Candler knew there were thirsty people out there, and he found brilliant and
innovative ways to introduce them to this exciting new refreshment. He gave away
coupons for complimentary first tastes of Coca-Cola and outfitted distributing
pharmacists with clocks, urns, calendars and apothecary scales bearing theCoca-
Cola branding. People saw Coca-Cola everywhere, and the aggressive
promotion worked. By 1895, Candler had built syrup plants in Chicago, Dallas and
Los Angeles.
Inevitably, the drink’s popularity led to a demand for it to be enjoyed in new ways. In
1894, a Mississippi businessman named Joseph Biedenharn became the first to
putCoca-Cola in bottles. He sent 12 of them to Candler who responded without
enthusiasm. Despite being a brilliant and innovative businessman, he didn’t realise
then that the future of Coca-Cola would be with portable, bottled beverages
customers could take anywhere. He still didn’t realise it five years later, when, in
1899, two Chattanooga lawyers, Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead, secured
exclusive rights from Candler to bottle and sell the beverage for the sum of only one
dollar.