Coca-Cola unveils new marketing model built to drive long-term growth

Coca-Cola is aiming to drive profitable long term growth for its entire portfolio of brands with an “aggressive” agenda to “transform and modernise” its marketing and innovation model.

That transformation has included a total overhaul of its agency structure, with new appointments across creative, media and strategy.

“Consumers respond to an entire experience – they don’t separate the message from the medium. And that’s why we’ve designed an agency model to be truly consumer centric and silo-free,” says global chief marketing officer Manolo Arroyo.

“This model is about the seamless integration of the power of big, bold ideas and creativity within experiences, amplified by media and data. It will enable us to create end-to-end experiences that are grounded in data-rich insights and optimised real-time, at scale, as we learn from consumers.”

The agency model has four key components. First, a global marketing network partner to manage end-to-end creative, media, data and marketing technologies across Coke’s entire portfolio. A complementary media partner will also be brought onboard to bring differentiated capabilities in select markets, alongside a strategic roster of approved agencies to provide creative ideas.

The final component will be a common data and technology platform to connect marketing teams across all Coca-Cola teams and agencies.

Coca-Cola has appointed WPP as its global marketing network partner, Dentsu as its complementary media partner, and is including Publicis Groupe and IPG as part of its ‘strategic roster’ of agencies.

Coca-Cola to shift focus from broadcast to experiences under new brand platformArroyo says simplicity will be “critical” to the brand’s plans due to its five-category beverage portfolio in more than 200 countries. He says speed and data-driven insights are needed to deliver integrated consumer experiences at a global scale.

“As we designed our new marketing operating model, it became increasingly clear that simplicity was critical to successfully operating a vast geographical and diversified business network, which also includes our bottling system,” he says.

In September, Coca-Cola unveiled its first new global brand platform since 2016: ‘Real Magic’. Under this new platform, the beverage giant said it would change the way it communicates with consumers, by moving away from broadcast communications to create an ecosystem of experiences.

The Coca-Cola Company president Selman Careaga said that through future campaigns under this platform, the brand will align with consumer “passion points” to appeal more to them.

The first campaign under the platform tapped into gaming and eSports, called ‘One Coke Away From Each Other’. It featured three celebrity gamers – DJ Alan Walker, Team Liquid’s Aerial Powers and Average Jonas – and tells the story of a gamer who bonds with their opponents over a Coke.