 May 8, 1886, marked the day the new beverage Coca-Cola®, created by pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton, was first sold in Atlanta, GA. Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, suggested the name and penned the now famous trademark "Coca-Cola®" in his unique script, still used today. |
| In 1887, Coca-Cola® was promoted through an innovation developed by The Coca-Cola Company -- coupons providing free samples of the new drink. |
| In 1894, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Joseph Biedenharn was so impressed by the growing demand for Coca-Cola® at his soda fountain that he installed bottling machinery in the rear of his store and became the first to put Coca-Cola® in bottles. |
| On December 4, 1895, Asa Candler proclaimed that Coca-Cola® was sold and consumed in every state and territory of the United States. |
| Large-scale bottling was made possible in 1899, when Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead of Chattanooga, Tennessee, secured from Asa Candler the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola®. They joined John Lupton and began to develop what is today the worldwide Coca-Cola® bottling system. |
| In 1906, the first three countries to bottle Coca-Cola® outside the United States were Cuba, Canada and Panama. |
| In 1912, a Coca-Cola® bottling plant opened in the Philippines, our first in Asia. The first European Coca-Cola® bottling plants opened in Paris and Bordeaux, France, in 1919. |
| The contour bottle for Coca-Cola® - so distinctive it could be recognized in the dark - was introduced in 1916 to distinguish Coca-Cola® from competitors. |
| The six-pack carrier for bottles of Coca-Cola® was introduced in 1923. Though cartons for bottles are commonplace today, in 1923 this was an innovation developed by the Coca-Cola® system to encourage people to take bottles of Coca-Cola® home and drink it more often. |
| The July 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam marked the debut of The Coca-Cola Company's Olympic involvement, when a freighter arrived with the U.S. Olympic Team and 1,000 cases of Coca-Cola®. The Company is the longest-continuous corporate supporter of the Olympic Movement and in 2005 extended its sponsorship of the Olympic Games through 2020. |
| In 1929, the Glascock Brothers Manufacturing Company of Muncie, Indiana, introduced the first standard cooler sanctioned by The Coca-Cola Company. The open-top machines were self-service units that required the consumer to pay a store clerk for purchases. |
| In December 1931, artist Haddon Sundblom's Santa Claus first appeared in ads for Coca-Cola®. This image of Santa - shown as a plump, jolly, friendly man - helped shape the modern-day image of St. Nick. Sundblom continued creating this sustaining image of Santa Claus for the next three decades. |
| The 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago marked the introduction of automatic fountain dispensers, in which syrup and carbonated water were mixed as the drink was poured. |
| 1955 saw the debut of the King Size (10- and 12-ounce) and Family Size (26-ounce) contour bottles in the U.S., followed by Coca-Cola® in 12-ounce cans in 1960. Until this point, Coca-Cola® had been available only at the soda fountain and in 6 ½-ounce bottles. |
| The Fanta® line of flavors was introduced in the United States in 1960, marking the widespread introduction of the brand. Sprite® was introduced in U.S. stores in 1961. These launches marked the first new brands in The Coca-Cola Company's history. Until these introductions, Coca-Cola® was the Company's only brand. |
| In 1960, The Coca-Cola Company acquired Minute Maid® with its Minute Maid, Snow Crop® and Hi-C® brands. |
| The Coca-Cola Company's first diet soft drink, TaB®, was introduced in the U.S. in 1963 and spurred the early growth of the low-calorie soft-drink segment. |
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In 1982, soft-drink history was made with the introduction of
Diet Coke®, the first extension of the trademarks Coca-Cola®
and Coke®, and the most successful new soft drink since Coca-Cola®
itself. Within two years, Diet Coke® had become the top low-calorie
soft drink in the world.
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| On July 12, 1985, Coca-Cola® became the first soft drink to be consumed in space when astronauts tested the "Coca-Cola® Space Can" aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. Working with NASA, The Coca-Cola Company invested more than $250,000 in the initial development of the space can technology. |
| Coca-Cola® was named the most powerful brand name in the world, according to the Landor Imagepower Survey in 1988. |
| The Coca-Cola Company launched an innovative new aluminum contour bottle in 2005. |
| April 2006- Coca-Cola® launches innovative global multimedia communications campaign for its trademark brand Coca-Cola® under the slogan "The Coke® Side of Life." |
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