the coca cola case study

Coca-Cola Marketing Case Study

From the star ‘Coca-Cola’ drink to Inca Kola in North and South America, Vita in Africa, and Thumbs up in India, The Coca-Cola Company owns a product portfolio of more than 3500 products . With the presence in more than 200 countries and the daily average servings to 1.9 billion people, Coca-Cola Company has been listed as the world’s most valuable brand with 94% of the world’s population recognizing the red and white Coca-Cola brand Logo . Moreover, 3.1% of all beverages consumed around the world are Coca-Cola products. All this because of its great marketing strategy which we’ll discuss in this article on Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy .

Coca-Cola –

• has a Market capitalization of $192.8 Billion (as of May 2016).
• had 53 years of consecutive annual dividend increases.
• with the revenue of over $44.29 billion, is not just a company but an ECONOMY.

The world knows and has tasted the coca cola products. In fact, out of the 55 billion servings of all kinds of beverages drunk each day (other than water), 1.7 billion are Coca-Cola trademarked/licensed drinks.

Marketing history

Market research in the beginning.

It all started 130 years ago, in 1886, when a Confederate colonel in the Civil War, John Pemberton, wanted to create his own version of coca wine (cola with alcohol and cocaine) and sent his nephew Lewis Newman to conduct a market research with the samples to a local pharmacy (Jacobs pharmacy). This wasn’t a new idea back then. The original idea of Coca wines was discovered by a Parisian chemist named Angelo Mariani.

Pemberton’s sample was sold for 5 cents a glass and the feedback of the customers was relayed to him by his nephew. Hence, by the end of the year, Pemberton was ready with a unique recipe that was tailored to the customers taste.

Marketing Strategy In The Beginning

Pemberton soon had to make it non-alcoholic because of the laws prevailing in Atlanta. Once the product was launched, it was marketed by Pemberton as a “Brain Tonic” and “temperance drink” (anti-alcohol), claiming that it cured headaches, anxiety, depression, indigestion, and addiction. Cocaine was removed from Coke in 1903.

The name and the original (current) Trademark logo was the idea of Pemberton’s accountant Frank Robinson, who designed the logo in his own writing. Not changing the logo till date is the best strategy adopted by Coca-cola.

Soon after the formula was sold to Asa G Candler (in 1889), who converted it into a soda drink, the real marketing began.

Candler was a marketer. He distributed thousands of complimentary coca-cola glass coupons, along with souvenir calendars, clocks, etc. all depicting the trademark and made sure that the coca cola trademark was visible everywhere .

He also painted the syrup barrels red to differentiate Coca-Cola from others.

Various syrup manufacturing plants outside Atlanta were opened and in 1895, Candler announced about Coca-Cola being drunk in every state & territory in the US.

The Idea Of The Bottle

During Candler’s era, Coca-Cola was sold only through soda fountains. But two innovative minds, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, secured from Candler exclusive rights (at just $1) for bottled coca cola sales.

But Coca-Cola was so famous in the US that it was subjected to imitations. Early advertising campaigns like “Demand the genuine” and “Accept no substitutes” helped the brand somewhat but there was a dire need to differentiate. Hence, in 1916, the unique bottle of Coca-Cola was designed by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. The trademark bottle design hasn’t been changed until now.

Coca-Cola Worldwide

In 1919, Candler sold the company to Robert Woodruff whose aim was to make Coca-Cola available to anyone, anytime and anyplace. Bottling plants were set up all over the world & coca cola became first truly global brand.

Robert Woodruff had some other strategies too. He was focused on maintaining a standard of excellence as the company scaled. He wanted to position Coca-Cola as a premium product that was worthy of more attention than any of its competitors. And he succeeded in it.  Coca-Cola grew rapidly throughout the world.

Coca-Cola Marketing Strategies

The worldwide popularity of Coca-Cola was a result of simple yet groundbreaking marketing strategies like –

Consistency

Consistency can be seen from the logo to the bottle design & the price of the drink (the price was 5 cents from 1886 to 1959). Coca-Cola has kept it simple with every slogan revolving around the two terms ‘Enjoy’ and ‘happiness’.

From the star bottle to the calendars, watches and other unrelated products, Candler started the trend to make Coca-Cola visible everywhere. The company has followed the same branding strategy till now. Coca-Cola is everywhere and hence has the world’s most renowned logo.

Positioning

Coca-Cola didn’t position itself as a product. It was and it is an ‘Experience’ of happiness and joy.

Franchise model

The bottling rights were sold to different local entrepreneurs , which is continued till now. Hence, Coca-cola isn’t one giant company, it’s a system of many small companies reporting to one giant company.

Personalization & Socialization

Unlike other big companies, Coca-Cola has maintained its positioning as a social brand. It talks to the users. Coca-Cola isn’t a company anymore. It’s a part of us now. With its iconic advertising ideas which include “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” & “Share a Coke”, it has maintained a special spot in the heart of its users.

Diversification

Coca-Cola, after marking its presence all over the world, took its first step towards diversifying its portfolio in 1960 by buying Minute Maid. It now operates in all but 2 countries worldwide with a portfolio of more than 3500 brands.

Coca-Cola Marketing Facts

• Logo & bottle design hasn’t changed since the start.
• During its first year, Coca-Cola sold an average of 9 drinks a day.
• Norman Rockwell created art for Coke ads.
• Coke has had a huge role in shaping our image of Santa Clause.
• In the 1980s, the company attempted a “Coke in the Morning” campaign to try to win over coffee drinkers.
• In 1923, the company began selling bottles in packages of six, which became common practice in the beverage industry.
• Recently, it was in the news that Verizon acquired Yahoo for around $5 billion which is more or less the same amount the Coca-Cola Company spends on its advertisements.
• The number of employees working with the Coca-Cola Company (123,200 to be exact) is more than the population of many countries.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

Did we miss something?  Come on! Tell us what you think about Coca Cola Marketing Case Study  in the comment section.

A startup consultant, digital marketer, traveller, and philomath. Aashish has worked with over 20 startups and successfully helped them ideate, raise money, and succeed. When not working, he can be found hiking, camping, and stargazing.

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How Coca-Cola became one of the most successful brands in history

Table of contents.

Coca-Cola has an impressive track record of innovation which has helped propel the company to become one of the most successful brands in history. Through skillful advertising efforts, Coca-Cola is widely recognized as a symbol of American culture through its influence on politics, pop culture, and music around the globe.  

Key statistics and facts about The Coca-Cola Company: 

• Owns 43.7% of the US carbonated soft drinks market
• Net operating revenue of $38.7B
• Present in more than 200 countries and territories
• Employs over over 700,000 along with its bottling partners
• Ranked #93 in the Fortune 500
• Μarket value of $259.77 billion as of February 2023 

Who owns Coca-Cola?

There is no sole owner of Coca-Cola as it is a publicly listed company. However, the largest shareholder is Warren Buffett. Read on as we dive into the history of Coca-Cola's owners and much more below!

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The history of The Coca-Cola Company

How it all started.

The story of The Coca-Cola Company had humble beginnings in the late 1800s, in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. John Pemberton, a local pharmacist, had developed a recipe for a sweet syrup that was originally advertised to cure headaches. It was eventually mixed with carbonated water to create a fizzy drink that was served at a soda fountain in Jacobs’ Pharmacy. The first glass of Coca-Cola was served on May 8, 1886. In the first year, Pemberton served approximately nine drinks per day which were sold for 5 cents a glass. 

While the ingredient list today is a highly guarded secret, it is well known that the original version contained extracts from the Coca leaf and Kola nuts for caffeine. The combination of these two ingredients is where the name comes from. Dr. Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, felt that spelling the name with double “C’s” would look better in advertising. So, he scripted out the logo which even today displays Mr. Robinson’s unique handwriting. 

Dr. Pemberton didn’t realize the potential of his new product. He took on several partners and sold portions of his business to various owners. Sadly, Dr. Pemberton died just two years after the creation of Coca-Cola. Prior to his death, he sold his remaining interests to an Atlanta businessman, Asa Griggs Candler. Candler knew there was something special about this new product, but little did he know that his $2,300 investment (roughly $67,000 today) would be the start of one of the most powerful brands on the planet. 

Birth of The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company was officially founded by Asa Candler in 1892. It didn’t take long for the Coca-Cola product to quickly spread outside of Georgia and across the nation. By 1895, Coca-Cola was being sold in every state of the union. In 1919, the company was sold to Ernest Woodruff. Woodruff's sons would continue to run the company for many years, transforming the company into a major international brand. The Coca-Cola Company was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1919 under the ticker symbol KO. 

International expansion of The Coca-Cola Company

The first export of Coca-Cola was to Cuba in 1899. It wasn’t until the 1920s, that international expansion of the brand began to take off. During World War II, Coca-Cola’s President, Robert Woodruff, wanted to ensure that US service members stationed all over could have the comforts of home and pledged to transport Coca-Cola to the various bases in the European and Pacific theatres on the company’s dime. This introduction of the Coca-Cola product increased international demand. With people all over the world craving a taste of American culture, Coca-Cola began establishing partnerships with bottling companies and distributors all over the world. Today, the brand operates in more than 200 countries and territories. 

Early competition

In the early years, Coca-Cola had a lot of competition. In fact, the late 1800s and early 1900s was the most active period in the development of new soft drinks. Some of these companies went out of business or were bought out by other larger companies. However, many of these brands are still in existence today as more novelty brands and hold a very small percentage of the market. 

The most prominent competitors to Coca-Cola throughout its history have been Pepsi and Dr. Pepper. They were both created around the same time as Coca-Cola (Pepsi in 1898 and Dr. Pepper in 1885). Over time, these three giants bought up many of the smaller beverage companies. For example, Vernor’s Ginger Ale, Hires Root Beer, and Royal Crown Cola still exist but are now owned by Dr. Pepper. 

The Coca-Cola beverage was created in 1886 by Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia. The recipe was purchased by Asa Griggs Candler and The Coca-Cola Company in 1892. The brand quickly became popular and was sold all over the United States. By the early 20th century, Coca-Cola began a rapid expansion across the globe.

The Coca-Cola system- a global franchise distribution network 

The Coca-Cola Company’s rapid expansion around the world can be attributed to its unique franchise distribution system (known as the Coca-Cola System ) that they have operated since 1889. Coca-Cola produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers around the world. This helps the company maintain control over its top-secret recipe without the burden of having to run many of the independent bottling facilities. 

The Coca-Cola System is a network of over 900 bottling plants that produce 2 billion servings of Coca-Cola every day. The bottlers each hold contracts that allow them to exclusively operate in a predetermined territory. This reduces the need for the competition from multiple companies that sell the same product. 

These distributors handle all aspects of the production and distribution process including mixing the syrup with carbonated water and sweeteners, placing the finished product in cans or bottles, and distributing Coca-Cola to supermarkets, vending machines, restaurants, and movie theaters. Although Coca-Cola produces the main syrup, the franchise companies also control the soda fountain business in their territory. 

The exception to this model is the North American market where The Coca-Cola Company directly owns most of the bottling and distribution. Outside of the United States, Coca-Cola has continued to encourage the consolidation of its various bottling companies. Over time, Coca-Cola has acquired a percentage of ownership in many of the companies in the Coca-Cola System. 

