We recently acquired an advertising flyer for a classic radio program called  The Song Shop.  This flyer was autographed by many of the stars of the program including Nadine Conner and Alice Cornett. I was trying to date the artifact and found out quite a bit about this radio program. The Song Shop was first aired in September of 1937 and the original stars of the show were Kitty Carlisle, Frank Crumit, Reed Kennedy and Alice Cornett while Gustave Haenschen was the musical director.  While my only memory of Kitty Carlisle was her long stint as a panelist on What's my Line, she got her start appearing on Broadway and Hollywood where she gave a signature performance of "Alone" in the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera. In 1938, the cast of the radio program were changed and Nadine Conner took over as the hostess of the show and Del Sharbutt became the master of ceremonies.  Nadine Conner had appeared with Nelson Eddy and in the musical Showboat.  After her time in The Song Shop she focused on opera and became an acclaimed performer in the US and Europe.  Dell Sharbutt continued his career in radio and over time hosted programs like "Your Hit Parade."  His New York Times obituary cited him as having one of the most familiar voices in radio and TV, you might remember him as the original voice of the "Mmm, mmm good," for Campbell's Soup. The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio indicates that The Song Shop was last aired over the network of  CBS radio stations on June, 3, 1938. ^TR

In January 1994, a now iconic ad featured female office workers taking their break at 11:30 am to crowd around the window as a construction worker below strips off his shirt and relaxes with a Diet Coke. When the ad, called “Diet Coke Break” aired, the Diet Coke hunk was born.  The Diet Coke break concept has been repeated and updated four times over the intervening years. This week, our European colleagues have launched the fifth version of the ad,” Gardener.” The release was kicked off with a fun looking party at London restaurant Sketch yesterday.  If you look closely, you can see some of the historical items we sent to London for the event. I wanted to take the opportunity to share some facts and history about the “Hunk” ads. The initial ad became an instant phenomenon and create a few interesting stories.  The ads star, Lucky Vanos quickly became a celebrity and was featured in an second Diet Coke spot called “Magazine” in 1995.  The musical track for the ad performed by Etta James was “I Just want to Make Love to You” and was a 1954 blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters.  The Etta James cover was recorded in 1961.  Due to the popularity of the ad in England, the song was re-released as a single and reached as high as # 5 on the BBC charts. In 1997, a new version of the hunk ad was released featuring Robert Merrill as the object of attention.  Merrill played a shirtless window washer who is the cause of an impromptu meeting as people arrive to watch him take his break.  Robert Merrill reflected on the ad with our marketing team this year and shared this story. “One of the most memorable moments was in the UK in 1998 at the National Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.  We won ‘Most Popular Advert’. I was in a daze, yet excited as I walked up to the stage to give the acceptance speech.  It was so surreal.  I managed to say a few intelligent things and made the audience laugh by saying that "there is so much talent out here in the room, and all I had to do was take my kit off!" The next “hunk” was Paul Johansson who appeared as a Diet Coke delivery man.  Before Paul’s days as a delivery man, he was a star basketball player and even played for the Canadian National Basketball team.  He gave up basketball for acting and had small parts in Beverly Hills 90210 and Santa Barbara before being cast as the delivery hunk. The hunk ads took a break (pun intended) for a decade until it was updated when an elevator technician has to keep fixing the lift while rescuing stranded female passengers. The 2007 ad featured the 28 year old Frenchman Francois Xavier as the hunk who repels into the elevator to the admiring gaze of the women who stranded it. ^TR

Today marks the end of an era, of sorts. New Year’s Day 2001 (01.01.01) kicked off a steady succession of repetitive dates – the same numeric month, day and year – something none of us will see again in our lifetimes. These dates only fall in the first 12 years of a century, so the next occurrence will take place in 2101.

The buzz about 12-12-12 led me to think about what Coke ads were used on the same date 100 years ago... on Dec. 12, 1912. My search led me to this “Delicious at All Seasons” newspaper ad printed on 12-12-(19)12, which was a Thursday. It was placed by the Americus Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Americus, Georgia. That bottler was founded in 1905.

