Evolution of Coca-Cola Packaging Design

Everyone can recognize a coke can at fifty feet. It is an American icon. Coke has roots that dig deep. They first began bottling this giant of colas in 1886 in the backyard of a pharmacist in Atlanta Ga. John Pemberton is the man that brewed this concoction for the first time.

Coke was sold like beer out of a tap until 1894 when the owner began first putting the concoction into bottles. With the creation of the glass bottle the creation of packaging for Coke –Cola first began.


The first packaging changes were not for sales, it was to protect against forgeries. Competition for packaging would be different and it was felt that people should be able to discern in the dark by feel if it was the real thing or not.


In 1977 Coke finally trademarked the bottle shape and the terms Coke-Cola and Coke. 1977 also saw the invention of 2liter bottles. It was in 1960 that Coke began using cans, until then only cans for drinks were only used in the armed forces.


Since then Coke has played with a variety of packaging concepts to harden their brand. In fact, in a lot of advertising classes one of the projects is to design a concept brand of soda.




This project makes you think about bottling, design, name, and how to market a new brand of soda using Coke as an example.




Coke is always re-inventing its packaging brand and have used glass, plastic, cans and are seeking new and greener ways to package its product. They also introduce special bottles and cans to mark special dates and events.