ColdFusion - How VAST is Coca-Cola? | Magnitude, History, Facts

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

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You are watching Cold Fusion TV. Hi, welcome to another Cold Fusion video. Coca-Cola is the world's most valuable non-technology brand. They make anything from soft drinks to bottled water, milk, juices, ice tea and coffee. They own 21 different billion-dollar brands. Every single day, two billion servings of a Coke brand are served worldwide. But how did they start and how did they grow to the massive size they are today? Today, we're going to look at how they made arguably the most popular product on the planet

and diversified across the beverage market to create over 500 brands and over 3,500 beverages. But before we get to that, a quick word from today's sponsor. I just want to give a shout out to Squarespace for helping make this video possible. Squarespace is one of the easiest ways to build a website. There's nothing to patch or upgrade ever, and it's flexible. The end result looks professional and the whole process makes building websites. easy. If you're looking to build your own website, start your free trial today. Visit www. squarespace.com slash cold fusion to get 10% off your first purchase. Coca-Cola was created by Dr. John

Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist. In 1885, he set up his own laboratory and started to patent and produce his own medicines, such as hair dyes and liver pills. He wasn't very successful, though. Then, one day, while trying to create a new tonic, he combined the extracts of the cocoa leaf, the main ingredient for cocaine, the African cola nut, along with some sugar and some water. Although the cola nut already contains caffeine, he boosted the caffeine content even more. His main idea was that he could sell this as a headache remedy. After some testing, however, he saw that it helped with indigestion and relieved exhaustion. Pemberton and his partners were unsure what to do with this new drink, now called Coca-Cola. On the one hand, it seemed to have

some medicinal qualities, but on the other hand, the flavour was delicious and that alone should make it popular. In the end, they went for both. An early advertisement stated, Makes not only a delicious and invigorating beverage, I wonder why, but a valuable brain tonic and a cure for all nervous affections. So, in 1887, Coke went on sale. From the get-go, it had that famous Curly Script logo that was actually designed by Pemberton's bookkeeper. Coke was first sold as a syrup to pharmacies and other dispensaries where they had soda fountains. Soda fountains were the big thing. It was like a gathering place for people to discuss the topics of the day.

Here attracted to the current counterpart of the ends and watering places of colonial days. The new gathering place of a new age, the soda fountain, helping to make the 90s gay. This Coke syrup was the very first Coca-Cola product. Pemberton and his partners spent $74 on advertising their new syrup, but the response was slow. They only made $50 in sales in the first. first year. So Pemberton sold most of his company to another drug manufacturer by the name of Acer Candler. Three years later, Pemberton was dead and Mr. Candler owned Coca-Cola for just $2,300 outright, which is about $60,000 in today's money. And rightly so, at the time it seemed

like a useless company. But over the next 26 years, Candler oversaw the company's rapid early growth. In 1892, the company started a promotional campaign that included giving out coupons of Coke for a free sample. Once people tried the free samples, they came back for more, forking out five cents a glass thereafter. The campaign was hugely successful. It took Coke just three years to enter every state of the United States, and soon they crossed over the border north to Canada. This mass coupon initiative was extremely forward-thinking for the time. Back then, giving a product away sounded foolish, but Candler showed confidence in the Coke product by knowing that people would come back for more. But there was a problem, and it was in the

name. At the start of the 20th century, Canler was worried about the public's perception towards cocaine. This was going to harm sales. However, he felt that he couldn't remove the cocoa plant entirely, as he may risk losing the Coca-Cola name. So, they fixed the recipe so there was just the smallest trace of cocaine remained. It wasn't until 1929 that it was removed entirely. Around this time, Candler also moved the drink away from its original branding as a health tonic. Although Canler was doing a good job, he did make one major miscalculation, though. He saw the company's future as being heavily based on the soda fountain scene. Other companies had been buying the syrup and selling them in mixed soda bottles,

but Candler didn't really see much value in this, and allowed these other companies to bottle the product just for $1. This was a huge mistake, and soon there were knock-off brands of Coke everywhere. The names were pretty funny, and some included Coca-nola, Makokoa-coa and Coca-Cola. Pepsi Cola was another such knock-off, but it wouldn't be noticed until the 1970s. More on this later.

The solution came in the form of creating a bottle shape and design so unique that customers could tell it apart just by feeling it when they stuck their hand in a cooler. The result was the famous curvy glass bottle that became so iconic in popular culture. Candler would soon retire and pass the reins down to Robert Woodruff. Robert streamlined the production process and managed to create the product that tasted the same everywhere so all consumers could get the same experience. World War II would erupt in 1939, but it would actually prove to be hugely beneficial to the company. As the US troops entered fighting, Woodruff announced that every US soldier will be able to buy a Coke for five cents, no matter how much it cost the company. The move would see Coke set up bottling plants around the world, from Germany to North Africa, in order to still make reasonable revenue and handle the demand of US soldiers around the world. The German Coca-Cola plants had been set up before the war started, but once fighting began and trade embargoes were set in place,

it became impossible to keep creating Coca-Cola syrup. So, the plant was forced to make a new drink out of what they could buy, mainly apple leftovers from juicing and leftover liquid from milk production. They called this concoction, Fanta. By the end of the war, Coke had become a part of America's national identity, and the rest of the world would be next. Throughout the 50s, they opened 15 to 20 plants a year, dotted all over the planet. Then, in the 1960s, they began to diversify and started acquiring other successful beverage companies,

such as Minut Made and High Sea fruit drinks. They would also launch Sprite, Tab, as well as diet versions of the drink. This was in part to tackle the growing competition from Pepsi. The company struggled through the late 1960s and 70s, especially in Europe where the beverage industry threatened to have them banned. Blind tests in the early 1970s were showing that people liked the taste of Pepsi better. Can you tell me which one you prefer? You're both sure you like ale better.

