Coca-Cola

An early Coca-Cola advertisement. Image courtesy Laurence King

In 1886, the fledgling drinks company’s book-keeper Frank Mason Robinson penned the first version of the now legendary script, but it wasn’t registered as a trademark until January 1893. Back then, its lettering style was loosely applied; it was only in 1903 that it became the form used today.

Robinson arrived in Atlanta in 1885, where he met Dr John Pemberton, an experimental pharmacist known for concocting outlandish compounds. In May 1886, the manufacture of what would become known as Coca-Cola began. It was a syrup version of Pemberton’s older French Wine Coca product, which included fluid extracts of “coca” (cocaine) and “kola” (caffeine [from the kola nut]), plus sugar to make a formula that would later be carbonated. It was intended as a “brain tonic” that would increase intellectual capacity and cure headaches.

1960s London, with a Coca-Cola advert at Piccadilly Circus. Image courtesy Laurence King

“It had no name in the beginning, ” Robinson is quoted as saying. But then, each of the four men in the corporation submitted an idea for its name, and his was used. After one block-letter label appeared with the word kola changed to cola, the book-keeper, “with the flourish of an old-time penman” writes Atlanta historian Franklin M Garrett, “polished up his effort by designing, in flowing script, the famous trademark”. But Robinson actually declared himself “practically the originator” of the way of writing it – which suggests that others were involved, such as an engraver called Frank Ridge he is known to have worked with, whom history has written out.

CND

The CND logo made from candles outside the Houses of Parliament. Image courtesy Laurence King Photograph: Laurence King

The CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) symbol was first brought to public attention on Easter weekend in 1958, on a march from London to Aldermaston in Berkshire, the site of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Some 500 “peace signs” were held aloft by the protesters who walked the 52 miles – which suggests that organisers were aware of the need for political and visual impact.

The fact that they already had Gerald Holtom – a professional designer – on board explains the symbol’s immediate success. It showed the semaphore for the letters N and D, standing for nuclear disarmament. But it also came from a much more personal approach, as Holtom later explained: “I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself... an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle around it. It was ridiculous at first and such a puny thing.”

He turned the design into a badge: “I made a drawing of it the size of a sixpence then pinned it on the lapel of my jacket and forgot it. In the evening I went to the post office and the girl behind the counter asked what it was. I felt rather strange and uneasy. ‘Oh, that’s the new peace symbol.’ ‘How interesting, are there more of them? ’ she replied. ‘No, only one, but I expect there will be quite a lot before long.’” The symbol became more formalised as its usage became more widespread. The earliest images reproduce the submissive “individual in despair” more clearly, with lines that widen out as they meet the circle where a head, feet and outstretched arms might be. But by the early 60s, the lines had thickened and straightened out in a bolder incarnation.

In the UK it has remained the logo of the CND since the late 1950s, but internationally it has taken on a broader message signifying peace. Shortly before the Aldermaston march, Holtom had a “revolution of thought” and realised that if he inverted the symbol it could represent the tree of life, a symbol of hope and resurrection for Christians... and that the flipped image of a figure with arms outstretched upwards was also the semaphore signal for U – unilateral. Holtom’s ultimate aim had been to instigate positive change – something the CND and peace movement continues to do internationally.

https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2013/oct/31/marketing-pr-business-growth