Coca-Cola Vanity License Plates

The 37th annual meeting of The Coca-Cola Collectors Club is being held at the Waverly Hotel at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta this week.  Over 1,000 people have registered for the convention.

Our Archives team attended the silent auction and some of the seminars yesterday and will be back for more today. If you are a fan of Coca-Cola collectibles and can make it to Atlanta, register for the event here.  The swap meet will also be open to the public 10:00 am on Saturday morning, so even if you have hot registered, you can attend.

As I was walking in from the parking lot, I enjoyed looking at some of the Coca-Cola based vanity license plates I saw on some of the cars.  Which is your favorite?

Atlanta Drinks on WMBL 1690

I recently did an interview for Gene Kansas for the Sidewalk Radio program on WMBL 1690 here in Atlanta.  The program is a monthly, 25-minute, special feature that thematically focuses on art, architecture, design, development, city planning and preservation.  The episode I was a part of was titled "Atlanta Drinks," and also included an interview with Holman & Finch Mixologist, Greg Best.  Gene approached me after seeing the painting (pictured above) we have on display at H&F.  The program discusses the impact Coca-Cola had on the city of Atlanta in advertising, art and culture.  Click on this link to listen to the show.

Leonard Maltin on Coke and the movies

I have always been a big fan of Leonard Maltin and enjoy both his great knowlege about the movies as well as his reviews.  Last week I was excited to see this great post about Coca-Cola and the movies that Leonard Maltin wrote after a recent visit to the World of Coca-Cola.  It is always interesting to see what people focus on and how they react to the artifacts we selected for the World of Coke, I just wish I had been there to give him the tour!

1951 Egyptian Newspaper Ads

My name is Stephanie Nestor and I am the summer intern here at the Coca-Cola Archives.  I am in graduate school at the University of Texas in Austin, where I am studying to become an archivist.  I'm in the second week of my internship now and have really enjoyed my time here so far.  It has been great getting to know the Archives team and working with the Coca-Cola artifacts and materials.  I'll be working on a variety of projects throughout the summer.  You've already gotten a sneak-peek here on the blog of one project I'm really looking forward to: the 125th Anniversary Collection.  Ted has shared some of the great memorabilia that has been shipped in from around the world.  Keep posted because I will be sharing some of those great pieces on the blog as well.

Last week, I began processing 1940s and 1950s advertising releases that the Coca-Cola Export Corporation sent to the international braches of the company.  Most of the print advertisements used by the foreign branches were American ads with translated text.  Of course it's always interesting going through these print ads, but I had seen a lot of Coca-Cola's early advertisements before beginning this internship.  So, I was particularly interested when I came across these Egyptian newspaper ads that ran in early 1951.  I had never before seen early Coca-Cola print ads like these before.  The Coca-Cola Export Corporation sent these Egyptian ads to the other branches as an example of how to adapt the campaign to the needs of the local market. 

London Design Museum Video Blog

One of the more interesting things I did while I was in London a few weeks ago was film an interview with Bianca, who is a blogger on parenting, art and design.  You can read her blog here.  While we had scheduled the interview beforehand, I had never met her and I did not expect to see her show up dressed to match the 50s advertising posters we had on display at the Design Museum!  She was great and we had fun filming the segment and I hope you enjoy the video and scenes from the Design in Perfect Harmony event we did that night.  You can also read a blog I write for the Coca-Cola Great Britain website here.

 

 

James Jarvis Collectible Can Set

I recently received a package from our office in Hong Kong and was not quite sure what they were sending to the Archives.  When I opened the box, I was excited to see they had sent a special collectors box with a set of the six James Jarvis cans I had been reading about. 

Jarvis is a well known British Illustrator who specializes in creating cartoon characters.  He created the six new characters for special Coca-Cola 125th anniversary items.  The can set was complemented by t-shirts, bags and other items. The designs are some of the more interesting Coca-Cola items I have seen in some time.