Top 5 independent bottling partners, representing 40 percent of the Coca-Cola System distribution network:

• Coca-Cola FEMSA (Latin America)
• Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, plc (Western Europe, Australia, Pacific, and Indonesia)
• Coca-Cola HBC AG (Eastern Europe)
• Arca Continental (Latin America and North America)
• Swire Beverages (Asia and parts of North America)

Here's an example video from Coca-Cola HBC AG explaining their business model:

The Coca-Cola Company leverages a network of independently owned and operated bottlers around the world. This has enabled the company to quickly expand without having to invest billions of dollars into building facilities and navigating international rules and regulations unique to each region.

Evolution of the Coca-Cola product

The formula for Coca-Cola has undergone a few changes since its creation. Some of these changes were driven by necessity. Some were an attempt to reduce costs or gain market share. While the brand does not make changes often, some have been better received than others. 

Removal of cocaine

During the late 19th century, there were many Cocoa-based beverages available on the market. At the time, drugs like cocaine and opium were perfectly legal and used quite frequently for medicinal purposes. Since Coca leaves were used to make Coca-Cola, there were small quantities of cocaine that could be found in the drink. 

The public eventually became aware of the addictive properties of these substances, so Coca-Cola was pressured to remove this drug from its list of ingredients. The Coca-Cola Company made steps to gradually phase out sources of cocaine from its production until it was finally eliminated in 1929.

On April 23, 1985, The Coca-Cola Company took a huge risk that shocked the world. They announced that they would be changing the formula of their world-famous soft drink. Despite its massive success, the company had been losing ground to one of its main competitors, Pepsi. Pepsi’s success wasn’t just in the United States. They were quickly expanding into markets that were once considered untouchable. At the height of the Cold War, Pepsi became the first Western product to be permitted in the Soviet Union . 

Based on surveys and taste tests, consumers seemed to prefer the sweeter taste of Pepsi-Cola. So, Coca-Cola set out to rework the formula to improve its ability to compete. According to Coca-Cola’s website, their goal was to “re-energize the Coca-Cola brand and the cola category in its largest market, the United States”. After receiving positive feedback from nearly 200k customers in taste tests, New Coke was released to the market. 

The public’s response to the new version of their product was outrage. Unfortunately, Coca-Cola miscalculated its customer’s bond with the original brand. Massive protests were staged and the company was flooded with thousands of angry phone calls and letters. The backlash was so fierce that it forced the company to revert back to the old formula after only 79 days on the market, branded as Coca-Cola classic. 

This graph demonstrates PepsiCo’s rapid expansion of market share from 1970 to 1990 and subsequent fall.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar

While Coca-Cola has vowed not to make any changes to its original product, the company plans to update the recipe and packaging for their popular zero sugar variation, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar . The company has been cautious in its promotion of the new version as to not create a blowback like the 1985 New Coke fiasco. Coca-Cola has reiterated that the new version will not be a major overhaul, rather an “optimization of flavors and existing ingredients”. The rollout is expected to hit the US market by August 2021.

Sweetener changed to high fructose corn syrup

Traditionally, the Coca-Cola recipe called for cane sugar as the primary sweetener. During the 1970s, the United States saw a massive increase in corn production. This forced the prices of corn to drop significantly. In addition, corn was heavily subsidized by the US government. This made sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup more affordable. 

In an attempt to reduce costs, Coca-Cola slowly started substituting cane sugar for high fructose corn syrup during the 1980s. The transition took place over the course of approximately 5 years. 

Today, cane sugar is still used in the production of Coca-Cola in certain regions of the world. The most popular example is Coca-Cola produced in Mexico. This version of Coca-Cola is still made with cane sugar. Some critics argue that “Mexican Coke” has a flavor that is closer to the original formula.

In 1935, Coca-Cola was certified as kosher after the company replaced the source of glycerin used in production . This was originally derived from beef tallow but was replaced with a plant-based version. However, with the change of sweetener in the 1980s to high fructose corn syrup, its kosher status was removed. Today, bottlers in markets with large Jewish populations will temporarily substitute high fructose corn syrup during Passover to obtain Kosher certification.

Recipe and flavor variations

Despite the utter failure of New Coke in 1985, The Coca-Cola Company has introduced new flavors over time in addition to Coca-Cola classic. 

Some consumers avoided Coca-Cola classic because of the high sugar or caffeine content. In 1982, the company released a diet version of their product for consumers who were concerned about consuming too much sugar. A caffeine-free version was also introduced a year later. 

The company has also tried different flavor combinations. The first was Coca-Cola Cherry in 1985 which was a huge success and remains popular today. Other flavors included lemon, lime, vanilla, orange, ginger, cinnamon, and coffee. Many of these were attempts to bring local flavors to international markets. 

Coca-Cola has achieved enormous amounts of growth by tailoring its products to local tastes and demands. They have also been able to reduce production costs by substituting expensive ingredients such as cane sugar for lower-cost alternatives. Not every change has been well received by the public. Coca-Cola infamously changed their original recipe to replace it with “New Coke”. This change faced fierce backlash and forced the company to bring back the original product after only 79 days on the market. 

Coca-Cola Growth Strategy

The company has outlined a list of key objectives that they plan to execute in the coming years to spur additional growth. This strategic plan is intended to guide the company in refocusing efforts and being more intentional with its actions.  

Focus on developing markets

Coca-Cola has identified that there is huge growth potential in the developing world. Seventy percent of all beverages being consumed in the developed world are commercialized compared to only 30 percent for the developing world. Considering the developing world contains 80 percent of the world's population, growth is expected to be exponentially higher. 

One identified area of opportunity is brand diversification. While Coca-Cola has a strong foothold globally, this is only due to its strong presence in major markets. Outside of sparkling water, Coca-Cola is trailing competitors. The focus will be on gaining momentum in other beverage categories through the experimentation of new products. 

Brand portfolio optimization

Bigger isn’t always better. The Coca-Cola Company is realizing that its efforts may be spread across too many individual brands. Their goal is to rebalance their portfolio and consolidate products into fewer master brands. They have already reduced this number from approximately 400 to 200. By having fewer master brands, they can better focus their efforts. 

Networked organization

Operating a large corporation comes with challenges. In many cases, there can be inefficiencies and duplicated efforts. Coca-Cola plans to address this by reorganizing its support and operational teams to provide better support and work more effectively. 

Brand building

The company plans to deliver world-class marketing through targeted resource allocation. The goal is to be more intentional with the way advertising and marketing investments are made. 

Coca-Cola has a goal to increase the frequency that new or existing consumers drink their products. To do this, the company has set targets to significantly increase innovation by bringing more trial products and projects into the pipeline. The goal is to increase this by 40 percent over 2020. 

Digital transformation

Coca-Cola understands that data is a powerful tool. They are in the process of undergoing a digital transformation to help the company operate more effectively and leverage data to drive decision-making. 

Revenue growth management

With this new data and digital tools available, the company can place a renewed focus on which areas have the most potential for growth. They will focus on understanding which markets, consumers, product lines, and competitors should be addressed.

The Coca-Cola Company is dedicated to growing the business through a skillfully designed and executed strategic plan. Their long-term goals are to focus on expanding the commercial beverage industry in developing countries. They also plan to optimize their product line by reducing the number of master brands, creating new innovative products, changing their internal operations teams to streamline processes, and better leverage data.

The power of advertising- Coca-Cola becomes a household name

A big part of Coca-Cola’s success over the years has been its focus on innovative marketing and advertising campaigns. In 2020, Coca-Cola was ranked as the 6th most powerful brand in the world. This accomplishment didn’t come overnight. Over the years, Coca-Cola has had to work diligently to evolve and bring fresh, new ideas to marketing and advertising.

Large contributions to advertising 

Even early on, Asa Griggs Candler spent a considerable amount of money on advertising. His original budget for advertising was $11,000 (over $300,000 in today’s money). By 1900, the budget increased ten-fold to $100,000 and again to $1 million by 1910. 

Large advertising budgets are important when a new brand is getting established. As a company grows and becomes well-known, they typically scale back on their advertising budget since most consumers recognize the brand. Coca-Cola, however, has continued to keep the pressure on its competitors. Today, the company spends about 10 percent of its revenue on advertising and marketing. This equates to approximately $4 billion in commercials, print advertising, sponsorships, and other promotional merchandise. 

Focus on the brand and human connection

Much of Coca-Cola’s advertising success comes from the way they present their brand. Instead of focusing on the actual product, they emphasize the feeling and camaraderie of making the brand part of one’s identity. Their advertisements are intended to make people feel good about themselves and want to be a part of the experience. 

Human connection is an important part of the brand message. One great example of this was the “Hilltop” commercial from 1971 that featured people from different cultures singing “I’d like to buy the world a Coke”. This showed the Coca-Cola brand as one that was intended to unite people around the world.

Celebrity endorsements

Celebrity endorsement is a way to help a brand stand out, especially when targeting specific groups. For example, sports fans will be more likely to purchase a product if their favorite athlete promotes the brand. Over the years, Coca-Cola has been endorsed by numerous high-profile celebrities, athletes, and pop culture icons. 

Hilda Clark, an American model, and actress was the first celebrity to endorse the brand in 1900 and was featured in early advertisements. Since then, Coca-Cola has received endorsements from many big-name celebrities such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Magic Johnson, and Elvis Presley. 

Coca-Cola in pop culture

The Coca-Cola brand has been a prominent part of American culture for decades. Coca-Cola has skillfully attached itself to key historical events, music, movies, and major holidays. 

Coca-Cola and many of its other brands have been featured in numerous films and television programs. For a short time, Coca-Cola even owned Columbia Pictures (from 1982 to 1989) and inserted Coke products into many of its productions.  A few examples include:

•  The 1933 film King Kong displays a Times Square billboard advertisement in several of the scenes.
• Coca-Cola products being used in the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
• The modern TV series Stranger Things which takes place in the 1980s displays and makes reference to New Coke. 

The Coca-Cola Company has also made its way into music across the globe. Elvis Presley promoted Coca-Cola during his last tour in 1977. The UK sensation, The Beatles, made mention of Coca-Cola in a line of their hit song “Come Together”. In addition to lyrical references, the brand has featured musical superstars such as David Bowie, Elton John, and Whitney Houston in Diet Coke commercials. 

The Coca-Cola brand has also cleverly attached itself to popular holidays. Some of its most successful campaigns have been displayed over the Christmas holiday. One of the most iconic campaigns started in 1931 with illustrations of St. Nicholas drinking a Coca-Cola. Many credit Coca-Cola with inspiring the modern-day version of Santa Clause. 

Clever campaigns and promotions

Coca-Cola has been one of the top innovators in the advertising space. On many occasions, they have used never before seen tactics that both surprised and delighted consumers. Creating an additional buzz around their advertising campaigns helps to amplify whom the campaign reaches directly. 

