I posted the article primarily for those who might have forgotten about it and/or new members who never heard about or read it. I agree it reinforces celery's point, just in different words.
I just discovered there were actually two Coca Cola conventions held in Atlanta, Georgia in January of 1916. I'm still researching and trying to make sense of it, but it appears one convention was held for bottlers in general and another convention held for the district managers. You may recall my earlier post and the two ads that were dated January 2nd and January 3rd of 1916. Well, here are a couple of more ads I found, one dated January 19, 1916 and one dated January 21, 1916. Notice in the January 21st ad where it says at the bottom ... "A number of excellent addresses were delivered ..." and that one of them was given by Asa Candler entitled "Confidence in your product." Also notice in both ads that the convention was held at the Piedmont Hotel and not Hotel Ansley where the earlier convention was held. I intend to try and research this in more detail, but what I'm really wondering at the moment is ...
Which of the two conventions was the Root/Dean prototype bottle voted on and selected?
Remember, there were two Coca-Cola businesses: the fountain syrup business owned by Asa Candler since 1892, and the bottling business started by Thomas, Whitehead, and Lupton in 1899. Candler had syrup plants across the US and Canada, with regionally organized sales managers and an army of salesmen who introduced the product, placed advertising, and took orders. This was a very different business than the bottling business that Candler disdained. Of course they had their own convention focused on the fountain trade. It was not until 1920 that more Coca-Cola was sold in bottles rather than at fountains.
I was scrolling through the following book and found something of particular interest ...
Atlanta and Environs
Volume II
by: Franklin M. Garrett
1969
http://xrl.us/bpbrqn
It takes a minute for the book to load, but once it does scroll to Page 699 where it says that Charles Howard Candler (son of Asa Candler) succeeded to the presidency of The Coca Cola Company on January 21, 1916. That date was the day after the general managers convention and the same date of second article I posted. Although neither of the two articles mentions anything about a pending change in the presidency, it wouldn't surprise me if some type of announcement was made during the two day event.
The book also contains a lot of other interesting Coca Cola information and pictures, with a good portion of it contained on Pages 119 thru 128. For more Coca Cola related info, scroll to the index on Page 1030 and click on any the blue links shown for Coca Cola.
Here's a 1913 postcard of the Piedmont Hotel where the January 19th and 20th, 1916 convention was held. The hotel was built in 1903 and demolished in 1963 ...