http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7YJ56K-NI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Coca Cola’s Christmas adverts are legendry and their impact has actually shaped much of our perception of what Christmas should ‘look like’. Father Christmas we know traditionally as being big fat and with a red suit, but it was Coca Cola who spread that image of him. Coca Cola started their Christmas advertising in the 1920s and before the red Santa, who was produced in 1931, Santa ranged from big, small, skinny fat – even elf like at times!
Coca Cola sales rose to almost £1.1bn in the UK last year, and is not only the Brits’ most loved brand (according to Nielson), it is the number one brand worldwide (according to Interbrand). It was first produced by a Mr John Pemberton in Jacob’s Pharmacy, Atlanta in 1886. It sold for a mere 5 cents a glass! In 1988 John Pemberton died never realising the full potential of his drink. It was an Atlanta businessman, Asa Griggs Candler, who bought the rights to the business for $2300 and by 1895 was distributing it nationwide with syrup plants in Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. Coca Cola could only be served from soda fountains and despite the fountains’ success, two lawyers, Benjamin F Thomas and Joseph B Whitehead, secured exclusive rights off Candler to bottle the beverage. In 1912 Coca Cola opened its first bottling plant in Asia, in 1919 it expanded to Europe. The contour bottle was created in 1916 as a way to authenticate and distinguish itself from competitors, and it remains its signature bottle today. The six pack arrived in 1923 and over the next 70 years the company expanded its portfolio (Fanta in the 50’s, Sprite in 1961 and more recently Minute Maid) to 500 brands and 3,000 beverages!
No comments:
Post a Comment