Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola - 1971 Hilltop Commercial

For this week's Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola feature, we've got a special treat. Did you know that you can relive the best Coca-Cola television advertising throughout the years and around the world in the Perfect Pauses Theater on level two of the World of Coke? You can see many of your favorite Coca-Cola commercials here, including the famous 'Hilltop' commercial, often called 'I'd Like to Buy The World A Coke.' After the commercial was released in July, 1971, we received 10,000 letters from consumers within 10 days of the first air date, and radio stations around the country were inundated with requests for the song, which would later become a top 40 hit. The song has been remade more than 75 times! I'd thought we'd share the commercial with you. Enjoy!

Sampling Coupons: The Continuing Story

A few days ago, I did a post on sampling coupons and the impact that they had on our early business. One reader left a comment suggesting that I do a follow-up story on another version of those coupons that occurred a few years later. I am happy to do so.

As the twentieth century dawned, The Coca-Cola Company began to use a number of personalities in its advertising. One of the more prominent individuals was an American opera singer named Lillian Nordica (1857-1914). Nordica regularly performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and was one of the superstars of the stage.Her image graced serving trays, calendars, posters and novelty items distributed by the Company. In 1905, Nordica appeared in a full color magazine ad that was published in the leading magazines of the time including Good Housekeeping, Munsey's Magazine and Scribner's Magazine. Attached to the bottom of the ad was a sampling coupon for a free glass of Coca-Cola at the soda fountain.The coupon could be clipped from the magazine ad and redeemed for the free sample.During 1905, almost $43,000 worth of coupons were redeemed in that year alone.

If you were able to find one of those Nordica ads with the coupon still attached, it would have a value in the area of $750.

 

Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola: Sampling Coupons

Whenever a new product is introduced to the marketplace, one of the biggest challenges is to have people try it. Asa Candler faced this exact situation after he acquired Coca-Cola in the early 1890s. His solution was to offer consumers a free sample of his new product through the use of sampling coupons.

Using the direct mail technique, Candler sent letters and coupons to consumers inviting them to visit their local soda fountain and enjoy a free glass of Coca-Cola. Between 1894-1913, more than 8.5 million coupons were redeemed by the Company. Almost one of every nine Americans had received a free drink-a staggering statistic.

At the World of Coca-Cola, we exhibit a number of these coupons in a display case that features many of the pioneering marketing efforts that Asa Candler initiated.Typically, you will see these individual coupons sell in the $300-$400 range at collector events.

 

 

Individual Appraisals

Many of the comments I receive to my blog posts request evaluations of individual items. While Ido try to suggest resources where individuals can find information on the current values of collectibles, it is impossible for me to provide appraisals of specific pieces. I have communicated this limitation previously, but I do understand that there are always new readers coming to the blog who may not understand my inability to be responsive on this issue.

Here are a few tips for readers who are curious about the value of items they own. The best overall price guide is Allan Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide, now in its 12th edition. This book has over 600 pages of information on the values of advertising materials, promotional items and packaging. It can be found in any major bookstore. Yet, despite its extensive coverage of the collectibles field, the Petretti Guide cannot list everything. Online auction sites such as eBay are excellent resources to get a sense of what collectors are buying and selling, and at what prices.Antiqueshows, flea markets and collector meetings are other places that can provide valuable data on the market value of memorabilia.

Reading the posts that I have done in the Memorabilia category on the blog will also provide an overall framework for determining what items have significant value. I can't cover everything, and the blog was never intended to function as an online price guide,but I have tried to provide some guidance on those items that continually have an appeal to collectors.

I will continue to do posts on collectibles and their values and welcome your comments on those posts, but please do not ask me to set a price for the treasure you have in your attic or basement.

Spotlight On The World Of Coca-Cola: Syrup Urn

In 1896, The Coca-Cola Company embarked on a program of offering award premiums to the fountain operators selling our beverage.  Among the items offered as premiums were these porcelain dispensers, which, in essence, were not entirely dispensers as they are known today, but rather were promotional units designed for the point of sale.

The dispensers were made by the Wheeling Pottery Company, Wheeling, West Virginia.   These units dispensed the syrup by gravity flow through a faucet placed beneath the bowl.  They were an ornament for the soda fountain and were shaped and elaborately designed reflecting late Victorian motifs.

We have two of them on display at the World of Coca-Cola.  Has anyone seen both?

Painted Wall Signs

The first painted wall sign for The Coca-Cola Company was done in 1894 in Gainesville, GA.  The concept quickly took off and the Company began to commission professional wall sign painters around the country.  According to an excellent 1988 article in the Coca-Cola Collectors News by Bill Bateman and Randy Schaeffer, by 1910 25 % of the entire advertising budget for Coca-Cola was devoted to wall signs.

In addition to the signs commissioned by the Company, our bottlers wanted to utilize this advertising medium.  In order to ensure the standard use of the script logo and colors, the Company began to issue both standards manuals and pounce patterns the bottlers could use for the signs.  While the standards books gave basic instructions on paint colors and how to paint the signs, the pounce patterns were essentially connect the dot paper patterns which could be applied to the wall to give the sign painter lines to paint in.

