Celebrating St. Patrick's Day-An Irish Collectible

There are not too many promotional materials associated with St. Patrick's Day, but we do have one piece in the collection that fits in that category. In 1996, the Olympic Council of Ireland issued a commemorative pin on the great saint's feast day to help support the Irish Olympic team as they were preparing for the Atlanta Olympics.

When I was in Graduate School at Syracuse University, the focus of the St. Patrick's Day celebration occurred in the Tipperary Hill section of town. A largely Irish community, it may be the only place in the world that features a traffic signal where the green light is in the top position!

Freedom Of Information Day - Secret Formula

Today is the American Library Association's Freedom of Information Day.  The date is James Madison's birthday and was selected to honor his role as the "Father of the Constitution."

In that spirit, we thought that we would share our secret formula with you. 

Just kidding.

We will leave it in the vault where it has been kept safely during our history despite the claims of one Mr. Thompson. 

Ides of March - Things Would Have Gone Better With Coke!

In 1969, The Coca-Cola Company began a very tongue in cheek advertising campaign.  In a play on the words of our slogan, "Things Go Better with Coke," we brought out the "Things Would Have Gone Better with Coke" campaign.  This campaign featured some of histories cast of characters that experienced a bad day or two.

One of those people was Julius Caesar who was not too fond of March.  Today is March 15, or, in the ancient Latin calendar, the Ides of March.  Julius Caesar was famously warned to beware the Ides of March but ignored the warnings and was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate. This famous murder was later dramatized by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar and resulted in one of the few Latin phrases I can still recall from school, "Et Tu, Brute?"

So as you enjoy a Coke today, think about poor Casear and the Ides of March.

Pi Day!

Today is March 14th, or written numerically, 3.14 or, as my kids would say Pi Day!  Enjoy a Coke and an apple pie.

Spotlight On The World of Coca-Cola - Milan Fashion Week Bottles

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the great Diet Coke bottles that had been created for the Milan Fashion Week event last year.  We put the bottles on display at our headquarters for our associates for the last two weeks where they were quite a hit and were even incorporated into the decor of a NASCAR dinner.

The bottles will be put on display at the World of Coca-Cola beginning this Wednesday, March 17th. If you are in Atlanta, make sure to stop by an be a part of the fashion scene.

This video was sent to us by our Italian office to give us an idea of how much excitement there was around the bottles.

Coca-Cola Game Gear

I recently attended a "gaming" summit at The Coca-Cola Company.  As part of the background for some of our marketing colleagues, I had pulled some of the early games from the Archives.  While our board games date back to the the 1930s, the team was particularly interested in one of the games our Japanese business produced.

The game was a for a special edition of the Sega Game Gear system introduced in Japan in 1994.  The Sega Game Gear was an early competitor to the Nintendo Game Boy system.  We were looking at some of the technical specification of the game and system.  It boasted an entire 8KB of ram memory and 16KB of video memory.  Most electronic watches are more data intense these days. 

The best part of the meeting was when we loaded batteries into the system and it still worked, allowing my colleague who read Japanese to play the game.  

 

Coke and Fanta Cans from Afghanistan

One of the things we do is collect Coca-Cola packaging, cans and bottles from around the world where Coca-Cola is sold. This helps us to document our growth and business over time and in various locations. Yes, we have a ton of "old stuff", but we also get the items that are new today because in 20 years they will be a part of history. A friend of the Archives who is serving currently in Afghanistan took time out of his busy schedule last week to send us some Coca-Cola products for our collection. I would like to share this photo with you of a Coke can and a Fanta can which were produced in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Spotlight On The World of Coca-Cola - Academy Award

While longtime readers of the blog may remember my earlier post on the Academy Award on display at the World of Coca-Cola, I think the story is worth repeating with the Oscar's airing this Sunday.

The Coca-Cola Company owned Columbia Pictures from 1982 to 1989, and when the movie Gandhi won best picture in 1982, the Company received a duplicate of the statute that was awarded to Producer David Attenborough. 

We used to have the statue in the Archives where it was always a hit with visitors taking tours.  The statute is surprisingly heavy and weighs in at 8.5 pounds.  When you are watching the winners receive their award, note how many of them look surprised by the weight.

Cooking With Coca-Cola - West Egg Cafe Coca-Cola Cupcake

Last year, our team developed several video featuring Chef Linton Hopkins demonstrating several recipes which used Coca-Cola as an ingredient.  This year, we are excited to highlight several restaurants that have Coca-Cola based items on their menu. 

My team went to the West Egg Cafe in Atlanta a few weeks ago to interview Jenifer about a variety of items on their menu.  While these videos may not have the same level of production as our cooking demonstrations last year, the topic is fun and we think they are pretty good for a bunch of Archivists. 

The first video I want to share with you focuses on their award winning Coca-Cola cupcake.  This is their best selling desert item - even outselling their red velvet cake.  Jenifer shared the stories about the cupcake as well as her West Egg Coca-Cola Cake Recipe which had been handed down from her husband's family.  

Snowy Atlanta

This has been a most unusual winter in Atlanta, Georgia where we were founded and have our headquarters.  We are in the midst of our third snowfall this winter, which is three more than we usually have.  Michael Pugh is a professional photographer and a "Friend of the Archives" and has done a great deal of work for The Coca-Cola Company over the years.  Michael sent me this photo that he just took this morning of Weekenders Ready To Order Furniture Company on Highway 53 in Dawson County just north of Atlanta.  It is a beautiful shot by a great photographer and I love the Coke sign in the snow.