Coca-Cola

John Stith Pemberton was a Confederate Army veteran and pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia who was addicted to morphine following a war wound. In 1886, he created a syrup combining coca leaf extract and kola nuts — both of which contained stimulants — as a patent medicine intended to cure headaches and provide energy. A pharmacy soda fountain operator mixed the syrup with carbonated water by accident. The result was Coca-Cola. Pemberton sold it for five cents a glass at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, selling approximately nine glasses per day. He died in 1888, having sold most of his rights to the formula for approximately $1,750.

Asa Griggs Candler acquired the Coca-Cola formula and brand for $2,300 in 1891. Candler was a marketing genius: he distributed free sample coupons, provided pharmacies with free branded merchandise, and built the Coca-Cola brand through relentless promotion before the concept of brand marketing existed. By 1895, Coca-Cola was being sold in every state in the United States. Candler sold the company to a group of investors for $25 million in 1919.

The distinctive Coca-Cola contour bottle was designed in 1915 by the Root Glass Company in response to Coca-Cola's request for a bottle so distinctive that it could be identified by touch in the dark or when broken. The designer, Earl Dean, was inspired by the shape of a cocoa pod — a plant he had never actually seen. The contour bottle became one of the most recognised design objects in history.

Coca-Cola changed its formula in April 1985 — "New Coke" — in response to losing blind taste tests to Pepsi. The consumer response was the most intense corporate backlash in American history: 400,000 protest letters, jammed phone lines, and a "Society for the Preservation of the Real Thing" formed within days. Seventy-nine days later, Coca-Cola reintroduced the original formula as "Coca-Cola Classic." The episode was initially a disaster; it ended as the greatest accidental marketing event in history, reminding consumers how much they loved the original product.

Coca-Cola reported revenues of approximately $46 billion for 2024, selling products in every country on earth except North Korea and Cuba. The company serves approximately 2 billion portions per day. Warren Buffett, who began buying Coca-Cola shares in 1988 when they were depressed following the New Coke disaster, has described it as one of his greatest investments — Berkshire Hathaway owns approximately 9% of the company, generating hundreds of millions in annual dividends. The pharmacist who sold his formula for $1,750 had accidentally created one of the most valuable consumer franchises in history. The new CEO, James Quincey, has overseen a premiumisation strategy expanding into energy drinks, coffee, and higher-margin beverages to offset structural decline in full-sugar cola consumption.