Collectible 125th Anniversary Bottles

Many of our markets around the world have been producing collectible 125th Anniversary themed packaging. Over the next several weeks, I will highlight some of the items we have received for the Archives from countries around the world.

The most recent bottle we received is a beautifully decorated porcelain contour from Russia.  The bottle comes in a wooden box and has a card that gives the story of the manufacturer.  It is a limited edition vintage porcelain that was manufactured at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in Saint Petersburg.  The factory started production in 1744 and is now considered to be one of the only producers of premium class fine porcelain on the basins of unique hand molding technologies and delicate hand decorations.  The bottle has an Imperial Porcelain stamp and seal with the 1744 date imprinted on the bottom of the bottle.

 

The Brothers Hildebrandt College Poster Series

In 1977, The Coca-Cola Company commissioned illustrators, brothers Greg and Tim Hildebrandt to paint a series of illustrations which would be used as a promotional items for colleges.  The Hildebrants became famous when they were selected to illustrate the 1976 calendar for J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels.  The 1977 version of that calendar sold more that one million copies becoming one of the best selling calendars of the era.   1977 was a good year for the pair as they also illustrated the movie poster for the first Star Wars film.

The artwork the brothers Hildebrandt created for Coca-Cola had typical college activites recast in a fantasy setting.  The posters were popular enough that McDonald's negotiated an exclusive distribution agreement with Coca-Cola until the program was discontinued in 1985. We have the original artwork in the Archives, but you do not see too many of the posters in the marketplace.

All American Eats on the Food Network

The Food Network filmed an interview with me at the World of Coca-Cola several months ago.  The interview was for an episode of their popular program, Unwrapped.  The episode, "All American Eats," premiered while I was in Singapore, but it will be re-run several times in the coming weeks.  The theme of the episode was to reveal unknown secrets about Coca-Cola.  The team from Food Network was fun to work with (even at 7:00 in the morning) and the episode turned out great.  This link will take you to the episode guide for Unwrapped to see when it airs in your area.

125th Celebrations in Singapore

On Monday, May 30th, I was able to be in Singapore as they celebrated the 125th anniversary of Coca-Cola with a series of events and exhibits culminating with the release of a special commemorative stamp set.

I had worked with the team in Singapore  to develop and ship a set of exhibit cases highlighting our heritage in Asia, sports and pop culture.  It was exciting to get to see the cases in person and watch the crowds interest in the artifacts.  The cases also featured our first use of iPads to share the descriptions that would have been traditional labels printed and placed near the artifacts. The use of videos and jingles with the iPads made these some of the most interactive cases we have created.  The exhibits cases will continue to travel in Singapore and will be on display at The Cathay (11th June), Bugis Junction (18th & 19th June) and Republic Polytechnic (21st June).

There were two celebrations that day, the first included over 150 Coca-Cola system employees. The second was an evening event which included media, Coca-Cola partners, business leaders and local figures in culture and entertainment.  I was honored to meet Mr. David Adelman, the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore (in photo above left with Coca-Cola Singapore General Manager Tony Del Rosario.)   Both groups were treated to a medley of songs by Singapore songstress, Michaela Therese, who was discovered when she first sang the vocal for the "Life Taste Good" jingle.  The musical walk through time set up my discussions where I revealed the secret formula for Coca-Cola.  Well, I don't really know or share the formula, but I did give an overview on some of the milestone events events over the last 125 years. I had also scanned some very early photographs of Coca-Cola in Singapore.  We entered the market 75 years ago and the photos were a big surprise.
 
The highlight of the evening was when the the stamp set, pictured below, was introduced by Coca-Cola Singapore General Manager Tony Del Rosario and Singapore Post Executive Vice President (Philatelic,) Mr. Wong Hok Siong.  The four stamps in the set each feature an iconic image associated with the Coca-Cola brand.  The stamps will be on sale at locations in Singapore or on-line at  https://shop.vpost.com.sg/vPOSTMall/execute/viewCatalog?catalog=CSCOCMYS

I really enjoyed my time in Singapore and was honored to be a part of the celebrations.