At a recent preview tour of “Coca-Cola Stories,” Jacquie Wansley, director of public affairs and communications at The Coca-Cola Company for the past 28 years, wore a Coca-Cola-red tweed jacket and shiny gold jewelry that matched perfectly the glowing red entryway to the new exhibit at The World of Coca-Cola, opening April 11.
She beckoned guests inside to reveal pieces of vintage memorabilia from the brand’s archives that triggered her own fond memories of Coca-Cola. As she showed one of the last existing molds for the original glass Coca-Cola bottle, she remembered how, as a child, her grandfather would pop salty peanuts into her bottle of Coke as a reward for helping him harvest his Acworth garden.
Pointing to a vintage advertisement for Sprite, she said she could practically feel the old dimpled bottle in her hand as she hearkened back to being a girl watching her mom get her hair done at the salon.
She also told tales of the brand’s storied history, explaining how Coca-Cola has been an icon of Americana since the beverage was first mixed as a medicinal tonic by Dr. John Pemberton in 1886 at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta.
Credit: Courtesy of World of Coca-Cola
Credit: Courtesy of World of Coca-Cola
The exhibit demonstrates how the brand has had a presence during cultural movements, sporting events, technological advances, musical uprisings, political shifts and films.
For example, Coca-Cola has been a partner of the Olympics since 1928, including sponsoring the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996. The exhibit features the torch Olympians carried down Peachtree Street.
There are Coca-Cola Russian stacking dolls and videos of bottles delivered to foreign countries, including by longboat on a jungle river and by snowmobile down a snowy peak.
Coca-Cola even accompanied astronauts during the Space Shuttle Challenger mission and was the first carbonated beverage consumed in space.
Credit: Courtesy of World of Coca-Cola
Credit: Courtesy of World of Coca-Cola
Half the exhibit has surprise pullout drawers built into colorful walls with Coca-Cola artifacts inside, while the other half opens up to a mock city designed like a movie set. Jacob’s Pharmacy is on the corner, while a soda fountain counter, bottling plant, movie theater and international diner line the streets. The diner displays global cuisines with which Coca-Cola is served around the world, while the movie theater showcases a golden Oscar Award that the company received when it owned Columbia Pictures.
“I loved seeing the archives in a completely different way,” Wansley said. “In a bright and big and bold way, rather than hidden away in our archives.”
Artificial intelligence is incorporated at multiple points in the mock city, allowing guests to insert their own images into historical contexts. One visitor’s face might be cropped into a 1950s vintage ad, while another’s visage appears at a soda fountain during the Depression.
Incorporating technology provides a level of interactivity that Wansley said keeps visitors engaged.
“While technology wasn’t our focus,” she said, “it really enabled us to tell this story in a new and innovative way … It’s a new twist on nostalgia with a little bit of innovation woven in.”
During Wansley’s tour, it became clear that Coca-Cola is not just a refreshing beverage on a hot summer day, it’s a trigger for nostalgia, a gateway for storytelling. And that is exactly the point of “Coca-Cola Stories,” she said.
“It’s one product, but everyone has their own connection to it,” she said. “That’s the really cool thing about Coca-Cola.”
IF YOU GO
“Coca-Cola Stories”
Opens today. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday; and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. $19-$26. World of Coca-Cola, 121 Baker St. NW, Atlanta, 404-676-5151. worldofcoca-cola.com.
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