Coca-Cola began in Atlanta Georgia on May 8, 1886 when a local pharmacist, Dr. John Stith Pemberton had tried several experiments and stirred up a fragrant caramel-colored liquid. He took the sample down the road to Jacob’s pharmacy, where it was mixed with carbonated water and pronounced “excellent.” The finished product was placed in the pharmacy for sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. In those days, one of the places people met was at the soda fountain counter in their local pharmacy to have drinks. This was where the finished experiment was placed to go on sale. Dr. Pemberton’s book-keeper and close friend, Frank M. Robinson, thought of coco leaves extract and the kola nuts that make up this solution and thought the similarity of the C’s will go good together with this drink and look great in advertisements. Thus, he suggested the name Coca-Cola and writes its logo in the Spencerian script, and became its famous trademark. The famous script is still embedded in its brand and continued to be used today. During the year of 1886, Mr. Pemberton sold 9 glasses of Coca-Cola a day. It was originally sold as a tonic to cure illness. He was a Chemist so sales and advertising was not one of his strongest points causing the drink not to be a success. Unfortunately he had no idea that the syrup he created will be the world’s #1 refreshing beverage. Just before his death in 1888, Mr. Pemberton sold portions of the business to his business partners and his remaining interest to Asa G. Candler.
Just like Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Candler was from Atlanta, a sales man with a great niche for business. Asa Griggs Candler became the Company’s first president. He took his experience as a salesman and aggressively advertised Coca-Cola by every means possible, from free complimentary coupons to clocks, calendars, pens and newspapers to name a few. His idea was a success, sales boosted. Over the coming years Asa Candler would enjoy even more success. In...