During the 2012 NFL Superbowl, Coca-Cola decided to take a non-traditional approach. The Superbowl is one of the most sought-after advertising opportunities. Each year, approximately 95 million people tune in to watch the championship game. Typically, major brands spend over $5 million for a single 30-second commercial. With the rise of cell phones and other mobile devices, Coca-Cola knew that consumers would be juggling multiple devices during the game. So, they created a family of animated polar bears that would react to the game in real-time on digital media banners and a microsite. The bears would laugh, respond to audience tweets, and make faces. The campaign was a huge success. During the game, over 9 million viewers spent an average of 28 minutes engaging with and watching the polar bears in action. 

In 2011, Coca-Cola decided to take a personalized approach to advertise in Australia with their Share a Coke campaign. They selected 150 of the most popular names and printed them on the side of their bottles along with the message “Share a Coke with…”. The campaign encouraged people to share a bottle of Coke with a friend or tag them in a social media post with the hashtag #shareacoke. The campaign was so successful that it was expanded to over 80 countries and led to Coca-Cola’s first sales growth in over 10 years. 

Collectible memorabilia 

Coca-Cola has created and distributed numerous pieces of branded memorabilia that are highly sought after by collectors including toys, clothing, antique bottles, signs, household items, and old vending machines. The collectible nature of these products has nostalgia of traditional Americana and has further helped to amply the prestige and cultural connection of Coca-Cola to US history. Rare and well-preserved items can fetch tens of thousands of dollars. 

The Coca-Cola Company has created one of the most powerful and well-known brands in the world. Over the years, they have embedded themselves as an icon of American culture through music, television, and films. The company spends a significant portion of its annual revenue on advertising efforts including television commercials, social media, and other advertising. 

Growth through mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships- becoming an unstoppable force in the food and beverage industry

While The Coca-Cola Company is known for its main products such as Coca-Cola and Diet Coke, the company owns, produces, and distributes over 500 individual brands worldwide. Some of these brands are a result of new products that they created. Others were obtained through mergers, acquisitions, and special partnerships with other major companies. 

Key mergers and acquisitions

• 1960 - Coca-Cola acquires Minute Maid, a producer of juices, soft drinks, and other beverages such as the popular Hi-C brand. 
• 1993 - When Coca-Cola was struggling to gain a foothold in the Indian market, they purchased the popular local brand, Thums Up. Their business now makes up over 40 percent of the cola business in India. 
• 1995 - Acquisition of Barq’s which produces a line of root beers and cream sodas. 
• 1999 - Coca-Cola purchased 50 percent of Inca Kola for $200 million and took control of its marketing and bottling operations. 
• 2001 - Odwalla, a brand of fruit juices, smoothies, and bars was acquired. This company was discontinued in 2020.
• 2007 - Coca-Cola acquired Fuze Beverage, a producer of teas and fruit drinks that were infused with vitamins and minerals. 
• 2008 - The company purchased 40 percent of Honest Tea, a popular iced tea producer. The remaining shares were purchased in 2011 giving Coca-Cola full ownership. 
• 2013 - Coca-Cola purchased the coconut water company ZICO. 
• 2014 - 16.7 percent of the energy drink manufacturer, Monster Beverage, was sold to Coca-Cola in exchange for a long-term strategic partnership. 
• 2016 - Coca-Cola purchased a portion of Chi Limited, a major distributor of snacks, food, and beverage products in Nigeria. The remaining shares were acquired in 2019.
• 2017 - Topo Chico, a Mexican sparkling water brand was acquired by Coca-Cola. 
• 2018 - Coca-Cola purchased Costa Coffee making it the owner of the second-largest coffeehouse chain in the world after Starbucks Coffee. 
• 2018 - Organic & Raw Trading Co., the Australian producer of MOJO kombucha was acquired. 

Special partnerships

In addition to owning many brands, The Coca-Cola Company has created many successful strategic partnerships that have allowed Coca-Cola to grow exponentially. 

One of the most famous partnerships is with McDonald’s. When McDonald’s was just getting started in 1955, it needed a beverage distributor. The two companies struck a deal for Mcdonald's to exclusively sell only Coca-Cola products. McDonald’s eventually grew to become the largest restaurant chain (by revenue) and Coca-Cola products are served in nearly 40,000 of their locations around the world. Other notable restaurant chains that carry Coca-Cola products include Burger King, Chili’s, Chipotle, and Domino’s Pizza.

Coca-Cola has also partnered with numerous venues around the world to sell only Coca-Cola products in their stadiums, theatres, and concert halls. The Coca-Cola Company is a major sponsor of the Olympic Games. In 2017, the company signed a deal with Major League Baseball in which they agreed to drop their competitor Pepsi and only promote Coke products.

Most of Coca-Cola’s growth has come from strategic mergers and acquisitions of companies all over the world. They have been able to expand into new markets by buying companies that already dominate the specialty or space. The company has also developed strategic partnerships with other large companies to exclusively sell Coca-Cola products.

Controversy, regulatory issues, and criticism 

Despite the company’s overwhelming success, Coca-Cola has faced a lot of criticism throughout its history. There are many opinions related to the impacts that The Coca-Cola Company has on the environment and consumers alike. 

Health concerns

It’s no secret that Coca-Cola is a sugary drink. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), half of all Americans will drink at least one sugary beverage each day. This massive consumption of sugar is leading to an epidemic of conditions such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults consume no more than 6 tsp of sugar each day. A single 12oz can of Coca-Cola contains nearly twice this amount. 

With Coca-Cola being the leading company in the food and beverage industry, they have received a lot of negative attention directed towards their contribution to this serious problem. 

The company has responded by producing sugar-free or reduced-calorie beverages. They have also expanded their product lines to include healthy alternatives like coconut water. 

Environmental issues

Coca-Cola has been identified as the single producer of plastic waste in the world. Much of this plastic is not discarded properly and ends up in the oceans. This has contributed to the ecological disaster due to single-use plastics. This has captured the attention of environmental protection groups who claim that Coca-Cola isn’t doing enough to work toward a reasonable solution. A report from Greenpeace estimates that the company produces over 100 billion plastic bottles every year with no obvious goal to reduce single-use plastic waste. 

Coca-Cola has made some efforts to reduce its environmental impact. First, they redesigned their bottles to use less plastic (a process called “lightweighting”). While this does reduce the amount of plastic used in production, it does not reduce the number of bottles that end up in landfills or the ocean. They have also introduced their “PlantBottle” which is made from plant-based materials.

While these are steps in the right direction, most environmental groups question whether these efforts are enough. Coca-Cola appears to be spending large amounts of money lobbying politicians around the world to block legislation that would encourage more environmentally friendly manufacturing. They have also been accused of spending a considerable amount of money on “green marketing” without efforts to back up their claims.

Over the years, The Coca-Cola Company has been the center of controversy due to environmental impact and health concerns due to their products. Coca-Cola has responded by providing low-calorie, sugar-free, and healthy alternatives. They have also worked to reduce their plastic use and seek alternatives as they are the single largest contributor to single-use plastic waste.

Coca-Cola's social media strategy

The Coca-Cola Company is a social media powerhouse with millions of followers across the globe. The company is very intentional with its use of social media platforms and leverages them to drive brand awareness and interaction with customers. There are several key components that have made Coca-Cola’s social media strategy so successful. 

Positivity  

In 2018, Coca-Cola made a commitment to become the ‘most optimistic brand on social media'. They launched their #RefreshtheFeed campaign in which they completely deleted all of their social media content and started fresh. Consumers embraced this new positive approach and encouraged even more followers who wanted to enjoy the feel-good vibes of their social media posts. 

Leverage consumers to create content

While Coca-Cola’s marketing team creates a lot of content for their online platforms, they have successfully leveraged their millions of followers to create content on behalf of the brand. They have used creative hashtag-based campaigns to encourage consumers to post Coca-Cola-themed posts for their friends and family to see. One of the most successful was the #shareacoke campaign which reversed a 10-year stagnant sales record. 

Attachment to social issues

The company has a stringent social media policy to ensure that content aligns with the company’s values. In July 2020, Coca-Cola decided to join many other major brands in temporarily halting social media posts and advertisements for a minimum of 30 days. This decision came as a result of concerns about growing hate speech and misinformation on social networks. They’ve regularly supported important civil rights and other social issues over the past few decades which helps consumer groups connect with the brand. 

Coca-Cola website

The Coca-Cola Company’s main company website contains various resources for consumers, vendors, and investors. The information included in the website discusses the company’s history, its brands around the world, career opportunities, media center, and investor relations. 

According to SimilarWeb, the site is ranked 10th in the Food & Beverage category and receives about 1.8 million visitors each month. 

The Coca-Cola Company’s YouTube channel is a platform that is used to post promotional videos and other advertisements from all over the world. The channel was started in 2006, has 3.6 million subscribers, and has nearly 3.5 billion views. About 8 percent of their website traffic comes from YouTube.

Coca-Cola’s LinkedIn account has over 6 million followers. The company uses this platform to post company updates for the business community. It is also used to promote job openings and attract top talent from the LinkedIn community. 

Twitter is one of Coca-Cola’s most powerful social media accounts. Their Twitter account ( @CocaCola ) was started in 2009 and has posted nearly 300,000 tweets to its 3.3 million followers. Most of the tweets are short inspirational or funny messages to enhance daily brand awareness or encourage engagement. Coca-Cola’s Twitter account generates 62 percent of the traffic to their website. 

Coca-Cola’s Instagram account has 2.8 million followers. The account is mostly used to post promotional stories on the platform. 

Coca-Cola’s Pinterest account is used to post drink and food recipes and promote Coca-Cola products like customizable Coke bottles. Their account has about 30,000 followers and receives over 10 million views each month. 

With over 105 million followers, Coca-Cola’s Facebook account is massive. It’s the 5th most-followed account on the social media platform, only behind Facebook itself, Samsung, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Real Madrid CF. The site is used to post videos and promotional content in many different languages for their followers. 

So, Why is Coca-Cola so Successful?

Few companies can boast the tremendous success and growth that The Coca-Cola Company has enjoyed for over 135 years. This accomplishment can be attributed to industry-leading advertising, innovation of their products, and delivering a positive brand message. Let's take a look at what makes Coca-Cola so successful!

Recap: growth by the numbers

Key takeaways.

• Coca-Cola has leveraged a network of independent bottlers around the globe to aid in rapid expansion. These distributors have territorial rights which help prevent competition and price wars.
• The Coca-Cola Company has made changes to its main product over the years but learned a very valuable lesson with the introduction of New Coke in 1985. The launch was a disaster and faced a fierce backlash from consumers who demanded the return of the original product.
• Coca-Cola’s long-term strategic plan includes focusing on the developing world where consumer beverages have a lot of growth potential, optimizing the number of master brands, revamping their operational network, and leveraging technology and data.
• Coca-Cola’s advertising focuses on creating human connections and making people feel good. They have led the advertising world in cutting-edge approaches to marketing that have never been seen before.
• Coca-Cola has inserted its brand and products in films and television to become an easily identifiable American icon.
• Acquisition of other companies has been a major part of Coca-Cola’s expansion efforts giving them the ability to quickly reach into new markets or acquire existing popular products.
• The Coca-Cola company has been the target of criticism due to its potential negative impact on consumer health and the environment. 

