The Coke contour bottle gets bigger

You may have read recently that we’ve introduced a 2-liter bottle with the contour shape in the U.S. – in Birmingham, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I’ve told you about our “king-size” and “family-size” contour bottles for Coke that came out in 1955. Those bottles also had the contour shape but held more than our original 6 ½-ounce Coke bottle.

The 2-liter PET (plastic) contour bottle is the next evolution. Just as the contour bottle helped distinguish Coca-Cola from other drinks in straight-sided bottles in 1916, the new 2-liter bottle will help everyone notice Coke on store shelves. And the shape of the new bottle actually makes the bottle easier to hold and easier to pour. Form meets function!

You can read all of the details about the new Coke 2-liter bottle here.

General Eisenhower and Coca-Cola plants

A key part of Coca-Cola’s history is that during World War II, the Company’s long-time leader, Robert W. Woodruff, said that every U.S. serviceperson should get a Coke for 5 cents, wherever he was.

And they did pay only a nickel – wherever they were – even though that meant sending portable Coca-Cola bottling plants around the world. Over 5 billion servings of Coca-Cola were distributed to U.S. troops during the War.

Did you know that General Dwight D. Eisenhower actually requisitioned 10 Coca-Cola bottling plants for U.S. troops overseas?

The telegram with that requisition was sent on June 29, 1943. It asked for the following:

• 3 million (filled) bottles of Coca-Cola
• Complete equipment for bottling, washing and capping 3 million bottles twice a month
• Sufficient syrup and caps for 6 million refills

Just one note: We were to ship the Coke and equipment without displacing other military cargo!

Do you know how to drink from a bottle of Coke?

Can you believe we made this ad as late as 1950??

Posters and blotters like this one helped teach people how to drink directly from a Coke bottle – instead of drinking out of a glass or with a straw.

My favorite is the reminder to tilt your head back together with the bottle when you sip!

Coca-Cola Final Jeopardy!

If anyone watched Jeopardy! last week, you may have noticed that Coca-Cola was the answer to the question in the Final Jeopardy! round on Thursday. The category was Business Trademarks, and the clue stumped all three contestants!  Here's how the clue read: 

"Registered in 1893, this product's trademark is written in the Spencerian script of bookkeeper Frank Robinson."

Believe it or not, none of the contestants got the answer, which was Coca-Cola! Would you have gotten that answer? Indeed, Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, thinking that "the two Cs would look well in advertising," suggested the name "Coca-Cola" and in 1886 penned the now famous trademark in his own unique script. Seven years later, in 1893, the trademark was registered in the U.S. Patent Office. To this day, Coca-Cola is written the same way.  Robinson's handwriting has stood the test of time and has grown to be one of the most recognized logos in the world.  I'd say that's pretty good penmanship!

By the way, just above you can see Frank M. Robinson's business card, written in his own script. Can you tell that this is the same handwriting of the famous Coke trademark?

The Coke truck from Argentina

It’s been a little over a year since we opened the New World of Coca-Cola to the public.

Almost a year before that – two years ago today, in fact -- we installed the very first artifact in the still-under-construction attraction.

Our first piece? A 1939 bright yellow Chevrolet panel delivery truck from Argentina.

The story of the truck is a great one. It actually was used to deliver Coca-Cola in the southern portions and suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina. When we first announced plans to build a new World of Coca-Cola, our bottler in Buenos Aires, David Lee, approached us about including this truck in the building. The truck had been in continuous service in Argentina for almost seven decades and was still used for special events.

How did the truck get here?
The truck was shipped from Argentina (by boat) to Jacksonville, Florida, and was then transferred to a special auto carrier for its journey to Atlanta. The Chevy spent the night at our Company headquarters, so the employees could see it up-close, and on June 23, 2006, we drove it onto the construction site. A member of my team – one of the few who could drive this kind of stick-shift – actually drove it down the street.

However, he will not be driving it out of the World of Coca-Cola. They actually built the rest of the building around the truck. (It couldn’t have gone into the building with the walls up, and now it’s not going to come out!)

Coke and Columbia Pictures

If you saw my post around the time of the Academy Awards, you know that we have an actual Oscar at the World of Coca-Cola.

That’s because for most of the 1980s, The Coca-Cola Company owned Columbia Pictures. In fact, tomorrow will mark 26 years since the acquisition was completed.

June 21, 1982, was a big day for us – the day Columbia became part of Coke. We sold Columbia in 1989, but a number of notable movies and TV shows came out of our years together.

A few of the movies:

Ghostbusters
The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid Part II
Stand By Me

Just some of the TV shows:

Days of Our Lives
The Facts of Life
Ripley’s Believe It or Not
T.J. Hooker
Who’s the Boss?
The Young and the Restless

Do you remember these or any other Columbia movies or shows from the 80s?

Fanta Orange hits the U.S.

Forty-eight years ago this month, Fanta hit store shelves in the United States.

The Fanta line was introduced here in 1960 because many Coca-Cola bottlers asked Coke to provide a trademarked line of flavors in its own specially designed bottle. They wanted a drink that Coke would nationally advertise and promote.

When I talked about flavor bottles, I mentioned that bottlers sold flavored drinks – ones that weren’t Coke products – because they wanted to offer alternatives, and our Company only offered one drink (Coca-Cola). Fanta solved that problem.

In 1960, Fanta was available in Orange, Grape, Root Beer, Strawberry, Black Cherry, Lemon-Lime, Ginger Ale and Club Soda flavors. Soon, Black Cherry, Strawberry and Club Soda were added to the line, followed by Red Cream, Fruit Punch, Iced Tea, Tonic Water, Grapefruit and Collins Mixer.

(Wow! You could say the bottlers got the flavor options they were looking for – and more!)

Coke's contour bottle gets a family

Until 1955, Coca-Cola was available only as a soda fountain drink and in 6 1/2-ounce glass contour bottles.

1955 saw the debut of the King Size (10- and 12-ounce) and Family Size (26-ounce) glass contour bottles in the U.S., marking an important step in giving people more options to meet their needs.

Coke means Coca-Cola

Though it seems strange today, at one point in our Company’s history, we resisted use of the word “Coke.”

We thought that since the brand was called “Coca-Cola,” people should call it just that -- and not use a shortened version. As you can see from how often I use “Coke” to refer to the brand, the idea of only using “Coca-Cola” didn’t stick!

It wasn’t until June 1941 -- 67 years ago – that we embraced the abbreviation and first used the term “Coke” in magazine ads. That began an entire ad campaign in which we connected the names “Coke” and “Coca-Cola.” We actually said that “Coke means Coca-Cola” and told people it was OK to use just “Coke.”

TaB – Our first diet drink

This year, our first diet drink – TaB -- turns 45!

Though diet products are common today, TaB was quite an innovation back in 1963. In fact, TaB spurred the early growth of low-calorie soft drinks -- a novel idea when the brand arrived on U.S. store shelves.

TaB was aimed at women -- particularly those who wished “to keep tab on their calories.” At the time, sugarless beverages really appealed solely to people watching their weight, and the average person on the street would not drink sugar-free beverages like we all do today.

TaB has seen its share of changes in its 45 years. Look for more posts about TaB in the future. (I have a lot to say, and you’d be here a long time if I told you all about the brand in this one story!)

One more thing though: Today, TaB sometimes can be difficult to find. And no one knows that better than our very loyal (extremely loyal!) TaB drinkers. They love TaB, and will go to almost any lengths to find their favorite drink!

Do you drink TaB? What have you done to find it?