Coca-Cola’s T Krishnakumar Launches BW Businessworld Marketing Whitebook 2017-18
He began his address opening a Coca-Cola can, and went on to say he consumes five cans a days. Serious or not, this was enough for T Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India & Southwest Asia to get the complete attention of the packed house at the BW Businessworld Marketing Whitebook 2017-18 launch in Delhi on July 21. Krishnakumar officially launched the 13th edition of the Marketing Whitebook, which this year put the spotlight on the ‘ADC – AI, data and content’ in marketing.
The event this year was attended by over 300 delegates in the day who actively engaged in conversations around the impact that newer forms of technology has on marketing. Krishnakumar had another interesting announcement of sorts when he hinted that the very popular Coca-Cola freestyle app may be heading to India in 2018. The freestyle app and machine which is of a table top size now, allows consumers to create their own drink choices and connect to a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine to get the drink. It combines the best of technology to offer a simpler serving solution.
Staying Ahead of Tech
Newer technologies have often been credited for their ability to transform businesses. For a company such as Coca-Cola, given its sheer scale and legacy, change is not the easiest to come by. “Coca-Cola is one of the oldest businesses in the world and when you have a brand of that stature, you tend to be conservative since much is at stake,” Krishnakumar admitted but explained that some changes in business approach, and overall mission in connecting with consumers, has helped the beverage brand break heritage and grow.
Perhaps one of the most enduring missions of the Coca-Cola Company was to make its products available to consumers everywhere. It is the one brand that is available from locations as remote as the jungles of the Amazon to New York City. And a growing trait of consumers today is that irrespective of where they are, their first instinct is to reach out to their device to get what they want, where they and when they want.
This has influenced Coca-Cola’s mission, more so in a country like India.
Changing for a Growing India
India has undergone several changes that have had a direct impact on consumer behaviour.
The retail landscape for instance has moved from the dominance of the mom and pop stores to the rise of what could be termed as organised retail and larger format stores. “But the speed of change is accelerating. We saw the rise of the online marketplace and the present and future holds a combination of all three,” Krishnakumar pointed out.
This change has created an unprecedented complexity. This change is coupled with changes in the content consumption patterns. Consumers have moved from multi-screen to multi forms of content, and from experiential to online communities.
“The result of all these changes is visible in the changing consumer expectations. There are some aspects that clearly stand out in that regard,” said Krishnakumar, articulating six distinct areas to establish his point. Coca-Cola’s journey of transformation has seen the company embrace and respond to each of these points.
The top of this list is the passion for singular and unique experiences. And Coca-Cola has specifically invested in curating some of the most talked about on ground experiences. The second change is around the expectation to engage with brands, as consumers are no longer just satisfied with mere functionality. A customised Coca-Cola bottle is one example of the kind of initiatives that the brand has taken in this direction.
The third aspect is around the revival of interest in folk, tradition, rituals and Coca-Cola explored music intensively for this. Coke Studio today is one of the most viewed channels in India that had taken to the next level of experience. The fourth is around the desire to be hyper productive, by leveraging technology. The Coca-Cola freestyle app is a case in point here.
He pointed out consumers being open to new culture and senses as the fifth and love for local products and services as the sixth key area of changing consumer expectation.
Embracing ADC
All of these changes point to the role that artificial intelligence, data and content can play in connecting with consumer. Krishnakumar cautioned however that the change must come within too. “ADC is not just external but has to be seeded in every part of the organisation, which can vary from taking product orders and digitising delivery process to developing dynamic content,” he said.
He summarised his views reiterating that business context has witnessed serious disruption. The need to rejig the entire approach towards marketing is most compelling now and the use of integrated AI tools and data techniques are absolutely critical now.
