Greetings Steemians!
I work at Coke's global corporate HQ, and today a few friends visited me at the office for lunch and a mini tour. I took some snapshots along the way to share with you... think of this post as a virtual tour of sorts.
See below photos of my friends and me demonstrating our enthusiasm for Coca-Cola through the art medium called "selfies"!
We'll begin our virtual tour at the entrance to Coke's campus: a gorgeous marble rotunda built in 1986, 100 years after founder John Pemberton introduced Coca-Cola to the world.
You'll notice Coke displays several flags in its entrance: the American flag, Georgia State Flag, and Coca-Cola brand flags. However, in addition, special flags are rotated to welcome guests from any country or partnering organization. Today, we happen to have visitors from China, so the Chinese flag is displayed. I've seen Disney flags, McDonald's flags, and flags from nearly every country standing beside the Coca-Cola flags.
After guests check in, they are ushered to a (newly renovated and opened today for the very first time) waiting room stocked with an abundance of beverages from Coke's portfolio. You'll find everything from sparkling smartwater to chocolate Fairlife milk to glass bottled Coke from Mexico. It's more or less the Wonka's Chocolate Factory of beverages. And the best part: all drinks are FREE.
Unsurprisingly, the waiting room is decorated to promote brand love, displaying ceiling-high trademark Coke red bench seating, spiral Coke contour bottle shaped art, and these ridiculously entertaining spinning glass bottles.
Coke's campus is comprised of several buildings, each sanctioned for different functions. To name a few, there is a tech building designated for R&D to develop and test new flavor profiles, a corporate tower that houses global operations, and a smaller tower for running the North America business unit.
Each floor of the company varies in style, some of the older layouts are cubicle-centric, with executive offices along the perimeter. Others have been updated as part of Coke's "Workplace 2020 Initiative" to create collaborative, open spaces. Others, still, look more like science labs, which is where products are tested to ensure quality in innovation.
The lobbies of each individual building each boast a memorable personality. One of the lobbies has floor-to-ceiling flip disc walls that use red and white plastic discs to create Coca-Cola art. At the time I snapped the photo, the walls were displaying the Coke logo. However, at times they may show renditions of classic ads, FIFA footballs, and tag lines from new marketing campaigns. The wall requires less energy than it takes to power a 60 watt lightbulb.
The floor of this lobby is also made with crushed pieces of glass Coca-Cola bottles.
Another lobby has enormous fountains that drop water in patterns that create shaped and words (all Coke-themed, of course!)
Next, we took an elevator to the top of the corporate tower to explore the executive floors.
Pictured here is the board room. Fun fact- the entire room was made out of wood from the same pecan tree. Also, each board member is given their own chair at the beginning of their service term, and when they retire they are allowed to keep it. Looking at the chairs, you can tell which belong to more seasoned board members because they tend to be more worn in.
Take a look at the view of Atlanta from the board room:
Outside the board room is a display of the world's most valuable Christmas card collection, as determined by the Smithsonian. Each card was commissioned by the Woodruff family with hand paintings of wildlife found on their property.
You'll also notice the executive floors are connected with a gorgeous free-standing spiral staircase. This staircase was actually installed by placing it into the building through the roof.
There is so much more I could share- let me know if you'd be interested in reading another installment of the insider's look at Coke HQ.
Cheers!
Kate