Table of Contents

Coca-cola target audience , geographical segmentation , coca-cola marketing channels, coca-cola marketing strategy , coca-cola marketing strategy 2024: a case study.

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Coca-cola has colossal brand recognition as it targets every customer in the market. Its perfect marketing segmentation is a major reason behind its success. 

• Firstly, the company targets young people between 10 and 35. They use celebrities in their advertisements to attract them and arrange campaigns in universities, schools, and colleges. 
• They also target middle-aged and older adults who are diet conscious or diabetic by offering diet coke. 

Income and Family Size

It introduces packaging and sizes priced at various levels to increase affordability and target students, middle class, and low-income families and individuals.  

Coca-Cola sells its products globally and targets different cultures, customs, and climates. For instance, in America, it is liked by older people too. So, the company targets different segments. It also varies the change accordingly, like the Asian version is sweeter than other countries. 

Coca-Cola targets individuals as per their gender. For example, Coca-Cola light is preferred by females, while coke zero and thumbs up are men's favorite due to their strong taste.

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Coca-Cola initially employed an undifferentiated targeting strategy. In recent times, it has started localizing its products for better acceptability. It incorporates two basic marketing channels : Personal and Non-personal.

Personal channels include direct communication with the audience. Non-personal marketing channels include both online and offline media, such as

• Promotion Campaigns 
• PR activities 

Social Media

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A uniquely formulated Coca Cola marketing strategy is behind the company's international reach and widespread popularity. The strategy can be broken down into the following:

Product strategy 

Coca-cola has approximately 500 products. Its soft drinks are offered globally, and its product strategy includes a marketing mix. Its beverages like Coca-Cola, Minute Maid, Diet Coke, Light, Coca-Cola Life, Coca-Cola Zero, Sprite Fanta, and more are sold in various sizes and packaging. They contribute a significant share and generate enormous profits. 

Coca-Cola Products

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Pricing Strategy

Coca-Cola's price remained fixed for approximately 73 years at five cents. The company had to make its pricing strategy flexible with the increased competition with competitors like Pepsi. It doesn't drop its price significantly, nor does it increase the price unreasonably, as this would lead to consumers doubting the product quality and switching to the alternative.  

Place Strategy 

Coca-cola has a vast distribution network. It has six operating regions: North America, Latin America, Africa, Europe, the Pacific, and Eurasia. The company's bottling partners manufacture, package, and ship to the agents. The agents then transport the products by road to the stockist, then to distributors, to retailers, and finally to the customer. Coca-Cola also has an extensive reverse supply chain network to collect leftover glass bottles for reuse. Thus, saving costs and resources.

Coca-Cola’s Global Marketing

Promotion Strategy  

Coca-Cola employs different promotional and marketing strategies to survive the intense competition in the market. It spends up to $4 million annually to promote its brand , utilizing both traditional and international mediums for advertisements.   

Classic Bottle, Font, and Logo

Coca-Cola organized a global contest to design the bottle. The contest winner used the cocoa pod's design, and the company used the same for promoting its shape and logo. Its logo, written in Spencerian script, differentiates it from its competitors. The way Coca-cola uses its logo in its marketing strategy ensures its imprint on consumers' minds. 

Coca-Cola’s Gripping Advertisements

Localized Positioning

The recent 'Share a coke' campaign, launched in 2018 in almost fifty countries, has been quite a success. The images of celebrities of that region and messages according to the local language and culture of the area target the local market. 

Coca-Cola Advertisement Featuring Celebrities

Sponsorships 

The company is a well-recognized brand for its sponsorships, including American Idol, the NASCAR, Olympic Games, and many more. Since the 1928 Olympic Games, Coca-Cola has partnered on each event, helping athletes, officials and fans worldwide. 

Coca-Cola as Official Olympics Partner

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With technological advancement, social media and online communication channels have become the most significant part of the Coca-Cola marketing strategy. It actively uses online digital marketing platforms like Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat to post images, videos, and more.  The Coca Cola marketing strategy primarily includes SEO , email marketing , content marketing , and video marketing .   

Coca-Cola’s Instagram Posts 

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Insights from Coca Cola Crisis Management Case Study

Have you ever wondered how a global giant like Coca Cola manages to navigate through a crisis? 

Picture this: one of the most beloved beverage brands in the world, facing a crisis that threatens its reputation and consumer trust. 

What would you do if you were in their shoes? 

In this Coca Cola crisis management case study, we delve into the fascinating world of Coca Cola’s crisis management strategies. 

Join us as we unravel the gripping tale of how this iconic company tackled a major crisis head-on, learning valuable lessons along the way. 

Get ready to discover the power of effective crisis management and the role it plays in safeguarding a brand’s legacy.

Brief history of Coca Cola and brand reputation and market share 

Coca Cola, the world’s most recognizable beverage brand, has a rich and fascinating history that dates back over a century. It all began in 1886 when pharmacist John Pemberton created a unique syrup and mixed it with carbonated water, giving birth to the iconic Coca Cola drink.

From its humble beginnings as a soda fountain beverage, Coca Cola quickly gained popularity and expanded its presence across the United States.

As the brand grew, it ventured into international markets, establishing its first international bottling plants in the early 1900s. Today, Coca Cola is a truly global company with a remarkable presence in over 200 countries, offering a diverse portfolio of beverages beyond its flagship cola, including juices, teas, sports drinks, and more.

The brand’s global reach and market penetration have made it an integral part of people’s lives, transcending cultural boundaries and becoming a symbol of refreshment worldwide.

Coca Cola’s brand reputation is synonymous with excellence and innovation. Over the years, the company has nurtured a strong brand identity built on trust, quality, and a commitment to delivering refreshing beverages to consumers.

The distinctive red and white logo is instantly recognizable, evoking feelings of nostalgia and joy.

With its relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction, Coca Cola has successfully captured a significant portion of the global beverage market. Despite fierce competition, the brand has maintained a dominant position, consistently ranking among the top beverage companies in terms of market share.

Coca Cola’s ability to adapt to changing consumer preferences , introduce new products, and leverage its brand equity has solidified its position as a leader in the industry.

However, even the strongest brands are not immune to crises, as we shall explore in the following sections.

Description of the Crisis Incident

In the annals of Coca Cola’s history, there have been instances where the brand faced significant crises that posed immense challenges to its reputation. One notable crisis involved allegations of product contamination, which sent shockwaves through the company and its consumers.

Imagine the scene: rumors started circulating that certain batches of Coca Cola products were contaminated, raising concerns about the safety and quality of the beloved beverage.

The news spread rapidly, fueled by social media and sensationalized media coverage, creating a sense of fear and uncertainty among consumers.

As the crisis unfolded, consumers expressed worries about potential health risks associated with consuming Coca Cola products. Speculations and negative narratives further fueled the crisis, amplifying the impact and posing a threat to the brand’s credibility and customer trust.

For Coca Cola, the crisis was a critical moment that demanded swift and effective action. The company faced the daunting task of managing the situation, addressing the concerns of its stakeholders, and restoring faith in its products. How did Coca Cola navigate through this tumultuous period? Let’s delve into their crisis management strategies and discover how they triumphed in the face of adversity.

Media coverage and public reaction

The crisis surrounding Coca Cola triggered a flurry of media coverage, with news outlets and social media platforms buzzing with discussions, speculations, and varying viewpoints. The sensational nature of the allegations and the widespread popularity of the brand ensured that the crisis garnered significant attention from the public and the media.

News reports, both traditional and digital, dissected the crisis, amplifying the concerns raised by consumers and shedding light on the potential consequences. Social media platforms became the breeding ground for discussions, where users expressed their opinions, shared experiences, and voiced their worries about the safety of Coca Cola products.

The intensity of the media coverage and public reaction put immense pressure on Coca Cola to address the crisis promptly and transparently. The company found itself navigating a landscape where every move was under scrutiny, and its response would shape public perception and future consumer behavior.

Initial response by Coca Cola

When confronted with the crisis, Coca Cola swiftly mobilized its crisis management team to address the situation head-on. Recognizing the importance of immediate action, the company adopted a proactive approach to manage the crisis and mitigate potential damage to its brand reputation.

Coca Cola’s initial response focused on three key pillars: transparency, accountability, and communication. The company acknowledged the concerns raised by consumers and the media, demonstrating a commitment to address the crisis with utmost seriousness.

First and foremost, Coca Cola conducted a thorough investigation into the alleged product contamination, leaving no stone unturned to uncover the truth. This transparent approach aimed to regain consumer trust by ensuring that the safety and quality of their products were of paramount importance.

Simultaneously, Coca Cola took accountability for any shortcomings or mistakes that may have contributed to the crisis. The company issued public statements expressing genuine regret for the distress caused to consumers and reassured them of their commitment to resolving the issue promptly and effectively.

Immediate actions taken by Coca Cola to address the crisis

In the face of the crisis, Coca Cola implemented a series of immediate actions to address the situation and regain consumer confidence. These actions were aimed at ensuring the safety and quality of their products, as well as effectively managing the crisis at hand.

Product Recall and Investigation

As a responsible measure, Coca Cola initiated a comprehensive product recall of the affected batches in collaboration with regulatory agencies. This demonstrated their commitment to consumer safety and allowed for a thorough investigation into the alleged contamination.

Enhanced Quality Assurance Procedures

Coca Cola implemented rigorous quality assurance procedures to prevent future incidents and maintain the highest standards of product safety. They reviewed and strengthened their manufacturing and packaging processes, as well as enhanced monitoring and testing protocols.

Collaboration with Regulatory Bodies

Recognizing the importance of regulatory compliance, Coca Cola collaborated closely with relevant regulatory bodies throughout the crisis. They provided full cooperation, shared information, and adhered to the recommendations and guidelines set forth by these authorities.

Communication strategies employed 

Effective communication is crucial during a crisis, and Coca Cola employed various strategies to ensure transparent and consistent messaging to stakeholders. These communication strategies aimed to address concerns, provide accurate information, and rebuild trust in the brand.

Press Releases

Coca Cola utilized press releases as a primary means of communicating official statements and updates regarding the crisis. These press releases were disseminated to the media and made available to the public, ensuring timely and accurate information about the steps being taken to address the situation.

Social Media Engagement

Recognizing the power of social media in shaping public perception, Coca Cola actively engaged with consumers through social media platforms. They responded to queries, addressed concerns, and provided updates on the progress of the investigation. This direct engagement helped to establish a sense of transparency and responsiveness.

Website Updates

Coca Cola dedicated a section on their official website to address the crisis and provide comprehensive information to concerned consumers. This platform served as a central hub for sharing details about the investigation, product recalls, and ongoing efforts to resolve the crisis.

Stakeholder Communication

Coca Cola prioritized communication with its stakeholders, including distributors, retailers, and business partners. They provided regular updates to these stakeholders, addressing any potential impact the crisis might have on their operations and assuring them of the measures being taken to rectify the situation.

Spokesperson Representation

Coca Cola designated trusted and credible spokespersons to represent the company and communicate with the media. These individuals were well-versed in the crisis details and effectively conveyed the brand’s commitment to consumer safety and resolution.

