Depth report

　　

James Quincey's office on the top floor of Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters is spacious and looks empty, most notably his standing desk. But unlike this office, as the new CEO of the world's largest soft drink manufacturer, Quincy has a full to-do list.

    Quincy was born in London, but has a Birmingham accent (he grew up in this English city). After working for Bain & Co and a smaller consulting company, Quincy joined Coca-Cola in 1996. He speaks fluent Spanish and has worked in Mexico and Argentina. While working in Europe, Quincy presided over the acquisition of Innocent Fruit Puree. Afterwards, the sale and integration of Coca-Cola's European bottling business was also carried out under his responsibility.

    After Coca-Cola sells most of the remaining bottling plants around the world, the number of employees for the company will be reduced from 150,000 in 2012 to approximately 40,000 next year. Coca-Cola will refocus on its basic business-beverage research and development and marketing-rather than beverage distribution. But putting aside the bottling business, Quincy, 51, still faces a complex task.

    The Coca-Cola Company may sell as many as 3,900 products-from the carbonated water-based beverage series of the same brand to drinking water, tea and non-plant dairy beverages-but in today's world, consumers are increasingly demanding a variety of beverages, rich in Nutrition, regulators around the world are also taxing sweet drinks to try to prevent the increase in obesity, so this company needs to do more.

    Carbonated beverages still account for nearly three-quarters of Coca-Cola's sales, and in the past five years, the company's stock has underperformed its competitors-PepsiCo, which has a snack business, and Dr Pepper Snapple.

    Quincy is very aware of the need for diversification and plans to accelerate investment in promising start-ups. "This company must have the ability to be bigger than this brand," he said.

    This distinction is very important. A major change in consumer preferences is evident in the brand value of Coca-Cola (relative to The Coca-Cola Company): According to BrandFinance's ranking, Coca-Cola's brand value has fallen from the world's first place to 27th in the past 10 years. This means that its brand value has fallen by more than 10 billion U.S. dollars to 31.8 billion U.S. dollars this year.

    What does this difference between company and product mean for this brand? "When the company's door has the same name as the brand, it's hard not to overlap in what they represent," Quincy said. "You have to change the company's name. To clarify, we are not doing this now."

    One of the factors that unites the Coca-Cola Company is the inclusive brand message it conveys. Over the past year, these core messages have become increasingly important because many brands and products were caught in crossfire during the rise of Donald Trump. This poses a challenge for companies trying to please consumers with diverse political beliefs.

    Companies such as Starbucks and Kellogg's have ignited consumer anger, especially Trump supporters, who believe these brands are attacking their values. Even a seemingly harmless and diverse advertisement broadcast by Coca-Cola in the "Super Bowl" caused a backlash on Twitter. Coca-Cola’s long-time rival Pepsi recently pulled it down after an advertising campaign that was suspected of despising political protests was severely criticized by consumers.

    Quincy's work partner, Coca-Cola European Partners chairman Sol Daurella Comadrán (Sol Daurella Comadrán) has been working with Quincy since 2012. Her family business acquired Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Iceland that year.

    "James is very good at analysis. He has a strong business insight. He understands very well what can impress and drive people, how to get them to participate and pay for it," she said.

    Quincy believes that in this volatile environment, brands must have a clear position, even if doing so risks alienating some consumers. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola made such a move-publicly condemning Trump's controversial executive order, which prohibits citizens of some predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

    "A brand must represent something, you must choose what you want it to represent, and then support those choices," he said. "Andy Warhol said it well: One of the great benefits of Coca-Cola is that every Individuals can afford it. This is part of the Coca-Cola brand. Therefore, you will take the answers to these policies as part of your core brand positioning, because how can you not be consistent with it?"

    In addition to inclusive brand messages, the situation seems less clear to Coca-Cola because Coca-Cola is responding to consumers shifting toward healthier consumption. Quincy acknowledged that what Coca-Cola represents must surpass the Coca-Cola product, which has become a symbol of US-led globalization, but critics have also linked its overconsumption with obesity.

    Part of the problem is how to deal with governments and international organizations that are working to reduce obesity rates. Coca-Cola claims that it supports the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines to limit free sugar intake to less than 10% of daily calories intake, and has been improving product formulations to reduce or completely remove sugar in beverages.

    But when it comes to taxation, Quincy believes that the government's policy is only for beverages and is too narrow. If they want to raise taxes, they need to expand the tax base. "If you don't levy taxes on the entire tax base, you are squeezing out the bubble, and (calorie intake) will be transferred to other places." He said that this depends on the cooperation of the government and enterprises. The Coca-Cola Company is turning to providing small-package products. A way to reduce consumption-Quincy used this strategy for the first time in Argentina in order to maintain sales during the economic crisis from 1998 to 2002.

    The challenge for Quincy is not just what Coca-Cola should produce. As more consumers buy products online, Quincy understands that the company is facing the problem of reduced shopping mall traffic. In the past, shoppers would stop in front of the freezer, drink a bottle of beverage and then walk into the next store.

    "If the reason why people go to shopping malls less is that they use more online shopping for clothes, then we don't need to put so many devices in shopping malls. The way they shop is changing, and where we need to sell products is also Will be affected accordingly."