The Coca-Cola Company is a limited liability company
incorporated in 1892 with headquarters in Atlanta, USA. With international
brands such as Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Minute Maid the company currently
leads the beverage industry in terms of market capitalisation. The company
garners an 8.4% global market share as against 3.6% share of rival PepsiCo (as
of July 2015). The company produces syrup concentrate and sell it to licensed
Coca-Cola bottling companies throughout the world. The bottling companies also
carbonate the concentrate and add sweeteners to suit local taste.
Success Story
In 1886, an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr
John Pemberton, created a formula for a fragrant, caramel-coloured liquid which
he manufactured and took to Jacobs’ Pharmacy where the mixture was mixed with
carbonated water. The unique taste of
the drink was highly commended by consumers at the soda fountain in Jacob’s
Pharmacy. In response, Jacobs’ Pharmacy started selling the drink at five cents
(about 3p) a glass. The first sale was made on May 8, 1886. Dr Pemberton’s
bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, named the mixture Coca-Cola and wrote it out in a distinctive
script which became the trademark of the company. The name was extracted from
two of its original ingredients: kola nuts and coca leaves. Dr Pemberton could
sell nine glasses of Coca-Cola a day until it was sold out to Candler.
In 1887, Dr Pemberton sold the
formula to Atlanta businessman, Asa Griggs Candler, for a total of $2,300
(about £1,500). Candler had a great vision for the drink. Through aggressive
marketing strategies, Candler promoted Coca-Cola from soda fountains to a
household name. In 1892, Candler incorporated the Coca-Cola Company and in
1893, the trademark “Coca-Cola” was also registered in the U.S. Patent Office. The
company was capitalised at $100,000 at incorporation. Candler advertised the
brand by giving consumers at the soda fountains coupons as complementary for
tasting coca-cola for the first time. He also equipped distributing pharmacists
with calendars, clocks, apothecary scales and urns all bearing the Coca-Cola
brand. These medium of advertisement made Coca-Cola very popular and you could
see the brand everywhere. Through this marketing strategies Candler was able to
raise sales from about 9,000 gallons of syrup in 1890 to 370,877 gallons in
1900. Within this same decade he established syrup-making plants in Dallas, Los
Angeles, and Philadelphia.
Despite Candler’s business prowess he
never vision the drink could be portable for customers to take everywhere. In
1894, Joseph Biedenharn, a Mississippi businessman, first bottled Coca-Cola by
installing bottling machinery in his soda fountain. He sent 12 of them to
Candler but Candler couldn’t see the future in bottled beverages. But in 1899,
three Chattanooga businessmen, Benjamin Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John
Lupton could pay just $1 dollar to Candler to secure the exclusive right to
bottle the drink. This contract has been binding up till today. After the drink
became portable, imitators also took advantage of the popularity of the brand
to make their own money. The imitations drew the attention of the company to
get a more unique shape for the bottle. In response the company organised a
contest for the design of a unique bottle. The contest was won by Root Glass
Company of Terre Haute, Indiana who was made to design a glass that could be
recognised in the dark. In 1916, Root Glass began manufacturing the famous
Contour Bottle which was trademarked in 1977 as the signature shape of
Coca-Cola.
Road to World Fame
In 1919, Asa Candler sold the company
for $25 million to a group of investors led by Atlanta businessman Ernest
Woodruff. In 1923, Ernest’s son, Robert Woodruff was made the president of the
company. This revolutionary team took the company onto the world stage. Robert
was very strategic and could take advantage of every least opportunity to
market the Coca-Cola brand. His vision was to make Coca-Cola the preferred
beverage and within ‘arm’s reach of desire’ for everyone on earth. Robert
introduced the brand onto the world stage in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics by supporting
the USA team.
World War II
The altruistic service provided by
the company during World War II brought a massive impact to the company. In
1941, America entered World War II and thousands of US citizens were sent
overseas. To support the brave men overseas, the company provided a bottle of
Coca-Cola to every man in uniform, wherever he was, for just five cents. Many
people tasted the drink for the first time during the war. After the war, the
foundations had been laid for the company to do business overseas. The
countries with bottling plants almost doubled from the mid 1940s until 1960.
In 1946, the company purchased the rights to produce Fanta
which used to be manufactured in Germany.
In 1961, Sprite was
introduced by the company.
In 1960, they entered the
citrus juice market by the purchase of Minute Maid Corporation.
In 1981 a new CEO and chairman,
Roberto C Goizueta, was appointed. Roberto introduced a strategy he called
‘intelligent risk taking’ which completely changed the face of Coca-Cola. This was an era the company was prepared to
take risk through product development. On the 8th of July 1982, the
company introduced the first extension of the Coca-Cola brand called “Diet
Coke” in USA. Within just two years, it became the highest selling low-calorie
soft drink in the USA.
In 1985, the company took the
greatest risk by developing a new taste for Coca-Cola. The company introduced
“New Coke” in substitute of the initial Coca-Cola taste. Though there were lots
of research and surveys before the new taste was adopted it received lots of
complaints from consumers after adoption. Few days later, several opinion poll
showed consumers preferred the original Coca-Cola to the “New Coke”. The
company responded to the complaints and returned the original product to the
market as Coca-Cola Classic. The company learned lots of lessons from this
decision.
The impact on the company from the
1928 Amsterdam Olympics made the company more interested in international
games. They provided ongoing support for the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup™
football, Rugby World Cup and the USA National Basketball Association.
The Coca-Cola brand expanded through
the acquisition of Limca, Maaza and Thums Up in India, Barq’s root beer in the
US, Inca Kola in Peru and Cadbury Schweppes beverage brands.
In 2009 the “Open Happiness” campaign
was launched globally. The slogan is an invitation to billions around the world
to pause, refresh with a Coca-Cola, and continue to enjoy one of life’s simple
pleasures.
The company has been able to build a
brand reflecting happiness, friends and good times.
