Coca-Cola Company

CORPORATE STRATEGY PART A (IB3D80)

CORPORATE STRATEGY PART A

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INTRODUCTION

In 1960, statistical surveys said that 40000 cokes were drunk every minute in the United
States. We can think of words like “incredible”, “great”, and “awesome”. Today, it is the best
seller in the world; we can buy it in 205 countries, while only 192 countries are members of the
United Nations.American expression “ok” and “coke” are the best-known words in the world.
Coke is proud of its own history. This is confirmed by the fact that in 1990 it invested $ 15
million in a museum in Atlanta, where more than 3000 tourists come every day. The press calls
this museum a place of dreams.

HISTORY AND STRATEGY OF COKE

Coke was created on May 5, 1886. John Pemberton, the inventor, beganworking on the drink
when he was 54 years old.
People say that John Pemberton was a humble and gentle old man, who was born in the
South, and who invented, by chance, a new miracle drink. But Asa Candler’s participation was
necessary: he acquired the composition of the coke for both a patent medicine and nonalcoholic fizzy drinks.
In the beginning, coke was introduced commercially as “aneffective tonic for the brain and
nerves”. In 1938 it was declared “drink par excellence” in the United States. For Asa Candler,
second owner of the Coke company, part of the appeal of the drink was supposed to be the
eased digestion.
Frank Robinson was the one who recognized that coke may be sold with a dual purpose: it
could be a stimulating remedy to cure migraines and depression, as it could be anew single
flavored soda. He was also the one who gave the name of the coke and who designed the logo,
using the combination of two ingredients of the compound.
The first advertisement for coke was significantly short, pointing the way to modern
advertising. The first used the adjectives:
-

Delicious
Refreshing
Stimulating
Invigorating

These words would virtually become synonymouswith the coke. There was a good reason for
the brevity of the original announcement of Robinson: it was cheaper. In the first year the
product was launched, total advertising spending was about $ 150; Frank Robinson’s strategies
were based on free samples of drinking. Moreover, if the drink did not satisfy the customer,
Frank Robinson promised to return the money they had paid. Frank Robinsonsent to potential
CORPORATE STRATEGY PART A

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customers free tasting coupons of the drink. So, when the new consumers taste the new drink,
they will return to buy more.
However, coke was not the first known medicinal drink. In 1876, ten years before its creation,
a Philadelphia Quaker launched its Hires Root Beer, a mixture of berries and wild roots.
According to Mary Gah Humpreys,the greatest merit of coke is its democratic character: “a
poor drink beer, champagne drinks a millionaire, but surely the two drink coke”.
In 1898 thousands of promotional items said: “Drink coke. Delicious and refresh”.
In 1891 appeared the first coke girls, where we can see the only brand naked.
In 1893, the famous coca cola formula was patented. Candler’s great achievement was the
largescale bottling of coke in 1899. In addition, Candler used an aggressive campaign of
marketing of coke in newspapers and on billboards. But Coca cola company was sold again,
after the era of prohibition (of alcohol), to Ernest Woodruff. The Coca cola was transferred to
his son Robert, who would be president for the next six decades. Woodruff brought to market
the box of six bottles in 1923.Coca Cola became available through vending machines that
same year. He started advertising on radio in the 30’s and on television in 1950. Woodruff
improved efficiency at every step of the manufacturing process and made it as so coke could
be purchased in alls cafes and bars of United States. The Coca Cola company with Woodruff
established a network of bottling plants across the country. Each...