A new exhibit is opening at the World of Coke today called American Originals - Norman Rockwell & Coca-Cola. You can read more details about the exhibition in a post I wrote for Coca-Cola Journey. As noted in that story, the Archives was fortunate to recently acquire seven pieces of Norman Rockwell original art that was created by the artist as part of four ad or calendar concepts. Amazingly, all four were turned down by The Coca-Cola Company. While we do not know the full story on each of the seven pieces, over the next few months, I will highlight one of the pieces of art at a time in a blog post on this site to create a virtual exhibit for those around the world who can not get to Atlanta to see the exhibition in person.
The first piece of art is the one we know the least about. This beautiful sketch is matted in a manner that suggest that Rockwell was proposing to use it as the 1936 calendar or with additional copy as a print ad. Rockwell had already provided art for four calendars, but in this case, the Company chose to go with the beach scene painted by N.C. Wyeth for the 50th anniversary calendar. ^TR
50 YEARS YOUNG – STUDY FOR 50 TH
ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN 13
1/2” x 10 1/2”, crayon and charcoal on paper
Study for proposed Coca-Cola advertisement for 1936:
50th Anniversary Campaign
50 Years Young, Time tested. Taste Proven
On May 12th, Coca-Cola Malaysia sponsored the third Coca-Cola Collectors Fair in Berjaya
Times Square Mall in Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle. Over 40 collectors participated setting up displays with highlights from their collections. Last month, I was fortunate to be able to attend an event in Singapore and I experienced the passion the collectors have for their hobby. The Malaysia event looks like it was even more exciting. The Archives provided the centennial bottle that was given to the best display as well as a few other items. I hope that I will be able to attend the fourth collectors fair. This video give a good overview of the event and the great collections on display. ^TR
Yesterday I was interviewed by Good Morning America about a Georgia man who claimed to have the secret formula for Coca-Cola. Last week, I had seen an eBay listing for a document that was being offered with a "buy it now" price for the princely sum of $15 million. While careful to indicate that he could not guarantee it was authentic, the seller had a document that he purported was a version of our secret formula. I chuckled when I saw the listing, because as you can see from the photo above, people have been claiming to know the formula for more than a century. The price does appear to have increased a little though!
Click the image above to watch the the segment from Good Morning America, but you can sleep easy and save your money. The seller does not have the secret formula for Coca-Cola. The formula is safely locked away in the Vault of the Secret Formula at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.
Thanks to the millions of people who love Coca-Cola, the secret formula has a tremendous mystique in American pop culture, as was shown a few years ago when an episode on the formula aired on This American Life. This episode caused their servers to crash because of the number of hits they received. As one might expect this eBay listing created quite a bit of media interest including Good Morning America, and other media outlets have been calling for more information. My answer is always the same. The formula is safe and sound in the vault at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. ^TR
On May 8th, 1886, the Coca-Cola was first served at Jacobs' Pharmacy at 2 Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia. 127 years later I wanted to take a moment to echo the text in the ad, "The party's on - Have a Coke!" Here's to the next 127 years! ^TR
Coke was being served in Canada as far back as 1897, and today I had a Coke in Canada in an advanced celebration of the brand's birthday with employees at the beautiful new office in Toronto. We set up a Coca-Cola Canada exhibit, which includes one of the syrup barrel labels pictured here. Although it is still hard to believe, I learned that in 1921, Winnipeg actually sold more cases of Coca-Cola than Atlanta and Birmingham combined. It is also interesting that Montreal sold nearly the same amount of Coke as New Orleans did in 1930. I guess it's true that "Thirst Knows No Season" (or temperature limits).
I love Star Wars Day. Each year I have tried to find a different tie in between the movie and Coca-Cola. This year, we have the Cobot, the nine inch remote controlled R2D2 like figure that the Company produced in 1977. Enjoy the day and make sure to watch one of the movies today, but beware the Revenge of the Fifth!. ^TR
One of my co-workers was traveling in San Francisco this week and visited Alcatraz, the famous island prison in the middle of San Francisco bay. She took a moment to snap the photo here with this quick note. "Visiting Alcatraz and what do I see? It was in the supervisor's/officer's room and
not only had the cooler but glass bottles to the left hand side of it in a
I always love to run into elements of Coca-Cola heritage when I travel! Now I need to plan a trip to San Francisco to see it myself ^TR
28 years ago today, on April 23, 1985, Roberto Goizueta, the Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company made a momentous announcement at New York's Lincoln Center. The taste of Coca-Cola was going to be changed as the "best just got better." While I have written more detailed accounts on this blog, I always like to take a moment on the anniversary to stop and contemplate what an impact the 79 days without real Coca-Cola made on our Company.