What was your choice? L is what? Pepsi. That's incredible. Fact is, in tests like these, nationwide, more people prefer the taste of Pepsi over Coca-Cola. The sales of Pepsi began to climb, and the Pepsi Challenge was kicked off across America. All across America, people are taking the Pepsi Challenge. This scenario became known as the Cola Wars.

By 1975, Pepsi was number one. At the start of the 1980s, Roberto Goezuta became. chairman and decided that changes needed to be made. In 100 years the company had grown hugely but had largely stuck to tradition. Soon after he joined, he heard there was celebration that Coca-Cola had gained 45% of the soft drink market. So, he went and crunched the numbers and came back to tell everyone that sure they were succeeding in soft drinks but they had less than 2% of the entire liquid beverage market share.

That became the new target. Roberto injected some much needed ambition into the company. also launched Diet Coke when no other head of the company was brave enough to risk the classic Coca-Cola brand. It was soon established as the world's number three soft drink. Diet Coke helped change the tides, but more needed to be done. Secret Labs were set up for Coke chemists to find the perfect formula to beat Pepsi. It was finally found in 1985 and put up against Pepsi and the original version of Coke in 200,000 taste tests across the country. It beat both of the other products and seemed to be a winner.

My answer to you is, of course, the best always do. Simply stated, my friends, we have a new formula for Coke. Consumers preferred the new taste over the original by a margin of 61 to 39. The company was so confident that they would scrap the original formula of Coke after 100 years of success. This new drink was called New Coke and the company got none other than Bill Cosby to promote it. Now you know me, I always loved Coke for years and years. I like this Coke better. The new taste of Coca-Cola better than ever before.

Even though the test proved that the new Coke was superior, human psychology meant that the public just didn't like change. Why are you upset about it? Because I'm 46 years old and I bought my first Coke with a nickel when I was 5 years old. My oldest daughter is 22, her first. First word was Coke. Their second word was Mark. At one point, complaints reached over 8,000 per day.

The new Coke became one of the worst blunders in marketing history, and Bill Cosby would later be the same. At one point, communist dictator Fidel Castro stated that the end of the original Coke formula was a sign of American decay. Coke was more than just a sugary drink. Coca-Cola stood for the American way of life. In the end, the public had spoken. The feeling of loyalty for Coke was so strong that when Coke reverted back to the original formula,

people longed for what was about to be taken away from them. Soon, Coke became number one again and has stayed in that position ever since. But what many people may not know is that the new Coke was still offered to but all distributors up until 2002. By the time Robert died in 1997, he had taken Coca-Cola's market share from $4.3 billion to $147 billion. His drive to do better paid off. So, what does the Coca-Cola company look like today? They have a huge roster of brands now, over 500, and have a huge amount of diversity in the beverage industry, with everything from Coke to water to juices and dairy. They also just launched their first alcoholic drink in Japan, and it was an alco-pop.

The revenues in 2017 were $35 billion, which continues the steady decline that we've been seeing since they peaked at $48 billion in 2012, and this was after consumers became more health-conscious. Still, at its current revenue, Coke would be the 84th largest economy in the world. Alright, so let's look at 12 interesting facts about Coke that will give you an idea of their size and other interesting things about them as well. I'm going to ask you a question. If you were to drink every single one of Coke's different beverages at a rate of one per day, how long do you think it would take you? Maybe a couple of months? Maybe a year? Well, not really.

It would take you over nine years to try them all. The Coca-Cola brand itself is estimated. estimated to be worth $74 billion. That's more than Budweiser, Pepsi, Starbucks and Red Bull combined. If every drop of Coke ever produced or put in 8 ounce bottles laid end to end, they would reach to the moon and back over 2,000 times. The red and white Coca-Cola logo is recognised by 94% of the world's population. It's the second most recognized brand on Earth behind Nike. There are 33 non-alcoholic brands that generate over $1 billion in revenue. and Coca-Cola owns 15 of them. Coke also sells more than a thousand kinds of juice

drinks. Coca-Cola spends more money on advertising than Microsoft and Apple combined. And their secret to long-term advertising success? Always associating their product with a good feeling. This establishes a positive emotional connection whenever a consumer sees the product. They were one of the first companies to do this. Americans ingest 1.7 million tons of coke or about 11 pounds, 5 kilos. per person each year from Coca-Cola alone. And on that note, Coke is actually pretty terrible for you. It can cause obesity and metabolic disease. The company has been caught paying millions of dollars to fund research papers playing down these facts.

In the mid-2000s, it was revealed that some of the water being sold under the Coke brand was simply purified tap water. The average Mexican drinks more Coke products than the average American, British, Indian and Chinese combined. Coke uses 300,000 tons of aluminium for its cans every year just for its US operations. That's equal to about 17.4% of what the entire US aluminium industry produces. There are only two countries in the world where Coca-Cola isn't sold, Cuba and North Korea. Coke is the reason why Santa is fat and wears a red suit. Prior to 1931, Santa was depicted as everything from a tall, gaunt man to a spooky-looking elf. He was often adorned in a bishop's robe and wore a.

an animal skin. A popular Coke advert in 1931 made Santa look more wholesome, realistic and jolly. And this was the origin of the Santa we imagine today. So there you go. And that just about rounds at the end of the video. The story of Coca-Cola is a pretty interesting one, from a chemist's mistake all the way to one of the most recognized brands on the planet and a cultural icon. So thanks for watching. This has been DeGogo. You've been watching Cold Fusion. If you've just stumbled across this channel, feel free to subscribe, and I'll see you again soon for the next Cheers, guys. Have a good one. It's me thinking.