The role of company leadership in crisis management

During a crisis, strong and effective leadership is crucial in guiding the organization through the challenges and ensuring a successful resolution. In the case of Coca Cola, company leadership played a vital role in crisis management, demonstrating their commitment, decisiveness, and ability to navigate through adversity.

Strategic Decision-Making

The leadership at Coca Cola spearheaded the strategic decision-making process during the crisis. They analyzed the situation, gathered information, and collaborated with experts to make informed choices that would best address the crisis and safeguard the brand’s reputation. Their ability to make tough decisions quickly and effectively guided the crisis management efforts.

Communication and Transparency

Company leadership took the responsibility of communicating with stakeholders, including employees, consumers, distributors, and regulatory bodies. They ensured that the messaging was transparent, consistent, and aligned with the company’s values. By openly addressing concerns, admitting any mistakes, and providing regular updates, leadership fostered trust and credibility during the crisis.

Team Mobilization and Empowerment

Effective crisis management requires the mobilization and empowerment of cross-functional teams within the organization. Coca Cola’s leadership ensured that the crisis management team had the necessary resources, support, and authority to address the crisis effectively. They encouraged collaboration, innovation, and open communication within the teams to expedite the resolution process.

Continuous Learning and Improvement

In the aftermath of the crisis, company leadership played a crucial role in fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement. They conducted thorough evaluations of the crisis management process, identified lessons learned, and implemented measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. Their commitment to learning from the crisis helped enhance the company’s resilience and preparedness for potential future challenges.

05 lessons learned from coca cola crisis management 

These lessons learned from Coca Cola’s crisis management case study serve as valuable insights for other organizations facing similar challenges.

Let’s discuss each of these lessons learned:

Swift and Transparent Communication

The crisis taught Coca Cola the importance of immediate and transparent communication. By promptly addressing concerns, providing accurate information, and engaging with stakeholders openly, the company was able to regain trust and control the narrative surrounding the crisis.

Collaboration with Regulatory Bodies and Experts

Coca Cola’s collaboration with regulatory bodies and external experts proved vital in validating their actions and ensuring compliance with industry standards. This collaboration enhanced the credibility of the company’s crisis management efforts and helped regain confidence in their products.

Proactive Approach to Crisis Resolution

Coca Cola’s proactive response to the crisis demonstrated the significance of taking ownership and accountability for the situation. By swiftly initiating product recalls, conducting investigations, and implementing enhanced quality assurance procedures, the company showed a commitment to consumer safety and resolution.

The crisis served as a catalyst for continuous learning and improvement within Coca Cola. The company evaluated the crisis management process, identified areas for improvement, and implemented measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. This commitment to learning from the crisis enhanced their resilience and preparedness.

Importance of Leadership

Strong leadership played a critical role in guiding Coca Cola through the crisis. The ability to make strategic decisions, communicate effectively, and empower teams was instrumental in navigating through the challenges and restoring consumer trust. The crisis highlighted the importance of having capable leaders who can steer the organization through turbulent times.

Final words 

Coca Cola crisis management case study provides us with valuable insights and lessons that can be applied to various organizations facing similar challenges. The company’s response to the crisis surrounding alleged product contamination showcased the importance of swift and transparent communication, collaboration with regulatory bodies and experts, taking a proactive approach to resolution, fostering a culture of continuous learning, and demonstrating strong leadership.

The Coca Cola crisis management case study serves as a reminder that crisis management is not just about resolving immediate issues but also about building trust, maintaining open communication, and continuously improving processes. By incorporating these lessons, organizations can transform crises into opportunities for growth and demonstrate their ability to weather storms and emerge even stronger.

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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By John Walsh

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The story: Coca-Cola is the world’s best-known beverage company. It traditionally manufactured concentrates, syrups and powders and sold them to authorised bottling partners, who converted them to finished products and sold them to distributors, wholesalers and retailers. Its core product offering is sparkling beverages but also includes still beverages such as water, juice and energy drinks.

From its inception, the company was based on a franchise model – the “Coca-Cola System” – whereby Coca-Cola would sell concentrate to its many bottling partners worldwide. While Coca-Cola managed the overall brand strategy, concentrate production and some large multinational customers such as McDonald’s, the bottlers manufactured the final branded products, handled merchandising and distribution, and worked closely with local customers.

The challenge: In developed markets, the growth of the sparkling drinks industry from the 1970s to the 1990s came to a halt.

At the same time, competition was intensifying from beverage companies that produced still and health-oriented drinks, as consumers became more health-conscious. Many of the challengers were small businesses, enabling them to be more nimble and innovative than multinational organisations like Coca-Cola.

The company’s franchise business model was also under pressure. The bottlers’ incentive was to use the precious concentrate in low-volume, high-margin products, whereas Coca-Cola’s profits were linked solely to the volume of concentrate sold to bottlers, rather than the price paid by customers. This was creating increased friction in the relationship between Coca-Cola and the partners on whom it relied.

An additional challenge was responding to the environmental impact of transportation and packaging.

The response: First, Coca-Cola focused on rejuvenating its core product line . The successful launch of Coke Zero, a diet variation of the drink pitched at men (Diet Coke or Coke Light is principally aimed at women) added volume and revenue growth.

Second, the company made key acquisitions in the non-carbonated drinks sector to expand its presence in the growing market. These included a deal for Glaceau, maker of Vitaminwater, and a stake in Honest Tea, the organic iced tea producer.

Third, the company co-operated more closely with its partners. Coca-Cola recognised that many of the bottling companies had become big businesses in their own right, with independent shareholders to worry about, and tried to find new ways of working together to the advantage of both sides.

For example, an “incidence” approach to pricing was used more often, whereby both Coca-Cola and the bottler shared in the profit made by the combined system, rather than a fixed price per unit for concentrate.

Fourth, Coca-Cola acquired the bottling operations of CCE, its US bottler. This was significant because it signalled that the company was moving away from a one-size-fits-all-markets business model. The franchise system might have worked when the company produced just one product, but as its output expanded to include every non-alcoholic beverage category, it had to evolve.

Finally, Coca-Cola embraced sustainability with initiatives to conserve water in its manufacturing, materials in its packaging and even electricity in the millions of coolers it has dotted around the world.

Key lessons: First, growth can be found in mature or stable categories. The success of Coke Zero underlines that. Rather than focus exclusively on categories where other companies are growing fast, companies should consider how they can rejuvenate core businesses.

Second, companies should be flexible with regard to their business model. To drive innovation in the US, Coke needed to change the way its products were manufactured and distributed.

The writer is a professor of marketing at IMD

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Shaking Things Up at Coca-Cola

• An Interview with Muhtar Kent by Adi Ignatius

Listen to an excerpt of the interview.Download this podcast Since Muhtar Kent took the helm of Coca-Cola, in July 2008, he has set a course for ambitious, long-term growth—even in a supposedly mature U.S. market—with the goal of doubling revenue by 2020. Kent has tried to rejuvenate an inward-looking, “arrogant” corporate culture and has reinvested […]

Reprint: R1110F

When Muhtar Kent took the helm at Coke, in 2008, he had two top priorities: to establish a long-term vision and to restore growth in North America. The vision called for doubling Coke’s business in 10 years—something “not for the fainthearted,” Kent says, “but clearly doable.” In this edited interview he talks about the role of social media (Coke has 33 million Facebook fans), which today get 20% of the company’s total media spend; the importance of creating sustainable communities to preserve the future of the business; and Coke’s commitment to water neutrality by 2020—which means giving back a liter of water for every one the company uses. As the CEO of a company with 140,000 employees, Kent says, “you can only influence.” He takes a low-key approach, treasures the team, and loves to visit supermarkets and observe customers.

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The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Elizabeth Anne Watkins

In 2013, the Coca-Cola Company was awarded Creative Marketer of the Year by the Cannes Lions Festival (known as the "Oscar of Advertising") for the first time ever in history and nearly 50 years…

• Length: 1 hour
• Publication Date: Jun 18, 2015
• Discipline: Marketing
• Product #: 815714-HTM-ENG

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In 2013, the Coca-Cola Company was awarded Creative Marketer of the Year by the Cannes Lions Festival (known as the "Oscar of Advertising") for the first time ever in history and nearly 50 years after the Festival's inception. Just one year before that, Jonathan Mildenhall, Senior Vice President of Integrated Marketing Content and Design Excellence, orchestrated the development of Content 2020, a blueprint for how all Coca-Cola's branding content ranging from traditional TV commercials to viral and social media content should be procured, built, tested, and distributed in the next 10 years. This case provides a unique opportunity to "look under the hood" and understand how the main principles of Content 2020 work and infer how the beverage company achieved its most prestigious marketing award of all time.

Learning Objectives

This case presents four primary learning objectives. What is the value of creativity to businesses? Creativity in advertising benefits consumers, employees, and business collaborators. For consumers it increases attention and drives word-of-mouth, two drivers of low costs in advertising. It also affects memory and attitudes, two drivers of brand-building. When is creativity in advertising more important? Not all industries benefit equally from highly creative ad campaigns. Creativity matters more for customers who really value creativity, particularly where getting attention is hard and where product difference is low. Beverage is one such industry. How can firms produce creative content in a networked world? The new digital/social media world requires a different approach to sourcing creative ideas, creating content, and distribution. Customers as well as creative professionals can help, but a network is needed to tap into, identify, and build creative content. How to build a brand narrative over time? With less consumer attention to go around and more media than ever competing for it, firms need to build more short-episode-type linked stories (e.g., 15 sec. social media content) instead of long self-contained stories (e.g., 60 sec. TV ads), which work together to build a narrative.

Jun 18, 2015

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Beverage industry

Harvard Business School

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“Always read the small print”: a case study of commercial research funding, disclosure and agreements with Coca-Cola

• Original Article
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• Published: 08 May 2019
• Volume 40 , pages 273–285, ( 2019 )

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• Sarah Steele 1 ,
• Gary Ruskin 2 ,
• Martin McKee 3 &
• David Stuckler 3 , 4  

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Concerns about conflicts of interest in commercially funded research have generated increasing disclosure requirements, but are these enough to assess influence? Using the Coca-Cola Company as an example, we explore its research agreements to understand influence. Freedom of Information requests identified 87,013 pages of documents, including five agreements between Coca-Cola and public institutions in the United States, and Canada. We assess whether they allowed Coca-Cola to exercise control or influence. Provisions gave Coca-Cola the right to review research in advance of publication as well as control over (1) study data, (2) disclosure of results and (3) acknowledgement of Coca-Cola funding. Some agreements specified that Coca-Cola has the ultimate decision about any publication of peer-reviewed papers prior to its approval of the researchers’ final report. If so desired, Coca-Cola can thus prevent publication of unfavourable research, but we found no evidence of this to date in the emails we received. The documents also reveal researchers can negotiate with funders successfully to remove restrictive clauses on their research. We recommend journals supplement funding disclosures and conflict-of-interest statements by requiring authors to attach funder agreements.

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Introduction

In the wake of criticisms about a lack of transparency of financial support for medical and scientific research, several multinational corporations (MNCs) recently committed to publishing relevant information on the scale and nature of their investments in research, publishing lists of projects they fund and developing principles to apply to their relationship with researchers. But are these measures sufficient to disclose the potentially complex nature of these relationships and associated contractual obligations?

