John Stith Pemberton was born in Knoxville, Georgia on July 8, 1831.  Though not much is known about his early life, we do know that he studied chemistry and became a pharmacist in the Knoxville area.  When the civil war broke out, Pemberton enlisted and became a Colonel of the Confederate Army and was badly wounded in 1865 when he was slashed across his chest by an enemy sword. During his recovery he, like many wounded veterans of the war, became addicted to the morphine he used to ease the pain.

Being a pharmacist, he sought a cure to counteract this addiction and began experimenting with a drink called coca wine—wine mixed with cocaine extract—that was popular in France at the time.  He eventually created his own version of coca wine, but one that contained kola nuts and damiana, a chamomile-like shrub which was used by South America Indians for its relaxing effects. He called his concoction Pemberton’s French Wine Coca and advertised it as being:

“Particularly beneficial for ladies, and all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration, irregularities of the stomach, bowels and kidneys, who require a nerve tonic and a pure, delightful diffusible stimulant”

It was a very successful potion and sold very well, but in 1886, the state of Georgia enacted temperance legislation which forced Pemberton to produce a non-alcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca. He teamed up with an Atlanta druggist named Willis Venable to help him perfect the recipe for a new non-alcoholic beverage. They experimented with scores of formulas by trial and error to create the base syrup that they mixed in water, but the story goes that they created Coke by ‘accidentally’ mixing the base syrup with carbonated water. The fizzy drink tasted remarkably delicious and Pemberton decided then to sell it as a fountain drink rather than a medicine.

Though they sold it as a fountain drink, Pemberton still made many health claims for his product, touting it as a ‘valuable brain tonic’ that would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion and calm nerves, and marketed it as ‘delicious, refreshing, pure joy, exhilarating,’ and ‘invigorating.’ But he knew he wasn’t an advertiser so he hired advertising man Frank Robinson for help in this area. Robison created the name ‘Coca-Cola,’ which quite clearly incorporates the two main ingredients – coca and kola nut extract. Robison also registered Coca-Cola’s formula with the patent office, designed and trademarked the logo and distinct script.

In 1887, with his health failing, Pemberton sold portions of his business to various parties, with the majority of the interest sold to businessman Asa Candler, who owned a chain of drug stores in Atlanta. Unfortunately, John Pemberton died less than a year later, in 1888, and never got to see the global megabrand that Coke became over the next century. But on those hot summer days, when we grab for an ice cold Coke to quench our thirst, we’ll know who to thank for that refreshing drink: John Pemberton.

Images:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/John_Pemberton.jpg/150px-John_Pemberton.jpg

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/5136508869bedd445900000c/image.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_99U_pO3l2-Y/Sumzy67g1-I/AAAAAAAACZ4/1dTiyGzI3hM/s400/1940-Coca-Cola-siwmsuitad.jpg

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pemberton#cite_note-4

http://markpendergrast.com/coca-cola

http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/coca-colahistory.htm

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If you don’t patent your product, you never have to make the ingredients public – a simple way to keep your secret recipe under lock and key. But, that doesn’t mean competitors won’t make a run at your throne.

DR. PEPPER

Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper, too? That won’t be happening for aspiring soda-making rivals anytime soon, because another soft drink with a famously secret formula is Dr. Pepper, which is made from 23 natural and artificial flavors. Only three people are said to be privy to the recipe, which was invented in 1885 by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and is kept locked in a vault in company headquarters in nearby Plano.

The company has gone on the record to deny one common guess at an ingredient: There is no prune juice in Dr Pepper. – Yahoo

Dr. Nos

• Dr. Topper – Clover Valley
• Dr. Riffic – Eckerd Drug
• Dr. Thunder — Dollar General

WD-40

The world’s best known household lubricant got its secret agentesque name in 1953 from its inventor, Norm Larsen, and it stands for “Water Displacer—40th attempt.” An article in The Wall Street Journal reported that the formula is in a bank vault and has only been taken out twice—when changing banks and on the product’s 50th birthday, when CEO Garry Ridge rode on a horse into Times Square while wearing a suit of armor and carrying the formula. He said the company mixes the concentrate in three locations, then distributes it to aerosol manufacturing partners worldwide.

The company reveals what’s not in the secret formula on its FAQ page: WD-40 Multi-Use Product does not contain silicone, kerosene, water, graphite, or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). – Yahoo

Slick Competitors

• Hosa Cable D5S6 Deoxit Contact Cleaner Spray
• Boeshield T-9 Lubricant
• 3-IN-ONE 10041 Professional Silicone Spray Lubricant

KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)

KFC’s “Secret Recipe of 11 Herbs and Spices” for its original fried chicken recipe is nearly as famous as the former Kentucky Fried Chicken ad slogan “finger lickin’ good.” A section of the company’s website is now devoted to spreading the lore about the spice blend. It states that Colonel Harland Sanders kept his recipe in his mind and used to carry the mixture in his car, but today it’s kept under lock and key in a Louisville, Ky., safe. One company blends part of the spice recipe, and another company mixes the rest, so that neither party has the entire recipe. The Colonel commented how low-security of an operation he and his wife, Claudia, ran when he was starting out. “After I hit the road selling franchises for my chicken, that left Claudia behind to fill the orders for the seasoned flour mix. She’d fill the day’s orders in little paper sacks with cellophane linings and package them for shipment. Then, she had to put them on a midnight train.”

Many reverse-engineered recipes for KFC-style fried chicken include speculation that the flavor-enhancing additive MSG is part of the secret mix. Others claim the distinctive KFC chicken experience owes a lot to the pressure-frying technique, which is patented. — Yahoo

KFC’s Wingmen

• Church’s Chicken
• Popeye’s Chicken
• Kennedy Fried Chicken

It takes something special to stand out from the crowd. That’s why Davison has spent over 20 years perfecting the Davison Inventing Method – a better way to help clients develop their ideas.

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