Davide Andreani first drank a Coke when he was six years old. A native of Pesaro, along the Adriatic coast of Italy, Davide doesn’t recall anything special about the beverage at first sip. His father would often travel for business and one of the things he would bring back to his son as a memento would be a special can of Coke. The first one in his collection was from Germany in 1979, featuring the word “Coca-Cola” translated from various languages in the world.
 
Davide has always been a collector at heart. When he was young, he would seek after unique coins and stamps. Now he is only interested in Coke cans. There isn’t a particular reason for the beverage choice, other than his passion for assemblage and that it is something he got into at an early age. Today, Davide’s collection consists of over 20,000 distinct cans of Coca-Cola.
 

 
Digging through the garbage for empty cans is not how one develops a surplus like Davide’s. A lifetime of meticulous searching of the globe has brought him to where he is today. The assortment of cans on display in his collection are those that the Coca-Cola company had only released for a limited time, sometimes not available to the public. Unique cans are usually produced for commemorative purposes, such as the celebration of special events like sporting events, Christmas and other holidays, the opening of a new factory, or a presidential election. The rarest and most hard are those that are gold or silver in color, some worth upwards of $500.
 

 
The internet has helped contribute to Davide’s growing soft drink collection. His website is used to display his individual findings and to communicate with others hoping to trade their rare collectibles. He has several duplicates (not included in the total count), which are used to swap with fellow collectors. Several of Davide’s cans are available for purchase here.
 
Someday, Davide hopes that his collection will be displayed in a museum. His modest home is where the cans live today, and it is not nearly big enough to showcase all of his findings. Approximately 5,000 cans line his walls and pile up on his floor, with another 15,000 or so catalogued and buried away in the garage. Thus far, the Coca-Cola company hasn’t had much interest in acquiring Davide’s tremendous collection.
 

 
Davide received a Guinness World Record in August of 2013. The award title is “Largest Collection of Soft Drink Cans - Same Brand.” In order to distinguish the title, the GWR judge closed Davide’s home for two days to count every can. At the time of certification, the assortment totaled 10,558 unique Coca-Cola cans from 87 different countries. Davide’s collection, now much larger in size, still holds the Guinness World Record.
 
Other than his amusing hobby, Davide enjoys playing volleyball, tennis, and working with computers. His dream is to visit every country in the world (all while pursuing the rarest soda cans, I’d presume), but for financial reasons he is content with sightseeing via the World Wide Web. When asked whether he enjoys the taste of the soft drink that inspired his life’s work, Davide responded “I drink Coca-Cola very little.”
 

 
More after the jump…

 
Here in the UK one of the most popular energy drinks (after Red Bull, of course) is the relatively new Relentless. The drink is a trademark of, and is aggressively promoted by, Coca Cola. So much so that in November of last year Coke threatened the Relentless Steak and Lobster House in Portsea with legal action over the typography of their sign. The matter has since been settled.

The tables have turned however, as the established British record label Relentless (which in the past has released music by Joss Stone, Seth Lakeman and KT Tunstall) is now taking Coca Cola to court over the use of the name in relation to music. This could force the drink company to drop the brand altogether. They have already been declined a trademark on their slogan “No Half Measures” because of a Glasgow-based management company of the same name. From The Independent:

The label sought mediation with Coca-Cola but has now issued a writ, calling for the drinks company to stop using the Relentless name in connection with music and to pay damages for trademark infringement.

Shabs Jobanputra, Relentless Records’ co-founder, said: “It is causing real confusion because Relentless drinks has a tented stage at the Reading Festival and sponsors venues like the Garage in London. Artists and managers are asking if we’ve been bought up by Coke. Some artists don’t like that kind of corporate association.”

Relentless, now an independent label after ending a partnership with EMI, is spending valuable resources on the court case. Jobanputra said: “We’ve been trying to resolve this for four years but their attitude is, ‘Let’s see how much money you’ve got’. They are a huge company. But it’s clear that we established the Relentless brand in music, years before the drink launched.”

Coca-Cola declined to comment on the record company’s case, but said it has reached a deal with the Portsmouth restaurant. A spokesman said: “We requested that they redesign the font of their logo. We believed it bore a strong resemblance to our energy-drink design and that this had led to consumers thinking the two were connected.

I await the outcome of this with interest!

 
What’s wrong with “bite the wax tadpole” as a slogan for Coca-Cola ?
 
via Coca-Cola Conversations :

When Coca-Cola was first sold in China in 1927, it was obvious to the Coke employees in China that the Coca-Cola trademark must be transliterated into Chinese characters. To find the nearest phonetic equivalent to ?