Academic Research Essay

Alan Pea
November 23, 2014
English 10
Mr. Ryan
The Beginnings of Something Huge
A multinational corporation couldnt didnt just form from one day to the
other; it took time, it had challenges. Coca Cola began in 1886 with John S.
Pemberton, the creator of the syrup that turns into best-known beverage in the
world today. The history of Coca Cola begins with John Pemberton, following up
with the assistance of Frank Robinson with its marketing strategy, and continuing
under the ownership of Asa Griggs Candler, a visionary businessman and
entrepreneur.
To begin with, the creator of the beverage, John S. Pemberton, who was he?
He was a pharmacist, he created drugs and medicines, but not one of his creations
ever brought him success. He had just come from fighting in the Civil War back in
1886 when he decided to create something that could bring him commercial
success. He found the answer to his question on soda fountains. He wanted
something that could be sold in soda fountains. John Pemberton created the
distinctive favored syrup and took it to the neighborhood pharmacy where he had it
mixed with carbonated water. The people that tested the sample said it was
Excellent.
John Pemberton wasnt a marketing genius, he didnt know how to adverse.
Thats when Frank Robinson came into action. He began the first marketing
movements in the Coca Cola Company. Robinson registered the recipe with the

patents office. He is credited for naming the drink: Coca Cola and also designs the
logo and wrote the first slogan for the drink: the pause that refreshes.
However, the company did not do well the first year. To make matters worse,
John Pemberton dies of a stomach cancer in 1888; not being able to see the success
the company got to be. Fortunately though, Pemberton sold portions of his company
to different parties, the majority sold to Atlanta businessman Asa Griggs Candler.
Asa rescues the company. He expands to soda fountains beyond Atlanta. He
also uses one of the most innovative marketing techniques at the time. He hired
traveling salesmen to walk around handing out free drink coupons. The idea behind
this strategy was that people would redeem the coupon, have a drink of Coca Cola,
hopefully like it, and buy some more later on. Along side with that technique,
Candler uses another way to get people to know the product. He wanted to reach
out to costumers by plastering logos on calendars, posters, notebooks and
bookmarks, the intention was for making Coca Cola a national brand rather than just
a regional brand.
Impressed by the growing demand for Coca-Cola, Joseph Biederman had a
desire to make the drink portable. Biederman, Coca Cola now distributing to soda
fountains beyond Atlanta, decides to install bottling machinery in the rear of his
Mississippi soda fountain. In the year of 1894, he becomes the first to put Coca-Cola
in bottles. Large scale bottling was possible five years later, in 1899 Benjamin
Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John Lupton purchased the rights to bottle and sell
Coca-Cola in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The bottles encountered problems later on. Competitors and other new drink
brands used similar bottles and looked the same as Coca Cola. Besides that, Coca
Cola didnt have a standardized bottle; each bottler used different bottles to put the
Coke inside. Coca Cola needed a bottle that had to be distinct from the competition;
it should be recognizable even in the dark. The bottlers agreed that a distinctive
beverage needed a standard and distinctive bottle, and in 1916, the bottlers
approved the unique contour bottle.
A multinational corporation didnt just form from one day to another it takes
time. Everything starts with the creator, fallowing up with a marketing specialist,
and continuing with an entrepreneur visionary. Something that started in a
pharmacy in Atlanta and began selling at a price of only five cents became
something huge.