To answer this question, we have undertaken a case study about one of the corporations that seeks to position itself at the forefront of this process, The Coca-Cola Company. The company is an appropriate example to study because, following criticism of its activities, it has published a ‘Transparency List’ of researchers whom it funded from 2010 to 2017. It also progressively refined an explicit set of principles for the researchers it funds, providing a basis for comparing its stated intentions and its practice. In 2016, it brought together its principles formally [ 1 ]. It also released the list of partnerships and research funding with an explicit statement that those researchers that it funded on the list were:

“expected to conduct research that is factual, transparent and designed objectively”;

to have “full control of the study design, the execution and the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data”;

“encouraged to publish” and

“expected to disclose their funding sources in all publications and public presentations of the data”. It added that the company did not “have the right to prevent the publication of research results” and that funding was not “conditioned on the outcome of the research”.[ 2 ]

These four major assertions provide a base for comparing Coca-Cola’s stated intentions to its actual practices. We see on Coca-Cola’s own website that it makes these claim around its research funded since 2010 [ 2 ](Fig.  1 ):

At least on the surface, these principles conflict with anecdotal reports of the corporation’s activities following their publication. As one example, in 2015, a New York Times exposé revealed that Coca-Cola designed its funding of the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) to divert attention from the role that sugar-sweetened beverages play in the obesity epidemic by excessively emphasising the role of lack of exercise [ 3 ]. The Times article asserted that Coca-Cola, just like Big Tobacco, had sought to influence public health and medical researchers, and to deploy them to promote the Company’s agenda, even though some of these researchers reported the funding to be ‘unrestricted’, meaning that it can be used for any purpose or by an organisation, rather than being given for a specific project or purpose [ 3 , 4 ]. GEBN was subsequently closed in November 2015, on which Coca-Cola declined to comment [ 5 ]. A 2019 article revealed Coca-Cola’s funding of bodies like the International Life Sciences Institute in China, showing how the latter organisation is deployed to shape obesity science and related policy [ 6 , 7 ]. A feature in the British Medical Journal suggested also that the transparency list was incomplete, and highlighted how Coca-Cola acts to exercise ‘soft power’ by using its funding to influence everything from conferences to academic positions [ 8 ]. So how can these pieces of information be reconciled? Does Coca-Cola really uphold its public commitments on research funding? Have its grants—past and present—really allowed researchers to operate free from influence as Coca-Cola suggests on its website?

Here, we seek evidence supporting or rejecting Coca-Cola’s four major research principles detailed above, using information obtained from United States (US) state and federal, as well as Australian, British, Canadian and Danish Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for communications between Coca-Cola and leading public health academics or federal or state agency employees who were known to receive funding from or to collaborate with the company. Our FOI requests yielded a large volume of material on Coca-Cola’s engagement in public health-related issues. These include five agreements between researchers or their host organisation and Coca-Cola, plus a large amount of related correspondence that enables us to assess whether these principles were being observed previously as asserted, and are now being upheld in relations with researchers. We look both at the legal (or de jure ) aspects of the agreements and how they were operationalised in practice in the relationships with researchers (de facto).

A non-profit consumer and public health research group in the United States, U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), based in Oakland, California, investigates the food and agrichemical industries, examining their public relations, political and lobbying campaigns, as well as the health risks associated with their products [ 9 ]. (One author, GR, is a co-director of USRTK). Drawing on the approach used in past studies of corporate behaviour and related litigation [ 10 ], between 2015 and 2018, USRTK sent 129 FOI requests to United States (US), Australian, British, Canadian and Danish public bodies related to Coca-Cola’s links with public health actors, including academics. USRTK selected the higher education institutions because they were governed by FOI laws (that exist in many jurisdictions around the world to encourage openness and transparency by public bodies, including at the state and federal level in the US, as well as in Australia, Britain, Canada and Denmark where USRTK also sent requests), or because USRTK identified these institutions as having received funding from Coca-Cola through its recent public disclosures [ 2 ].

The responses yielded 87,013 pages of documents, including five research agreements made with Louisiana State University [ 11 , 12 ], University of South Carolina [ 13 ], University of Toronto [ 14 ] and the University of Washington [ 15 ]. The research team archived the FOI responses using document discovery software used across the legal services industry, extracted the research agreement and then two members of the research team read the documents to assess the concordance between Coca-Cola’s principles detailed above. One of these researchers is trained as a lawyer (SS) and the other is a public health researcher (DS).

Inevitably, the sample has potential limitations to its external validity. First, the sample is not comprehensive, as redactions and removal of some emails from the batch are allowed in line with certain legislative exemptions, and it is impossible to ascertain whether FOI responses form a complete sample of communications and other contractual documents between Coca-Cola and associated researchers. As with a small number of cases, quantitative study was not feasible, we thematically and legally evaluated the agreements by testing whether there existed evidence to confirm or refute Coca-Cola’s four major assertions on research transparency and independence of researchers. To limit the scope for personal biases in interpretation, the entire research team engaged in reflexivity, reviewing the selection and interpretation of the source material. Second, the five research agreements pre-date Coca-Cola’s publication of its transparency principles in 2016, although its own website states that all of the disclosed health and well-being research complied with these four assertions. Furthermore, several researchers themselves publicly claim that the funding had no influence on their research, which we examine more fully below [ 16 ]. Third, we report extracts as they appear in the agreements and quote any related emails “in their own words” to allow readers to assess critically our interpretations. To ensure reproducibility of our study, all agreements and cited communications are posted on Internet.

We summarise our findings in as they pertain to each of Coca-Cola’s four major research transparency assertions [ 2 ].

Researchers retain full control over the design, execution, analysis and interpretation of research

The documents obtained by FOI indicate that, although it does not have the capacity to direct and control the day-to-day conduct of studies, Coca-Cola retains varied rights throughout the research process, including the power to terminate studies early without giving reasons. Several agreements reveal that the company maintains the right to receive and comment on research prior to submission for publication. However, the researchers may reject these changes. Thus, the company can influence but not direct the research output, but may use termination provisions as a mechanism to discontinue research.

The emails we obtained reveal that academic partners recognise Coca-Cola’s influence on the research it funds, even where it is not directing the research. For example, Tommy Coggins, Director of University of South Carolina’s (USC) Sponsored Award Management and Research Compliance, in an email to Professor Tom Chandler of USC’s Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, explained that several of the research agreements entered into at the University allowed Coca-Cola to have:

a substantial say in how it [the research] was conducted and how results are handled, including ownership of all IP. None of this is wrong or unusual, but it is a typical industry research agreement. Also, contains a good bit of language about confidentiality and sharing results with Coca-Cola, but no bar on publication [ 17 ].

Coggins was commenting on a study that aimed to uncover the “extent to which variation in total energy expenditure and variation in total energy intake contribute to changes in body weight and fat among young adults”. The agreements we obtained specify that Coca-Cola’s comments are non-binding unless its suggested revisions to drafts pertain to information covered in the confidentiality provisions in the agreement, under which Coca-Cola retains the right to redact content accordingly.

Taking a specific example, as part of the “Sponsored Clinical Trial Research Agreement” between Coca-Cola and the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University, represented by Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC), we find a 2012 research agreement for a study with Timothy Church as Principal Investigator related to fluid balance and performance with ad libitum water, flavoured placebo or carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage intake during exercise in the heat (known henceforth as the “The APEX Study”) [ 18 ]. The contract sets out mutual obligations of all parties as including regular reports to and data sharing with Coca-Cola, as well as the standard termination provision, which allows Coca-Cola to retain all data. Article 6.1 specifies:

Publication prior to delivery of the final report of any information gained in the course of performing the Project must be in a peer reviewed journal, must be approved in writing by both parties prior to such publication, and must acknowledge that the Study was funded by The Coca-Cola Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Sponsor will not be approving the content of the publication, but has a right to review and provide comment before submission for publication [ 12 ].

Thus, while Coca-Cola contends that its guidance is not tantamount to approval, it does retain the right to comment on papers prior to publication, and holds the ability to terminate studies at any time without reasons.

Indeed, Coca-Cola may simply terminate an agreement if the findings are not in its interests or if its comments and revisions are rejected. Such provisions do, however, vary amongst the research agreements we obtained. As one example, we show a “Research Agreement” between Coca-Cola and the South Carolina Research Foundation, a non-profit entity that accepts donations for USC, to fund a study entitled “Energy Balance” in 2010–2015. Section “ Discussion ” of the agreement provides that Coca-Cola can make non-binding suggestions and may only redact information covered by its confidentiality provisions in Section “ Results ”. According to Section “ Results ”, “Confidential Information” includes disclosures made “orally or in writing” pertaining to “technical or business information regarding the Sponsor’s products, marketing plans, public relations plans or Protocol”. Notably, this agreement empowers Coca-Cola to terminate the agreement with notice and to require the return or destruction of all of this Confidential Information. Specifically, Section 6.2 states that, as long as 15 days written notice is given and with no need to give a reason:

6.3.4: SCRF shall immediately discontinue any work and shall take such precautions as requested by Sponsor, including returning to Sponsor or certifying in writing to Sponsor that it had destroyed all documents and other tangible items containing Sponsor Confidential Information [ 13 ].

Other agreements contain provisions that do allow for recall of all research documents and materials on termination. In the Church APEX study, detailed above, the termination provisions of this agreement are stronger, stating in Article 4.4 that:

Upon receipt of a notice of early termination, PBRC will immediately discontinue all work under this Agreement and return all copies of Sponsor data, or other materials, and deliver to sponsor all work in progress, including incomplete work… [ 12 ]

Such termination provisions could, hypothetically, allow Coca-Cola to quash studies progressing unfavourably, or allow Coca-Cola to pressure researchers using the threat of termination. However, we found no evidence that this has occurred in our FOI batches. In one instance, we did find Coca-Cola had ended a study with little or no information being sent to researchers or their institutions. For example, emails between researchers at USC pertaining to the Active Healthy Living Programme funded by Coca-Cola, state:

As you know, the contract with Coca-Cola to develop and evaluate the Active Healthy Living Program has terminated. While I am not sure, because they have not communicated with us in several months, it appears that Coca-Cola has dropped the program. We put a lot into development of the program, and if possible, I would like to obtain/retain the intellectual property. Please look into where we stand with this, and let’s figure out next steps. Thanks [ 19 ].

Our FOI, however, does indicate that Coca-Cola may be willing to negotiate the terms of agreements to moderate language regarding pre-publication communication and consultation with Coca-Cola. In emails between University of Toronto Professor John Sievenpiper and Coca-Cola’s Susan Roberts regarding a proposed, then signed, research agreement, Sievenpiper requests revision of provisions he regards as restrictive. The original text, which Sievenpiper requests to be deleted in its entirety, states:

U of T will afford TCCC [The Coca-Cola Company] the prior right to review and approve (or reject) any communication or other material developed by U of T or its employees, contractors or agents discussing this Agreement or the underlying grant, the related work or accomplishments of U of T and/or TCCC, or any related or other association between U of T and TCCC, or otherwise mentioning TCCC’s name or displaying TCCC’s trademarks [ 14 ].