The New Coke story still generates commentary and has appeared in countless academic studies. The role in "pop culture" can be seen in this video I did with CNN on the 25th anniversary. How long do you think it would have taken in the era of Social Media for Classic Coca-Cola to return? See this Coca-Cola Journey story which addresses that question. Also, let your voice be heard in our debate: Would it have taken less than two weeks or more than two weeks? Click here to vote! ^TR
Last week I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Singapore where our office hosted a breakfast with the Singapore Coca-Cola Collectors Club. I had sent a small collection of US and Singaporean Coca-Cola items to create a small exhibit in the Shangri-La ballroom where the meeting was to take place. The morning of the event, I was excited to see about 40 collectors and Coca-Cola Singapore workers arrive for the breakfast. Many had brought items to show and share with me and the other collectors.
The small exhibit was a hit and many of the collectors had never seen the series of print ads from 1952 that had appeared in Singapore. The event was exciting with trivia contest, door prizes and a auction to benefit the Red Cross.
The part that I enjoyed the most was getting to meet the collector community, many of whom I only knew from their Singapore Coca-Cola Collectors Facebook group. The passion they showed for our brand and their hobby was contagious. I was excited to be able to share some our our treasures from the Archives with such an enthusiastic group. I hope I can attend another meeting at some point in the future! ^TR
Some 57 years ago, two historic African American figures met in the city of Atlanta at a sports event co-sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. The event was the Annual Sports Jamboree of the “100% Wrong Club”, a unit of the sports department of the Atlanta Daily World newspaper. The historic figures? Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in Major League Baseball, and Mrs. Mary Alexander, the first African American model to appear in Coca-Cola advertising. “That was the highlight of my life”, Mrs. Alexander shared with me a few weeks ago when recounting the experience. “I was modeling for Coke and they asked me if I would come to the [sports program] and I said, ‘Yes! What do I do?’ and they replied, ‘You just go there and meet the people and talk and drink Coke.’ I said ‘fine!’” In addition to meeting Jackie Robinson, she also met Branch Rickey, the general manager who signed Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“I was so excited and so happy to meet both of them. And, I got their autographs!”, she told me while flipping through the program from that night and showing off each signature and the two Coca-Cola ads which appeared in its pages. “I talked to everybody I saw there and I told them I worked for Coca-Cola and we just had a good time!”, she added. In the photo in our Archives released from the event, Wilbur Kurtz, the first Archivist for Coca-Cola, and Coca-Cola special representative Moss Kendrix are pictured with Robinson, Rickey and others. Kurtz delivered a welcome for the occasion, on which Rickey won “The Pioneer Award” and Robinson and teammate Pee Wee Reese took home “The Two Friends Award.” Robinson received the award on behalf of himself and Reese, who was unable to be in Atlanta for the event which was also co-sponsored by the Atlanta Daily World newspaper and Atlanta Life Insurance Company.
Since the movie about Jackie Robinson, “42”, opens in theaters today starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, I thought it was appropriate also to share the following video about the lady I affectionately call “Miss Mary”, who is one of my personal heroes!
Welcome to the Coca-Cola Conversations blog! We'll share information on a wide variety of topics, ranging from our role in history to Coke collectibles. However, the blog only works if there is a two-way dialogue. We look forward to chatting with you!
Ted Ryan is the Director of the Archives and oversees the collections and exhibits. He loves social media and in addition to the blog, Ted runs the Archives Twitter and Facebook feeds.
Jamal Booker is the processing archivist, responsible for cataloging and digitization. A huge music fan, he also films and edits all of the videos on the site.
Justine Fletcher recently received her MA in Archives Management, and supports the Archives team in a variety of roles.
Ashley Callahan manages digital communications and social media at Coca-Cola. Ashley was tweeting, posting and guest blogging during the Olympic Games—read more here or @BeatTV.
Archivist Emeritus. Phil Mooney served as VP of Heritage Communications for over 35 years until his retirement in March, 2013.
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