Collectors In The News

I have come across a couple of articles featuring collectors the past few days and wanted to share them with you.

First, US collectors Ray and Dianne Kilinski have a Coca-Cola themed room featured in a story about "Man Caves" on the Woman's Day website.  One of 10 featured rooms, the Coca-Cola room looks great and the story highlights the collection.

Second, British bottle collector John Burley's collection was featured in The Argus, the newspaper for the Brighton region.  While the full story only appears in the printed edition of the story (which I can't post because of rights restrictions,) Burley is quoted as saying he is a "member of the exclusive Coca-Cola Collectors Club."  

If you want to become a member of the exclusive Coca-Cola Collectors Club, check out the website below, and, if you see any stories about collectors in the news, make sure to pass them along to me.

http://www.cocacolaclub.org/

National Bad Poetry Day

August 18th is National Bad Poetry day, and I have to celebrate by showing a series of interesting ads.  Created in 1971, these ads ran in Editor & Publisher and other trade magazines.  While the purpose of the ads was to reinforce the rules about printing our trademark, the first ad challenged the trade press to write a better limerick about the rules of use of our trademark than this one purportedly created by our legal team.

The rules that we write are three:

We abhor the diminutive "c"

and "s" preceeded by "e" or "a"

is no better than apostrophe.

The winner of the limerick would win a trip to Atlanta to have dinner with our legal staff. 

As one would imagine, the replies were swift and furious.  Many pointed out that the initial rhyme was not even a limerick and that the ad had misspelled the word "preceeded."  After a few mea culpas, a follow up ad declared that Carol Wait of The Seymour Daily Tribune won the contest.

We don't have any prizes now, but you are welcome to submit your own limericks about the trademark.  We will even post the good ones.

Athos Menaboni and The Wind Ship

One of the things that fascinates me about the heritage of the Coca-Cola Company is all the unexpected stories about our Company and brand.  For years, we had an item in the Archives listed as "Airplane Wallpaper."  I knew the general story that the wallpaper was hand painted by noted Georgia artist, Athos Menaboni, but I recently ran across this article in one of our internal magazines about the award winning plane and crew. Download The Wind Ship article from Coca-Cola Refresher.

There are a few other bits of trivia from this story.  Athos Menaboni was selected to paint the wallpaper because Robert W. Woodruff was a huge fan of his work.  Woodruff used a Menaboni bird painting for his Christmas card every year for decades.  The second is that the plane's name, "The Wind Ship" was a clever play on Robert Woodruff's middle name, Winship.  Finally, we had a section of the wallpaper framed and it is on display at the Aviation Services office for the Company.

Christmas In August

We had a couple of special visitors at The Coca-Cola Company today.  Our lunch guest created quite a scene in the cafeteria.  The were excited when Phil showed them the new Freestyle fountain dispenser.  When they moved on to the Everything Coca-Cola store, they attracted quite a crowd with everyone asking to have their pictures taken.  Everyday is Christmas here at The Coca-Cola Company.

 

Barq's Celebrates International Beer Day

Today is August 5th which is International Beer Day.  I don't know about you, but my first thought was for a Barq's Root Beer.  This brand has always been one of my favorites because shortly after joining the Company in 1997, I was put in charge of building a small museum for Barq's in Biloxi, Mississippi to celebrate the centennial of the brand in 1998.  We had a blast celebrating the centennial and I learned a great deal about the heritage of the brand The Coca-Cola Company had acquired in 1995.

My favorite Barq's promotion is perfectly in keeping with International Beer Day.  One of the most clever promotions involving Barq's was for "Free Soviet Stuff."  Select cans in 12 packs were actually hollow and contained trinkets that were supposed to have come from the former Soviet Union.  We actually have quite a few of these items in the Archives including pins, medals and the hollowed out cans.

So, for this International Beer Day, I am going to toast "Free Soviet Stuff" with an ice cold Barq's Root Beer.

