Asa Candler was not an inventor, nor did he need to search for a name for his company or a distinctive logo. His greatest achievement was taking a product in a semi-dormant state (with daily sales reaching only nine servings) and managing to skyrocket it until his retirement in 1916.
In 1892, Asa Candler (1851-1929), having purchased the manufacturing rights of an innovative dark-colored soft drink for $2,300, founded the Coca-Cola Company with a capital of $100,000 and a budget of $11,500 for advertising (being among the first to heavily invest in advertising and promotion - in 1901 he spent $100,000 and by 1911 the amount rose to one million), while entrusting the secret recipe only to a few trusted associates.
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As a true marketing genius, especially in advertising, he distributed thousands of coupons to encourage free trials of Coca-Cola, placed bell-shaped serving glasses everywhere in the United States, and gave away calendars, posters, porcelain items, discs, clocks, and pharmaceutical scales to pharmacies and beyond, all bearing the company logo. He even secured a contract with the actress and singer Hilda Clark to promote the brand, in one of the earliest celebrity endorsements.
He also approached pharmacists and offered barrels filled with syrup to those who hesitated (business-to-business marketing). These would be his future customers, as countless clients would flock to their stores to redeem their coupons. At the same time, he hired traveling salesmen to ensure that they correctly mixed the syrup with carbonated water and used all the logos and advertising signs.