But Candler believes that sales of his drinks would remain mostly in drugstores (Oliver, 1986). He did not want any part of bottling because it was such an expensive operation. He saw the advantage of distributing his syrup to new markets. So Candler sold to Thomas and Whitehead the right to bottle. They created a network of independent bottlers whose number was about one thousand by 1930. Each bottler had an exclusive right "in perpetuity- to bottle Coke in his area, and no one else except the soda fountains could sell Coke there. "The bottlers actually owned the Coca-Cola trademark in their territories and the company could not refuse to sell them syrup (Pendergrast, 1993).
Candler's Coca-Cola Company did well enough to sell for $25 million in 1919. It was the largest financial transaction in that time. The new owners led by Trust Company president Ernest Woodruff listed Coca-Cola on the stock exchange (Ramsey, 1987). However; the company fizzled in the early twenties. Sales of Coke syrup dropped from 18.7 million gallons in 1918 to 15.4 million gallons in 1922 (Oliver, 1986).To restore profit as well as moral, the board of directors turned to a new generation. In 1923, Robert Woodruff, thirty three, became elected president of Coca-Cola. He began an era of personal domination of an American corporation that would continued for more than sixty years (Ramsey, 1987).Robert Woodruff was a strong-willed man who did things his own way from an early age. His ambition was placing Coke anywhere and everywhere in the country. To make it available to gas stations, factories, movie theaters, even churches. In 1927 advertising slogan claimed "Around the corner from anywhere-. The same year's new markets in Canada, Cuba, and Puerto Rico had opened. During World War II new slogan "It's the real thing- was designed (Oliver, 1986). Woodruff ordered his staff that "every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for 5 cents whenever he is and whatever it costs the company- (Oliver, 1986, p.
