In the 1880's before the Merck and Park, Davis drug companies figured out how to synthesize pure cocaine from coca leaves and hired the likes of Sigmund Freud and pioneering ophthalmologist Karl Koller to promote the wonders of pure cocaine to the medical community and the world at large, the man that was most often associated with coca was Angelo Mariani.  In addition to being a second rate pharmacist who created coca laced wine, Mariani was also a marketing genius and the man that invented the popular marketing technique known today as "Celebrity Endorsement."

Mariani created coca wine in 1868 while working as an assistant at Chantrels, a pharmacy located in Paris, France. One of Mariani's assigned duties was to assist in the preperation of "wine tonics."  At the time, many medications were prepared and prescribed in the form of wine mixtures.  Many of the drugs that were popular then tasted terrible and mixing these drugs in wine made them more palatable.   In addition to learning how to make wine tonics most of what Mariani knew about coca, he probably learned from his cousin, Charles Fauvel.  Fauvel became one of the first ear, nose and throat specialists in France. Fauvel developed a cocaine based local anesthetic by dissolving coca leaves in alcohol which allowed him to conduct more thorough examinations and surgeries without inflicting pain on his patients.  This fact made him a very popular Doctor among professional entertainers, musicians and opera stars.

By 1870 "Vin Mariani" was being sold throughout France.  As sales of Angelo Mariani's wine increased he eventually opened offices in London and New York.  What fueled this rapid expansion was Mariani's ability to promote his product.  He create one of the first known publicity campaigns and through celebrity connections made by his cousin he was able to get high profile artists and other famous people to endorse the health benefits of his wine.  By 1899 Vin Mariani was one of the most popular wines in the world.  Mariani had developed a list of 8000 celebrities and people of influence who promoted his wine world-wide.  Among the famous that were selling Vin Mariani to the public at large was; Thomas Edison, Actress Sarah Bernhardt, Pope Leo, III, and President William McKinley's secretary John Addison Porter to name just a few.  Mariani had doctors, chemists, Generals, Heads of State you name it on his list of promoters.

Angelo Mariani was another instrumental figure in history that made a major contribution toward making coca and it's euphoric effects popular the world over.  And in doing so helped to  jump start the current International epidemic of cocaine addiction.