The photos below are all from a standards books from the 20s, I love the "Right and Wrong Way" page.  Also, note the paint manufacturer listed.

More Recipes for Summer

I am always looking for new recipes to try on the grill, and I have found one that I wanted to share. The recipe comes from KARE, the Minneapolis NBC affiliate where, on a recent program, they featured a wonderful rib concoction. Here it is:

Spicy Coca-Cola Ribs

Ingredients
1 Rack of baby back pork ribs
1 white onion
1 head of garlic
sea salt
black pepper
dried serrano chili peppers (1 to 3 depending on taste)
2 cups Coke (or other black cola with sugar)

Preparation
Mince the garlic and onion. Grind or finely chop the dried peppers. Poke the baby back ribs with a fork to create puncture marks over the surface of the ribs. Rub the ribs with salt, black pepper, garlic, onion, serrano peppers making sure to completely cover the ribs. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow rub to soak up flavor. Put ribs in large bowl or pot and pour cola on ribs up to level that ribs are covered, make sure previous mix is still on ribs. Let marinate for 1 hour in refrigerator.

Cooking
On medium heat on grill put the ribs on the grill. Close grill and grill for about 45 minutes. Check on ribs about every 15 minutes and turn and baste with remaining cola mixture. Ribs are done when when outside starts to blacken, test cut leaks a clear fluid and meat isn't pink. Take ribs off of grill and let rest for a minute or two before cutting. Cut and serve.

Notes: Poking the meat allows the flavors to be more easily absorbed by the meat. Slow cooking the ribs allows them to cook evenly and the flavors to mature. The result is a complex blend of spicy, sweet, salty and smoky flavors.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola: Saci and Samson Drinks

Thought that beverages with added health benefits were new? Think again. In the 1960s, The Coca-Cola Company assigned an international team of scientists and food technologists the task of finding a solution to the “protein gap” facing the poorer nations of the world. The scientists set out to create protein-rich products that would provide necessary vitamins to the populations that needed them most. The first advancements in “The Nutrition Project” were the introduction of the products Saci, Samson and Tai, three protein-rich energy beverages developed in severely malnourished areas of Latin America, utilizing the geographical region’s readily available natural resources, such as soybeans and whey, as protein source ingredients for the beverages. You can see a few of these products in the Milestones of Refreshment display at World of Coca-Cola, and here's a sample of one of the first ads for Saci from Brazil in 1969.

The Collectors Weekly: An Interview and a Resource

One of the great things about my job is that I am always learning new things and discovering new resources that are available to collectors. Recently, I was contacted by a publication I was not familiar with-The Collectors Weekly- to do an interview about Coca-Cola memorabilia.Attached is a link to that interview:

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-coca-cola-historian-and-archivist-phil-mooney/

This on-line, free newsletter covers the entire spectrum of collectibles from glass and furniture to stamps and coins. It is very inclusive and offers something for anybody who is a collector.There is a special section of the newsletter that is devoted to Coca-Cola that includes interviews with collectors, links to collector galleries and websites of interest, including this one, and news articles about Coke collectibles.

One of the outstanding features of this site is their coverage of eBay auctions. If you ever have tried to browse through eBay offerings about Coca-Cola, you know how frustrating and time-consuming it can be.This site simplifies the process and gives you information on the top Coca-Cola items currently being auctioned.Additionally, it allows you to see prices realized for Coca-Cola items for the last week. What a great service to collectors trying to get a sense of what their prized possessions are worth in the open marketplace! This is truly a one stop resource that is well worth a bookmark. Here is a link to that section of the site and some of the other features referenced:

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/coca-cola/overview:

I do receive lots of comments on the blog requesting evaluations of items they hold. As long term readers know, I am unable to provide individual appraisals but try to use the posts to talk about trends in the marketplace and to highlight specific auctions.The Collectors Weekly site is the closest thing you will find to an instant appraisal. Even the best researched, most complete price guide is dated from the moment it is published. To see real values ina a real auction environment, the eBay tracker is tough to beat.

I should also note that the Weekly has selected this blog for their Hall of Fame. I am greatly appreciative of this recognition.

I would love to hear your impressions of this site after you have visited.

Scotland Calling - Robert Burns Bottles

The Archives just received a shipment that had an interesting commemorative bottle and as a result, our post today is all Scottish. 

As 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet, Burns' anniversary was designated by the First Minister Alex Salmond as one of the series of "Homecoming Events" to showcase the best of Scotland and invite all who love Scotland to come home for a visit in 2009.

The Coca-Cola Company helped mark the anniversary by putting an image of the poet on a series of special bottles produced in Scotland.  The bottle was introduced in June and features an image of the poet and a Highland stag.  Auld Lang Syne indeed.

While I was researching our history in Scotland, I came across this great image of Edinburgh Castle with a Coke delivery truck in the foreground.  The photograph appeared in Coca-Cola Overseas magazine in October 1953.