Authors: Tristan Donovan
An 1890s ad for Coca-Cola, which kept the same nickel price tag until 1951.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
New England's homegrown soda Moxie was Coke's big challenger until the 1930s, thanks to outlandish promotional devices such as these Horsemobiles.
Town Archives, New London, NH
Coke urges people to buy the real thing in this ad from 1914, when it found itself fighting countless cola copycats.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
The 1915 prototype of the now famous Coke bottle, created to help the company defend its trademark.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
The final version of the Coca-Cola bottle, later dubbed the world's “most perfectly designed package” by Raymond Loewy.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
By 1994 the bottle was so famous that Coca-Cola could sell itself with its silhouette alone.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola turned itself into an icon with eye-catching images and concise slogans, such as this 1943 twist on its enduring “The pause that refreshes” theme and, most simply of all, 1946's “Yes.”
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
President of Coca-Cola Robert Winship Woodruff, the man who guided the cola giant from 1923 until his death in 1985.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
While 1930s America was falling for Coca-Cola, Schweppes was still the premier soda brand in Britain.
Courtesy of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute
Coca-Cola made itself part of the holiday season thanks to Haddon Sundblom, who started painting its iconic Santa ads in 1931 (left) and was still creating Coke-loving St. Nicks in 1963 (below).
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola's holiday advertising took a new twist in 1994 when it introduced its CGI polar bears in a campaign that proved every bit as popular as Sundblom's Santas.
Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company