Dispatches From Denver - Coca-Cola Trivia

For the past ten years, Randy Schaeffer and Bill Bateman have presented one of the favorite events at the Coca-Cola Collectors Club Annual Meeting - Coca-Cola Jeopardy. This year in Denver was no exception. As the game goes on for almost an hour, I only video taped the portion of the program where they introduce the categories, but I think you will enjoy both the humor and the audience participation.

Dispatches from Denver - Small Collectibles

Roger Robinson and Dale Wohlgemuth gave a fascinating presentation about small collectibles.  I always enjoying learning something new from collectors who specialize in an area and love what they collect.  In this case, we all learned about the wide variety of pencils, pens, openers and buttons.

We took a few minutes after the presentation to speak with Roger about his favorite pencils.

Dispatches from the Coca-Cola Collectors Club Meeting

My next few post will all be done from Denver where I am attending the 35th Coca-Cola Collectors Club Annual Meeting.  I will be posting photos and videos of interesting artifacts, collectors or stories I see here.

I hope you enjoy this first video which features the Coca-Cola Trayders, Randy Schaeffer and Bill Bateman, two college professors who bring their thirst for knowledge to the collecting field.  Bill and Randy do a presentation where they select a few Coca-Cola artifacts and give a detailed overview of the item and its historical context.

We shot the videos with a little handheld camera, so please excuse the amateur quality.

Coca-Cola Inspired Fashion

I recently received a comment in the blog mailbox from Doris Treptow, Professor of Fashion at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), bringing the work of one of her students to our attention.  We reached out to the student, Hannah Long to see if she would let us showcase her design.  Hannah agreed and gave the following information about her project:

"I am thrilled that you chose my InspriRED dress for a blog feature. Below are some more details about the dress. I was inspired to make the dress out of Coke cans because of the bold, red logo of Coca-Cola Classic. The dress contains approximately 50 recycled cans. After experimenting with different placements, I found that it is most striking as a shawl. The shattered mirror pieces were strategically placed to mimic the easily recognizable image of the Coca-Cola logo. I used the Classic elegance of the Coca-Cola Script combined with the fun theme "Enjoy Coca-Cola" to  create the atmosphere in the photo shoot. The dress was put on display in the InspiRED exhibition at SCAD in May.

Coca-Cola is always adapting to the ever-changing culture of our society. Fashion has a way of linking generations and different cultures in a similar way.  The fusion of Coca-Cola and the fashion industry has historically been and will continue to be an agent of change."

Designer - Hannah Long 
Photographer- Mathias Hungler
Model- Nikki De Luca

Long is a sophomore studying fashion at SCAD-Savannah. For more information, visit www.scad.edu.

Coca-Cola Archives In The Digital World

I wanted to make you aware of some other ways that you can connect to learn more in the digital world about the heritage of The Coca-Cola Company and its brands.

We have now launched a facebook page and Twitter feed which will feature different content that you might find interesting.

If you are a facebook member, search and become a fan of Coca-Cola Archives.

If you are on Twitter, you can follow us @Coke_Archives.

Turner Sky Field Commemorative Bottle

Built in 1997 in the home of the Atlanta Braves, the famous and gigantic Coca-Cola contour bottle has witnessed its fair share of victories at Turner Field. As part of Coca-Cola’s Sky Field, the iconic, curvy bottle has welcomed in countless baseball fans from around the world with the same message: we might root for different teams, but we can all enjoy an ice-cold Coca-Cola. After 12 years of loyally celebrating each Braves homer with a fireworks celebration, the beloved bottle is throwing in the towel.

July 2 is the last chance fans will have to visit the bottle and have their photo taken with it.  To celebrate the 12 plus years (and over 1,900 games) with the bottle, the first 15,000 fans to enter the stadium on July 2 will receive a voucher which will allow them to later claim a commemorative 8-ounce bottle.

Fans should join the Turner Field Coca-Cola Bottle Facebook fan page to post their pictures and join other fans in reminiscing about their memories with the bottle.

Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola - Artist Steve Kaufman

The New Art Exhibit in The Pop Culture Gallery at the World of Coke is entitled "Celebrating An Icon: The Coca-Cola Bottle in Contemporary Art". From time to time we will be featuring a few videos of the artists who have works in this exhibit. First up is Los Angeles artist Steve Kaufman. As a student in 1981, Steve met Andy Warhol and became his assistant at the Factory. Warhol continued to be a source of inspiration for Steve’s art work throughout the years. During his time in New York, Steve created graphics for NBC’s Saturday Night Live and participated in group show at Club 57 with Keith Haring on his way to being named Underground Artist of the Year. He moved to Los Angeles in 1993, where he became heavily involved in philanthropy, lending support to over 170 individual charities a year. Other highlights of his career include painting a limited edition Campbell's Soup can to mark its 100th Anniversary, and being commissioned to create a Muhammad Ali portrait for the 1996 Olympics. Please enjoy this video!

Happy 4th Birthday Coke Zero

Coca-Cola Zero turned 4 today and there was a celebration for employees here at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta.  This morning we were greeted with a birthday message recorded by Coca-Cola Racing Family Driver Elliott Sadler.

At lunch time, with delicious food provided by some of our customers and a huge birthday cake, there was plenty to eat.

There were also special events and games for employees to try - including having your picture made with the official Coca-Cola Zero race car and a race simulator game.

Recycle Week in Great Britain

Inspired by a 1949 poster from the Archives, Coca-Cola Great Britain commissioned a team of artists to design and create the world's largest recycled piece of artwork. More than 200,000 aluminum cans, extending over 100 meters in length, were used in the development of the artwork that was installed on top of the chalk cliffs of the Sussex coastline. It required a week to complete and can only be fully viewed from the air. At the end of Recycle Week, each of the 200,000 cans will be recyled saving enough energy to keep a television running for seventy years.Shown below is the 1949 poster that inspired this project and a photo of the completed artwork called Precious Metal.

 

Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola – Red Sox World Series Ring

Readers of the blog will know that I grew up in the Boston area and that I am a big Red Sox fan.  I remember watching Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice (new Hall of Fame inductee) and other Sox greats at Fenway.  With our local Atlanta Braves in Boston this weekend, I thought I would highlight a special artifact on display at the World of Coke.

  The Red Sox and Coca-Cola have a special relationship as one of the longest partnerships in sports.  In addition to serving Coke products at Fenway Park since they began playing there, Coca-Cola has been an active partner with activities ranging from featuring the Red Sox in a series of films in the 1950s (which are great collectibles if you can find them) to adorning the light poles over the Green Monster with our classic contour bottle.

 Visitors will need to look closely when they tour the Milestones of Refreshment gallery because in the section featuring our history with sports and entertainment, we have a Red Sox World Series ring from their 2004 Championship season.  When the Sox won the series, they had a special ring with the Coca-Cola and Red Sox logos made to commemorate this special partnership.