Coca-Cola Brisket At The 5 Spot In Seattle

While my wife and kids were on vacation in Seattle last week I received a text from them with a photograph of the menu from the 5 Spot restaurant.  The portion of the menu she sent me offered Coca-Cola Brisket and they wanted to let me know because they knew how much I loved to find places that serve Coke as an ingredient.  

The 5 Spot is interesting in that the menu and the interior decor have changed over time as they have completed a regional food festival altering the menu every few months to focus on a different region of the US.  While my family was there, Seattle was the theme and the place was decorated with computer paraphernalia and grunge band flannel shirts.

I e-mailed Jessica Skye Bolt who is the General Manager of the 5 Spot and she said that the Coca-Cola Brisket was added to the menu more that 10 years ago when they were focusing on the food of Brooklyn and wanted a good brisket recipe.  It has been a top seller ever since.  In fact, they sell out of it every night, so if you are in the Seattle area looking for a good meal, make sure to get there early.  I know my family loved it!

World Of Coca-Cola Opened In 1990

Twenty years ago today, on August 3, 1990, the doors of The World of Coca-Cola opened to the public for the first time.  The three story building housed over 1,000 artifacts which told the history of The Coca-Cola Company in a chronological fashion.  The attraction also featured several exhibits which were considered state of the art at the time including a bottling fantasy that appeared to fill bottles as they traveled around the opening room, a 30s era soda fountain with live soda jerk and dispenser systems where to product appeared to have been shot from across the room.  At the height of its popularity, the World of Coca-Cola at Underground Atlanta attracted over one million visitors a year.  The facility was open until the new World of Coca-Cola at Pemberton Place was opened in May, 2007.  The building at Underground Atlanta now belongs to the State of Georgia.

If you ever visited, I hope these photographs bring back good memories.

 

A Toast to a Very Loyal Consumer

Over the years, consumers have written to the Company to share their memories and associations with Coca-Cola. I received one of those recollections a few weeks ago from Mike Clement of Charlotte, North Carolina. He wrote about his mother, Carol Oakes Clement, and her lifelong love of Coke. I found the story so moving that I thought that readers of this blog would enjoy it. Here it is in Mike's words:

My Mother's Story

When I was growing up the Coke trucks delivered to our home and to the home
of my Aunt. We lived in Richmond, Virginia at the time and Coca-Cola was
like water in my Scotch-Irish family. I never remember a time when my Mother
did not have a small green glass bottle of Coke with a straw by her side.
And I mean I never remember a time. We had our share of life traumas when I
was growing up but none so memorable as those trying months when "new" Coke
was introduced. My mother and all of my Aunts when on a buying spree of the
old formula and in-fact filled two garage bays at one Aunt's home.

Last year during a trip to Congo with my youngest son, my Mother died at our
home. She was under Hospice care and had lived with us for two years. She
came to our home when my youngest was still in high school and they had
grown very close. My eldest son was here with her when she passed away.
My Mother did not want a funeral but we decided on a small
informal graveside service in the North Carolina town where we had
lived for many years after leaving Richmond.

To celebrate her life, we had a music school trio play some of her favorite
songs. We also had picnic tables set up in the June sun to serve small
bottles of Coca-Cola with little straws. It was the first "on-site"
reception the funeral home could remember. It was my son's idea and it could
not have been a more fitting tribute. Everyone cheered my Mother and
her love of Coca-Cola. Those small green bottles added a great deal of joy tothe lives of those my Mother had touched.

To capstone the occasion, my son had one more idea. As the cemetery workers
began to seal the niche at the columbarium, he slid an open bottle of Coke
with a straw into the site. He told me afterwards and while I had visions of ants carrying away my Mother's ashes...I know she would not have wanted it any other way! Thousands of tiny pall bearers drawn by the sweet enticing taste of Coca-Cola! We have had such fun with this story and she would have enjoyed it very much. She was a steadfast and loyal Coke drinker for over 70 years.

Thanks to Mike for sharing his recollection. I will drink a Coke in her honor.