Jacob's Pharmacy, 1886.
From the day Coca-Cola was first officially served at Jacob's Pharmacy, commercially, Coca-Cola has been blessed with some of the most visionary and inspired promoters, marketers and advertisers in Advertising history. Beginning with Frank Robinson, the inventor's bookkeeper, followed by Asa Griggs Candler, the 'Father' of Coca-Cola, and through the entire reign of Coca-Cola's true marketing genius, Robert Woodruff, the brand effortlessly maintained supremacy over every other beverage in it's class throughout the era of The Golden Age of Radio.
Promotion c.1900, One 5 cent Drink with every punch
(Click for larger Image)
Coupons for free drinks, punch cards for accumulating free drinks, souvenir fans, calendars depicting breathtakingly well nourished young women and countless novelties -- Coca-Cola made its way into all 48 states in the U.S., as well as it's territories. The Spenserian Coca-Cola script was plastered across some 2.5 million square feet of brick walls across America. Agressive discounts to regional retailers on bulk purchases of syrup were another of the the founders' earliest, most successful promotional gambits.
(Click for larger Image)
(Click for larger Image)
Soon after the Coca-Cola Company was formed, their Spenserian Coca-Cola script and the word "drink", began appearing on the sides of buildings and barns walls all over Georgia . Indeed, by 1908, and estimated 2.5 million square feet of Continental America's provided a constant reminder to "Drink Coca-Cola". Coca-Cola has always been very agile in moving onto more modern and even more creative methods of promotion throughout their 118 year history.
|
|
|
|
|
Large Hamilton King Girl Tray, c.1909
(Click for larger Image)
Novelty items certainly weren't a Coca-Cola innovation, but the degree to which Coca-Cola created them and distributed them set new industry standards. The key was their practicality, and Coca-Cola's insistence on commissioning only the finest artistic talent of the day to produce them. Coca-Cola memorabilia is the most collectable brand in the Collecting World.
Asa Candler's primary credo was that all he had to do is get a Coca-Cola into a potential customer's hands to make them a life-long customer, and history proved him right throughout the entire Golden Age of Radio.
'Juanita' Sheet Music "My Old Kentucky Home", c.1909
(Click for larger Image)
'Juanita' Sheet Music "Rock Me to Sleep, Mother", c.1906
(Click for larger Image)
Turn of the Century Deposit Ticket for one Bottle of Coca-Cola, c.1903
(Click for larger Image)
'The Housekeeper' Magazine for August, c.1909
(Click for larger Image)
Rand McNally Road Map with Coca-Cola Tie-in, 1920's
(Click for larger Image)
|
|
|
