Today In History

Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina was a pharmacist at the turn of the century. He had a soda fountain in his drugstore, where he served his customers refreshing drinks, that he created himself. His most popular beverage was something he called "Brad's drink" made of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, pepsin and cola nuts. "Brad's drink", was later renamed Pepsi Cola in 1898 after the pepsin and cola nuts used in the recipe. In 1898, Caleb Bradham wisely bought the trade name "Pep Cola" for $100 from a competitor from Newark, New Jersey that had gone broke. The new name was trademarked on June 16th, 1903. Bradham's neighbor, an artist designed the first Pepsi logo and ninety-seven shares of stock for Bradham's new company were issued. After seventeen years, Caleb Bradham lost Pepsi Cola. He had gambled on the fluctuations of sugar prices during W.W.I, believing that the prices would continue to rise. They fell instead leaving him with an overpriced sugar inventory. Pepsi Cola went bankrupt in 1923. In 1931, Pepsi Cola was bought by the Loft Candy Company, who struggled to make it a success. They even offered to sell Pepsi to the Coca-Cola company, who refused the offer. In 1940, history was made when the first advertising jingle was broadcast nationally. The jingle was "Nickel Nickel" an advertisement for Pepsi Cola that referred to the price of Pepsi and the quantity for that price. "Nickel Nickel" became a hit record and was recorded into fifty-five languages.