Notice that the bottle in the ad is a straight-sided bottle, as this was four years before the contour bottle was introduced. The ad was on page three of The Americus Weekly Times-Recorder newspaper. It is among other December, 1912 ads promoting an exceptionally fine line of fancy house slippers that “would make most acceptable Christmas gifts” and neckties starting at 25 cents.

As an African-American history enthusiast, I was also pleased to discover two notable figures, both born on December 12,  each with a connection to someone affiliated with Coca-Cola. December 12, 1912 is the birth date of Henry Armstrong, who is consistently rated among the top boxers of all time, and once fought against Sugar Ray Robinson, who appeared in a Coca-Cola ad in 1952. December 12, 1918 is the birth date of jazz vocalist Joe Williams, who was born in Cordele, Georgia. His first big break came in 1942, when vibraphonist and band leader Lionel Hampton hired him for his orchestra. Eleven years later, Hampton was featured in a 1953 Coca-Cola ad.

Here are a few other fun historical Coke tidbits connected to the number 12:

• 12-oz. “King Size” glass bottles of Coca-Cola debuted in 1955. The 12-oz. can followed in 1960.
• 12 packs of Coca-Cola were introduced in the early 1950s.
• Bermuda became the 12th country outside the U.S. to bottle Coca-Cola in 1927.
• In our 12th year of business (1898), we sold 214,008 gallons of syrup... or 27,393,024 drinks.
• In 1912, we sold 5,504,956 gallons of syrup... or 704,634,368 drinks.
• The 12-inch red disc Coca-Cola sign was introduced in 1947.
• The self-dispensing Fridge Pack, which holds 12 cans of Coca-Cola, was piloted in select U.S. cities in 2001 before rolling out nationwide the following year.
• Sokenbicha, a refreshing ready-to-drink tea blend first sold in Japan and now the U.S., was our 12^th billion-dollar brand (we’re up to 15 and counting).

Click over to Coca-Cola Unbottled for 12 reasons to smile on 12-12-12.

Later this week, we will be hosting our Coca-Cola Alumni for the annual Holiday party.  This year, Justine Fletcher pulled together a nice exhibit of items from our Archives to share with our visitors.  Hope you enjoy the photo gallery.  ^TR

Over the past several weeks I have been working on projects researching images of our Company in Brazil.  I thought you might enjoy learning more about our history in that country and seeing some of the ads over time. As early as 1909, 25 gallons of Coca-Cola syrup were shipped for use at a Rio de Janeiro soda fountain and there were intermittent shipments for the next two decades. Coca-Cola began bottling in Brazil in 1942. Eight short years later, there were 16 bottling plants in the country and that growth has continued until today.^TR

One of my favorite programs, "The Charlie Brown Christmas" special airs tonight in the US.  It has always been one of my favorite programs.  I wrote a longer form blog post on the new Coca-Cola Company website, Coca-Cola Journey giving some of the details on the role Coca-Cola had in bringing the show to air.  Make sure to check out the new History section of the site and the full Charlie Brown story.  

With the Thanksgiving Holiday being celebrated this Thursday in the United States, I wanted to share a gallery with some of the images and artifacts we have produced over the years.  Hope you enjoy! ^TR  

There has long been an association of Coca-Cola with the color red. As early as the 1890s, the trademark Coca-Cola appeared in red in advertising. Consumers almost universally identify the very sight of red and white with Coca-Cola as it is standard on vending machines, signage, vehicles, dispensers, coolers and packaging. In this video clip, J.B. Chandler, the man who built the world’s largest Coca-Cola crate, describes what it was like to mix the famous Coca-Cola Red paint color. He would certainly know, as he painted and silkscreened many Coca-Cola advertising posters, along with wood crates.

You might remember the story of the largest Coca-Cola crate ever created that we shared several years ago. See the full story of how a family photo connected us to someone behind the crate - a man that helped build it - Mr. J.B. Chandler. We also asked Mr. Chandler, of Fayetteville, Georgia, to describe in more detail about making the crate. Listen to him describe in the audio clip below the type of wood used, the dimensions diagrams used to make it, and creating menu boards and wood frames for Coca-Cola:

AUDIO: JB Chandler describes making Coke crate

I hope everyone has a great Halloween today.  I did a quick search through our collection and found a few Halloween themed ads I wanted to share with you. Which is your favorite? ^TR