

From the first day that John Pemberton served the product at Jacobs’ Pharmacy 125 years ago to the most recent Maroon 5 recording session, Coca‑Cola has generated stories that resonate with our consumers. Did you know that Coca‑Cola advertising helped create the modern image of Santa Claus? Or that the famous 1971 ad, ‘I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke’, was composed in a London hotel the day before it was recorded? I am excited to use this blog as a way to share a few of the stories and give you a behind-the-scenes view of what I think is the best job in the world.

Great Britain has been the site of several of my favourite stories. Coca‑Cola was at soda fountains here as early as 1900, when Charles Howard Candler brought 5 gallons of syrup with him on a visit to London. Still, the drink caught on slowly, as the concept of carbonated drinks was not as popular in England as it was in the USA. One of the larger fountains was at Selfridges, as shown in this 1926 photograph from our internal magazine, The Red Barrel.

The Company wanted to begin bottling operations in Britain, so they sent a representative off to England to assess the best way to market Coca‑Cola. This gentleman’s name was Hamilton Horsey, and he spent several weeks in England interviewing prospective customers and suppliers (including Mr H Gordon Selfridge). The report contained one of my favourite quotes about doing business internationally, stating: “The introduction of our product into the English market will require a tremendous amount of hard work on the part of the management, with great consideration to the business customs and the likes and dislikes of the English people… avoiding every show of pomp and the ‘braggadocio’ attitude which sometimes distinguishes the American manufacturer in foreign markets.”

The next UK story was developed out of a programme I helped to lead when the Coca‑Cola Company donated all its Great Britain-produced television advertising to the British Film Institute. As part of this partnership, Coke agreed to fund the restoration and digitisation work which was performed by BFI staff. In the process of the project, we discovered some amazing ads that had been forgotten. Two of them, Biba’s Boutique and Piccadilly Circus, both showed scenes of ’mod‘ Carnaby Street and Piccadilly Circus from 1969, with a great version of the Things Go Better With Coke jingle sung by The Who. We also discovered that some of the earliest advertising produced for television has been lost. Coca‑Cola produced six adverts in 1956 featuring footballer John Charles and racer Sir Stirling Moss, among others, but the only one we or the BFI were able to find featured dancer Alf Davies – so if you have any old films in your attic or garage, make sure to drop us a line!

From the earliest adverts featuring Sir Stirling Moss right through to the present day, with London 2012 Olympic Games' stars such as Jessica Ennis, Coca‑Cola advertising has reflected the changing culture of the world we live in. And at the Coca‑Cola Archives, we will work to preserve it for the next 125 years.