Sievenpiper comments that it is “very restrictive for being an ‘unrestricted grant’”, and Coca-Cola agreed to change the wording to “consult with each other in good faith regarding any communication with third party/ies…”. This involved significant back and forth emails and discussion, suggesting that the original wording may be standard wording in other Coca-Cola research agreements.

Researchers are encouraged to publish and Coca-Cola does not have the right to prevent the publication of research results

Our research confirms that Coca-Cola encourages researchers to publish in peer-reviewed publications and generally only retains limited rights to delay publication to protect its proprietary interests or to obtain a patent. However, many agreements contain the above-discussed termination provisions, allowing either fixed-notice period termination, or early termination according to the agreement’s terms (as described above), some restricting publication following such a termination.

For example, in the agreement pertaining to Church’s APEX study, Article 6.1, provided above in full, states that publication “ must be in a peer reviewed journal, must be approved in writing by both parties prior to such publication, and must acknowledge that the Study was funded by The Coca - Cola Company”. While this indicates that Coca-Cola does encourage publication as it states, and does not have a right to prevent publication, only providing comments, Article 6.2 makes clear that Coca-Cola can issue a written notice to require a delay to publishing where its proprietary interests are at stake; but there is no general right to control publication of results unfavourable to Coca-Cola’s commercial interests [ 12 .] The provisions do, however, convey a right of Coca-Cola to comment and prompt revisions, as discussed above.

Similar provisions are found in a “Research Agreement” between Coca-Cola and the South Carolina Research Foundation [ 13 ]. Section “ Discussion ” on “Publication Rights and Use of Project Results” states similarly that Coca-Cola can require a delay where it wishes to file a patent or protect its proprietary interests, and that such a delay should not exceed 120 days. Retention of a capacity to delay publication is consonant with ordinary industry-funded research provisions, but in public health research it may delay significant findings from reaching the public.

Notably, the APEX study agreement does not contain provisions that allow Coke to prevent publication absolutely, but does require written permission for publication of all peer-reviewed publications where such publication would be prior to the final report to Coca-Cola (Art 6.2). This, in concert with the termination provisions that require cessation of research and the full and complete handover of all study documents, may enable Coca-Cola to shape unfavourable findings in advance of publication (Art 4.4). Thus, while Coca-Cola cannot stop publication, termination provisions could allow it to prevent publication through termination and recall of documents, along with the written consent requirement obligation in Article 6.2. Notably, this provision only has effect prior to the report to Coca-Cola, and thereby is not absolute in its effect. The agreements themselves are unclear as to the nature of the required reports and whether they will be made public and subject to peer review.

Researchers are expected to disclose their funding sources in all publications and public presentations of the data

We found that the agreements identified in our study routinely allow for the attribution that a study, paper or report was “funded by The Coca-Cola Company”. For example, Article 6.3 of the research agreement between Coca-Cola and the South Carolina Research Foundation states:

Publication shall acknowledge authorship according to generally accepted criteria for authorship and subject to journal requirements, if applicable. PBRC agrees that if Sponsor so requests, and only if Sponsor requests, substantive releases and/or written reports contemplated by this Article 6 may include language to the effect that, “The Study was funded by The Coca-Cola Company” [ 13 ].

Notably, the phrasing “PBRC agrees that if Sponsor so requests, and only if Sponsor requests…” does not grant the University the right to use this attribution on all outputs. However, the peer-review provisions in Article 6 seem to imply that Coca-Cola expects the disclosure of funding sources in publications, as this is routine practice amongst reputable journals. The provision extends to publicity related to the research, placing the funding attribution within the hands of Coca-Cola rather than with the host or researcher. The contracts allow for a funding declaration to be phrased in a way that does not extend to a complete and detailed declaration of Coca-Cola’s input into the research, although the agreements are silent as to whether more robust statements are allowed.

Coca-Cola does not make funding conditioned on the outcome of the research

The research agreements contain no provisions on any outcomes of any study. However, as noted above, this could hypothetically be exercised through the termination provision. Thus, while we found no direct conditions pertaining to outcomes of the research, the effect of permissive termination provisions and recall of data provisions could indirectly have a ‘chilling effect ‘on researcher’s work, influencing what researchers conclude. Past research has revealed that researchers do strive to maintain positive relations with Coca-Cola and produce results favourable to them [ 20 ].

Our review of Coca-Cola’s research agreements reveals that it uses terms in line with standard funding agreements seen with other corporate actors. Specifically, these contractual agreements contain no provisions granting the company absolute control over the studies it funds, but they could allow it to assert influence over studies and resultant publications. We found that Coca-Cola requires regular reports and input into projects, and maintains the ability to terminate agreements early and without reason. Of course, in some cases such early termination provisions are justifiable; for example, when there is improper behaviour like harassment or bullying, a failure to deliver work in accord with the contract or the other such examples, which tend to be given as reasons for termination. In contrast, the contractual terms for early termination  without  reasons are arguably beyond the legal scope needed to address such justifiable concerns, although they are not uncommon in commercial agreements generally and there is no evidence of their use in our batch. In light of past evidence of ‘soft influence’, whereby researchers sought to please funders in ways which, albeit not contractually specified, in practice operated to the same effect, the company’s continued input and early termination provisions undermine its public assertions of researcher independence [ 20 ].

Before interpreting the implications of our study for research, policy and improving management of COIs, we must acknowledge several limitations. First, our case studies focused on Coca-Cola may not generalise to other segments of food and beverage industries. However, the contractual agreements appear to be commonly employed between private actors and public researchers. Second, several recipients of USRTK’s FOI requests returned or did not respond to them, or, in some cases, they redacted material submitted. It is possible that we have been unable to detect contracts, which may have existed but were not obtainable through FOI, thus creating an omission bias in our analysis. The direction of such bias, however, would likely be to hide particularly egregious contracts. Third, despite a large document set, we only identified five research contracts. There may be heterogeneity in Coca-Cola’s contracts with researchers given our observations that researchers could negotiate their terms. That said, there was relatively limited variation across the five agreements.

Our research reveals a need to improve reporting of COIs. Many declarations of funding and routinely employed COI statements fail to specify the true amount of input and influence Coca-Cola has (irrespective of whether it chooses to exercise it). While it is beyond the scope of our study to review all Coca-Cola funded research, we note that concerns have been raised elsewhere about the completeness of COIs in studies funded by Coca-Cola on topics of nutrition and physical inactivity [ 21 ]. Examples include publications arising from the Energy Balance grant at USC state “ Supported by an unrestricted research grant from The Coca - Cola Company” [ 22 ]. Stephen Blair, one of the leads at USC, records that he has received funding from Coca-Cola, amongst others, in the preceding 5 years, as does co-author Gregory Hand. However, nowhere in the article is there a statement setting out the nature and amount of input Coca-Cola had, only that the funding was “unrestricted”, which, as the email discussions between Coggins and Chandler indicate, was not how the grant was understood by USC. Coggins, as Director of Sponsored Award Management and Research Compliance at USC, makes clear the “ the Energy Flux and Balance studies were conducted under the terms of Research Agreement with SCRF… [and] are not “un - restricted” …” [ 17 ]. Such attributions of funding are similarly made with regards to the results of Timothy Church’s APEX study, and are a reflective example of the agreement provisions regarding funding statements across the agreements we received and resultant publications [ 23 , 24 ].

Our research points to particular concerns about early termination provisions. The termination provisions in some of the agreements that allow Coca-Cola to discontinue the studies it funds if results are unfavourable, in contrast to the assurances it makes on its website about not being able to prevent publication, should be cause of concern. Although not all agreements we reviewed allow for full recall of research documents and materials, we identified several agreements that in effect allow Coca-Cola to terminate a study, if the findings are unfavourable to Coca-Cola. We observed push-back by researchers receiving unrestricted grants regarding restrictive provisions, revealing that the researchers were aware that there could be a problem. Coca-Cola was receptive to requested revision, but this may be due to the ongoing relationship the Company had with this particular researcher. Certainly, some of the agreements allow for unfavourable developments or findings to be quashed prior to publication. Future research will be needed to identify when and the extent to which funded studies were not published. This is but one source of potential ‘publication bias’, whereby only positive results are made publicly visible. Given the hidden nature of unpublished, funded studies, this is an extremely challenging area of research as there is no way for researchers to ascertain who produced the studies, why they remain unpublished and what their results may be.

We acknowledge that many provisions in Coca-Cola’s research funding agreements are standard, including its early termination provisions. While recent termination of a non-industry-funded United Kingdom study due to findings of bullying by a primary investigator evidences how these provisions may be exercised to encourage positive research environments [ 25 ], we note that early termination may be used to discontinue studies in a less positive way. We found evidence that in at least one study Coca-Cola discontinued funding, seemingly without reason given to those involved, but found no evidence that this related to unfavourable findings or prospective publications. We did find evidence suggesting that Coca-Cola exerts influence on the design, conduct and write-up of studies, retaining rights to comment and have input throughout the research process.

Turning to implications for COIs, this study adds to a growing body of literature of their limited usefulness. Qualitative studies with researchers reveal diverse interpretations of what COIs and influence mean [ 26 ]. It is also easy for COIs to be inadequately reported. Most of what is detected comes to us through journalistic exposés [ 27 ]. Our study adds to these insights, showing that such general (and notably brief) declarations may fail to capture Coca-Cola’s full involvement in the studies they fund, from design through to publication.

To remedy these weaknesses, we propose far more ‘hard’ information about funding, rather than relying on self-reports. Specifically, we call for journals to require authors receiving Coca-Cola or other industry financial support to provide more robust COI and funding statements, including declaring the specifics of input allowed in the study’s research agreements. In addition, journals should require authors of funded research to upload the research agreements for studies as appendices to any peer-reviewed publication, allowing these to be published with ease and at little expense on the existing electronic platforms where supplemental information is commonly provided. A reader’s appraisal of a study’s scientific objectivity would best be supported by knowledge that Coca-Cola has input at various stages of the research and publication processes, an understanding facilitated by access to the research agreement governing the study.

For medical and public health professionals, the lack of robust information on the details of input by industry and on studies terminated before results enter the public realm makes it impossible to know how much of the research that enters the public realm reflects industry positions and content, as opposed to fully unbiased and uninfluenced research results. It is critical that professionals and scholars be able to appraise influence. We know that people trust studies with an industry partner less and approach these studies with greater suspicion about bias [ 28 ]. Greater information is needed to appraise influence.

Where studies are terminated without having been registered in advance, as should be the case with clinical trials, it may be that termination acts as suppression of critical health information. We therefore call for industry funders to publish complete lists of terminated studies as part of their commitment to act with integrity, and for clear declarations of involvement as standard publication practice.

Data availability

All cited responses received to our Freedom of Information requests have been web-linked to allow the response to be read in full by all. The Freedom of Information responses are available online on the USRTK website and links have been provided to allow the individual FOI response referenced to be read in full. These are PDF copies of the documents we received in conjunction with the relevant state laws. There are no additional data to provide.

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This work was funded by Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The sponsor had no input on the study design, conduct, analysis or write-up, and has not commented on, or received, the submission.

