Amsterdam Olympics Began 82 Years Ago Today

On this day in 1928, the Amsterdam Olympics started beginning The Coca-Cola Company's 82 year involvement with the Games.  We have blogged before about our efforts at those games to provide Coca-Cola to spectators and athletes at kiosk near the venues. 

But you may not know that Johnny Weismuller, who appeared on the 1934 tray to the left, won two gold medals for swimming at the Amsterdam games.  During his Olympic career, Weismuller won a total of five gold and one bronze medals.  Weismuller was actually the second person in his family to model for Coca-Cola, his wife, Lupe Velez appeared in advertising beginning in 1932.

 

Samson Introduced 40 Years Ago Today

We are celebrating another birthday today.  On July 27th, 1970, The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was continuing its development of protein based beverages with the introduction of Samson in Surinam.  We have blogged previously about the different nutritional beverages, Samson followed Saci in this space.  While it was originally sold in bottles, later, a powdered version was released.  We have samples of both the powder and the bottles on display in the innovation section of the Milestones Gallery at the World of Coca-Cola.

If you are interested in more information, I have attached the original press release. Download Samson 1970 Press Release

Brazil 2014 World Cup Can

As soon as the 2010 World Cup was over, the logo for the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil was released. And just a few days ago we got in our newest artifact for our sports collection: A Commemorative FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 can that features the logo prominently. We received this from our friends in the sports marketing department, and before I catalog it, I'm sharing a picture with you. The line on the bottom of the can that reads "Felicidade é ter a Copa do Mundo FIFA Aqui" means "Happiness is having the FIFA World Cup Here".

Blog Poll: Netherlands vs Spain World Cup Final

We are down to the final two teams who will play this weekend in the FIFA World Cup Final in South Africa: The Netherlands and Spain. I thought it'd be interesting to do an unscientific poll of Coca-Cola Conversations readers to see who we collectively thought the winner would be. Although I'm not going public with my prediction, I will offer up a few links that represent soccer and Coke from each country. This 1962 Dutch print ad from The Netherlands translates to "When You Pause...Coca-Cola Refreshes You Best!".  This 1954 calendar page from Spain translates to "Tastes Good Ice Cold." Let us know below who you think will celebrate with the FIFA trophy this weekend:

1977 FIFA World Youth Tournament for the Coca-Cola Cup

I'm really enjoying the elimination rounds of the FIFA World Cup. As you prepare to watch the games this weekend, I thought I'd share another Coke and FIFA historical poster from our files. This is a Dutch poster from 1977, when Coke along with FIFA launched The FIFA World Youth Tournament for "The Coca-Cola Cup." This first ever sponsored youth tournament for 16-19 year olds was held in Tunis, Tunisia. 16 countries (five European, two Central American, three South American, three African and three Asian) competed in the tournament, which was held in Tunisia. In the same year, we launched the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Football Development Program -- an educational effort designed to share soccer technology, teaching, training, administration and officiating in up to 100 countries where soccer was a relatively young and growing sport.  Also, don't forget that this weekend is the final weekend to see the 2010 FIFA World Cup exhibit at the World of Coke.

Coke footage at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile

I mentioned in a post yesterday that Coca-Cola began stadium advertising at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 1950. We have a film in our collection that captures some of the ways Coke was a part of the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Santiago, Chile. In the video clip, you can see a Spanish language Coke billboard advertisement on a busy street that says "Welcome to the World of Futbol 1962" and features a soccer player. In addition to this, you also get a glimpse of how busy the Coke bar was as people crowd around for refreshment during halftime of one of the games. The concession stand workers' hands move very quickly in fulfilling orders. Just as our US office sponsored highlight films of the World Series, The Masters and NASCAR each year, this film was sponsored by our German division for their bottlers. While I could not understand the speaker, the images of Coke neon signs and the celebration that occurs after Brazil's 3-1 championship victory over Czechoslovakia speak for themselves.

 

 

 

Coke and FIFA Go For The Goal Training Kits

I'm sure you are geared up to watch the FIFA World Cup in South Africa which begins tomorrow. I wanted to highlight a little piece of Coke FIFA history in our Archives that I came across a few weeks ago. Although Coca-Cola began stadium advertising at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 1950, 1978 was the year we became an official worldwide sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. In that same year, we along with FIFA launched the "Go For Goal" training kit to aid coaches in their teaching of young players. The kits included films, slides, wall charts and coaching cards that were made available through bottlers of Coca-Cola. Karl-Heinz Heddergott, who was considered the world's foremost expert on teaching soccer to youth, led the series and the instructional films. Here is one of the set of 64 coaching cards in Thai that was found in our Thailand collection. On the front side coaches are given a diagram of the technique with an explanation of the drill on the back.

This Date In Coca-Cola Company History

It’s May 5th and that means Cinco de Mayo, but did you know that 40 years ago today is the also when a former Olympic athlete became the Chairman of the Board at The Coca-Cola Company?   As a young Harvard undergraduate, Paul Austin, competed in the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin as a member of the U.S. Rowing Team.  

Austin went on to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II, with a Motor Torpedo Squadron in the Pacific, and eventually came back to the U.S. after his adventures to become the President of Coca-Cola (1962), Chief Executive Officer (1966) and Chairman of the Board (1970). 

The Coca-Cola Company grew dramatically under Austin’s leadership following his belief that The Company, “…should be a good citizen wherever we are.”  Austin retired in 1981, after 30 years with the Company.

1936 China Paper Poster at the World of Coke

You have probably heard that the Expo 2010 in Shanghai is opening tomorrow. In honor of the opening, I'd like to spotlight an interesting China related poster on display at the World of Coke. This 1936 poster features a fashionable woman holding a glass of Coke, right under a Chinese Coca-Cola logo. The interesting thing about this piece is that while it clearly appears to be a piece of foreign advertising, it was actually produced for use in American Chinatowns. For this reason, it is often referred to in collectors' circles as "Chinatown." This can be found in the Milestones of Refreshment case in the section highlighting fashion.

 

A Touch Of Mexico At The World Of Coke

We received quite a bit of feedback on our post the week about the commemorative bottles being produced in Mexico so I decided so share some of the Mexican items on display for our Friday Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola.

Each of the galleries in the Milestones of Refreshment exhibit represent a significant innovation or event in our history.  Milestone Eight represents the growth of our international business since our first bottling efforts in Cuba, Panama and Canada in 1906.  We tried to offer examples from as many countries as we could, but given the strong heritage of Coca-Cola in Mexico, it should not be surprising that there are quite a few items from that country in the case.

I have included photographs of some of my favorites.  The most valuable is likely the 1928 calendar which is worth between $ 1,500 to $ 2,000 depending on condition.  One of the more unusual it the napkin dispenser, which as you can see from the photograph, has been touched up a bit.  I also love the color and vibrant message of the two trays, they are so different from what was produced in the US.  The slogan on the round one - "Chispa de la Vida" was an important one in Mexico and loosely translates to "the spark of life."