A visit to Coca-Cola

So I mentioned in my last post that I went to Indiana University of Pennsylvania….well I graduated in 2004 with a degree in marketing. I love marketing and most people don’t realized how much we are surround by it. I love to analyze marketing messages and try to decide who the company is trying to reach, the real message, the hidden message and what audience is their target. Are they talking to me? LOL. I love companies with strong marketing and following what they’ll do next, what clever messages or product placement they’ll think up and on and on….

When we came out of the Georgia Aquarium and saw the Coca-Cola building I was pumped. Coke’s marketing has years of history and I knew the story would be told with the tour….I almost ran over there and was not disappointed. Coke is sold in over 200 counties around the world. We are talking about a brand with global domination and 100′s of competitors that has not only survived but has thrived since 1886. Did you know that Coke sells 4 out of 5 of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages in the world? Coca-Cola’s advertising has significantly shaped American culture, each fall marketing nerds like myself can hardly wait to see the next brilliant Christmas ad. The first marketing efforts in Coca-Cola history were executed through coupons promoting free samples of the beverage. Considered an innovative tactic back in 1887, couponing was followed by newspaper advertising and the distribution of promotional items bearing the Coca-Cola script to participating pharmacies.

To say I loved this tour would be an understatement….here I am enjoying a Coke with Mr. Pemberton

As we starting walking through it became amazing clear how Coca-Cola has been so successful…WOMEN. I never really noticed it before but a lot of their marketing, especially early on focused on woman enjoying a Coke. Women really do run the world…

Do you know what this guy does? He makes the condensation on the bottle , the tour starts with a short animated film on how a single bottle of Coke is made. It was really cute and this guy was one of the characters.

Dave works for Thermo Fisher so we were pumped to see that Coke uses his technology in their bottling process.

The next section was Pop Culture and the effect Coke has made…

Two of the world’s most recognizable brands in one piece of art….

10 points for whomever can correctly name this guy….

Those famous Christmas ads. I wish I would have gotten a better shot but I think I was so focused on looking studying each ad.

And the tour completes with a tasting room where we sampled Coke products from different regions of the world. This of course was Davey’s favorite part of the tour. Some were amazingly delish, others not so much but different countries have different taste buds. We were on a sugar high leaving this place!