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Sarah Steele

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Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK

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GR collected the data via Freedom of Information Requests. SS and DS analysed the data. All authors contributed to the writing and revision of the manuscript.

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SS and MM have no competing interests to declare. DS is funded by a European Research Council Grant: 313590-HRES and the Wellcome Trust. GR is a co-director of U.S. Right to Know, a non-profit public interest, consumer advocacy and public health organisation. Since its founding in 2014, USRTK has received the following contributions from major donors (gifts of $5000 or more): Organic Consumers Association $554,500; Laura and John Arnold Foundation: $198,800; Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation: $183,000; CrossFit Foundation: $50,000; Westreich Foundation: $25,000; Panta Rhea Foundation: $20,000; Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (Little Acorn Fund – M): $5,000.

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Steele, S., Ruskin, G., McKee, M. et al. “Always read the small print”: a case study of commercial research funding, disclosure and agreements with Coca-Cola. J Public Health Pol 40 , 273–285 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-019-00170-9

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Published : 08 May 2019

Issue Date : 01 September 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-019-00170-9

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Case Studies

The coca-cola company: building a climate-resilient value chain, july 9, 2018.

The Coca-Cola Company has been working to reduce emissions in its supply chain for years—including not only those associated with bottling, but also those associated with growing ingredients, producing packaging, and distributing and refrigerating products. As climate change impacts have begun to manifest around the globe, the 132-year-old company partnered with BSR to take this work a step further to examine what climate risk and resilience might mean for The Coca-Cola Company value chain.

The Challenge

From agricultural ingredients, like citrus and tea, to hyper-local distribution systems, The Coca-Cola Company supply chain is one of the largest and most complex in the world. Coca-Cola products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories, and each of those markets faces unique exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

Mitigation efforts—those focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions—are vital to any company’s climate strategy and critical to global efforts to avoid unmanageable climate impacts. As the impacts of climate change are increasingly felt around the world, however, it has become clear that simultaneous efforts are necessary to increase adaptive capacity and build resilience.

“Resilience” is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.” In the context of climate change, resilience is the ability of a system (such as a bottling plant, distribution network, or supply chain) or community to rebound following a shock such as a natural disaster. Building resilience requires not only recognizing potential hazards like extreme weather events, but also understanding the underlying vulnerabilities that may affect recovery from these potential disasters. For example, insufficient infrastructure can reduce a community’s capacity to rebound following a disruption like an extreme weather event, as can poverty or gender inequality.

After years focused on climate mitigation and water stewardship, understanding climate risk and resilience was a natural next step for Coca-Cola.

Our Strategy

BSR partnered with Coca-Cola to begin building the foundation for a more resilient company that is better able to anticipate, avoid, accommodate, and recover from climate risks in the future. At the outset, we identified seven markets—Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Mexico, and the United States—and two commodities—coffee and tea—to serve as proxies for the full Coca-Cola value chain. For each of these markets and commodities, we explored exposure to major climate hazards in the context of underlying vulnerabilities, such as rapid urbanization, at-risk populations, food and economic insecurity, and insufficient infrastructure.

Using this analysis, a benchmark of climate resilience activities in the food and beverage sector, Coca-Cola’s existing risk mitigation strategy, and insights from internal company interviews, we developed a framework for identifying and prioritizing climate-related risks. We then mapped Coca-Cola’s existing programs and initiatives to high-priority risks and outlined an approach for expanding this work further across the company’s major business units.

Our Outcomes and Impact

The climate resilience framework we developed aims to integrate resilience into Coca-Cola’s existing strategy, risk management, and sustainability systems. The framework is designed to connect and amplify The Coca-Cola Company’s efforts in empowering women, protecting the climate, and sustainably sourcing ingredients, as well as in water leadership and community development. Over time, we hope to see the framework used to help Coca-Cola create a more resilient value chain, enabling the company to confidently source responsibly cultivated ingredients, withstand or promptly recover from climate-related impacts, identify and reduce climate risks, and contribute to building value chain and community resilience where Coca-Cola is produced and sold.

We hope that these leading-edge efforts will inspire other companies, as well as their partners in the public sector and civil society, to take a more holistic look at climate risk in their value chains and communities and identify opportunities to build adaptive capacity and resilience.

Lessons Learned

Undertaking this work with Coca-Cola allowed us to translate what we know about climate risk and resilience into the context of a global supply chain. Here are a few suggestions for companies interested in exploring climate risk and resilience in their value chains:

• Start small : Begin with a selection of facilities, locations, or products that represent important aspects of your business. This will allow you to identify the most useful and important data points before scaling your approach across the organization.
• Integrate into existing systems : Rather than approaching climate risk and resilience as a new, standalone exercise, consider integrating climate considerations into existing risk management and/or sustainability systems.
• Appreciate both the global and the local : Much like water stewardship, managing climate risk and building resilience is both a global and intensely local challenge. While some tenets and approaches can be broadly applied, individual interventions must be customized and reflect on-the-ground realities.

Learn more about our work on climate-resilient supply chains .

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The Coca-Cola Company

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• Food, Beverage, and Agriculture
• Consumer Products
• Climate Change

Let’s talk about how BSR can help you to transform your business and achieve your sustainability goals .

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Case study: How does Coca-Cola do it in the digital world?

Coca-Cola is undoubtedly one of the most recognized brands in the world, with a market presence that dates back to its beginnings in 1886 when John Pemberton served the first Coca-Cola. Today, the Coca-Cola Company sells hundreds of beverage brands in more than 200 countries. It is calculated that the average person consumes approximately 275 cans of Coca-Cola annually in the United States alone.

• The digital challenge for Coca-Cola and the "Share a Coke" campaign is a success story.
• The digital challenge for Coca-Cola.

The digital challenge for Coca-Cola

The challenge for companies like Coca-Cola is that their products' brand presence and positioning are no longer the main issues; instead, they look at marketing strategies oriented toward connection, loyalty, and innovation with their consumers. All this is what James Sommerville, VP of Global Design of Coca-Cola Company, commented for Adobe Summit: We are a 130+-year-old brand that has always been in the experience business. An ice-cold Coke, ice, and lemon in a big glass, there's a fizz and a tingle when you drink it, and that's all very sensory, so we still believe in a physical analog world, which is at the heart and soul of our product, but at the same time, we want to transfer and transform our business, to be able to deliver that experience on a digital platform. The important thing for brands today is to listen to the consumer. Coca-Cola sells almost 2 billion servings daily, and one of the goals we would like to achieve is 2 billion daily conversations.  Two-way conversations so that we not only provide the perfect beverage at the moment they need it but also digital interaction with the customer.  For a company like Coca-Cola that handles large volumes of consumers, regions, products, and channels, it is challenging to have the right platforms to organize communication strategies and effectively serve their customers. Here is where Coca-Cola has developed multiple communication, promotion, and loyalty programs, through digital platforms such as mobile applications, eCommerce B2B / B2C, production of enterprise digital content, and even the creation of the first Coca-Cola flavor in the metaverse.  The "Share a Coke" campaign is a case of success.

Let's examine one example to understand how Coca-Cola uses technology to connect with its consumers. Many will remember the "Share a Coke" campaign in which the logo on the can was replaced with famous names, encouraging customers to share a Coke with a friend or family member. This massively successful social marketing campaign underpinned its process with two main elements to achieve the digital rollout.

The first element was the Customer Experience Management platform, which is necessary to manage the campaign data:

• Segmentation
• Customer profiling
• Identity management
• AI-powered learning
• Creation of customer experience applications

The Adobe Experience Platform is the foundation that helps companies like Coca-Cola develop a robust foundation for delivering the right experiences to consumers across all channels. >> Case study: Starbucks success with the Inbound Marketing methodology<<

The management of digital assets in this Coca-Cola campaign was also an important task to solve, with crucial aspects such as:

• Personalized and consistent content for each profile
• Content suitable for each channel/profile
• Automation rules to be able to scale with minimum effort
• Ease of creating, distributing, and optimizing experiences on a large scale.

All of this may seem like a Herculean task. Still, it is with the help of specialized platforms that companies like Coca-Cola manage to implement these initiatives and achieve their objectives.

The second element is the Marketing Automation tool, required for a campaign that reached in the beginning alone more than 550 million personalized Coca-Cola, around 340,000 posts on Instagram with the hashtag #shareacoke, and a result by consumers of 96% with positive or neutral feelings towards the campaign.

All this is possible thanks to marketing automation platforms, where Marketo is a fundamental pillar to achieving engagement with customers throughout the customer lifecycle and delighting them to keep them as buyers and brand advocates.

Marketo Engage's always-on marketing principle was able to support Coca-Cola in automating the indispensable aspects of campaigns like this one: >> Main Advantages of Marketo<<

• Audience segmentation : Profiling communications consider behavioral, demographic, and channel data.
• Multichannel personalization : Tailored landing pages with conversion-oriented forms for customers receiving profiled communications from websites, emails, SMS, social networks, and events.
• Customer scoring (lead scoring) : Used this to determine the level of interest of each customer and drive the level of engagement at each stage of the funnel.
• Active marketing activities : Respond on time to a large contact base. Used automation to respond in real-time when a consumer activates a CTA, sending personalized content.
• Performance per campaign : Measuring performance in terms of ROI, revenue, investment, and funnel stage allows us to determine which investments yield the best returns.

Related blog: Case study: Panasonic and its growth with Marketo .

We see how in an increasingly digital world, the challenge for many companies, like Coca-Cola, is how to replicate the physical experience of their products in the digital arena.

Here is where marketing efforts have to lead to the digitization of the experience, where digital processes, strategies, technology, and the consumer as the center of the digital ecosystem must converge.

Finally, the secret ingredient of any digital initiative that Coca-Cola has been developing is innovation in a Customer Experience that moves a consumer thirsty for new and better experiences.

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16 Coca-Cola: ‘Taste the Controversy’: A Case Study on Marketing Challenges

• Published: June 2022
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The not so lucky situations and criticism of the Coca-Cola brand come from its first-ever product. As the history from many sources says, Dr John Smith-Pemberton, Coca-Cola creator, fought in the Civil War, and had some injuries. He made a special formula in order to help him deal with the constant pain in his body: the Pemberton’s French Wine Coca which also had a great taste at the time, had alcohol in it. It quickly became very popular until a vote by the state legislature Atlanta and Fulton County in favour of the national temperance movement. The national temperance movement prohibited the use of alcohol and heavily criticized medicinal wine such as French Wine Coca. Pemberton was forced to drop the wine ingredient in his French Wine Coca. After some further experimenting, he decided on the use of sugar syrup as a substitution for the wine and that is when Coca-Cola was born. He invented many drugs, but none of them ever made any money. So, after a move to Atlanta, Pemberton decided to try his hand in the beverage market. In his time, the soda fountain was rising in popularity as a social gathering spot. Temperance was keeping patrons out of bars, so making a soda-fountain drink just made sense. And this was when Coca-Cola was born.

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• Harvard Business School →
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• October 1999 (Revised October 2000)
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Coca-Cola Company (A), The

• Format: Print
• | Pages: 13

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