‘India mission critical for Coke’s 2020 goal’

Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable brands, again underscored the importance of India for its continued growth and well-being.

“If we don’t win or we don’t compete effectively in India, we won’t achieve our 2020 vision. That’s the reality,’’ said Mr Joseph Tripodi, Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Coca-Cola.

Addressing media on the sidelines of AdAsia 2011, Mr Tripodi highlighted how the company has seen 21 straight quarters of double-digit growth in India, and will keep investing a lot of money in the country to keep the momentum going.

“We have invested a lot of money in India in the past, present and will keep doing so in the future,” he said. The company has invested more than $1 billion on its Indian operations and is one of the biggest international investors here.

Asked about the inflationary pressures in the Indian market and how they would cope with that, Mr Tripodi said focussing on transactions rather than total volumes would be one way.

“Transactions build habits and that’s the key,” he said, pointing how they made a mistake in the US of riding on volume packs.

“There was a time when we were selling 2 litre bottles and big packs and losing out on the younger customers looking for smaller, lower priced packs,” he said.

“What we have realised is that it is critical to have a presence in homes and we need to have unique solutions to cater to the market,” he said.

For that, Mr Tripodi said packaging could be a disruptive strategy. “Offering more affordable packs would help us build more transactions,” he said, describing how it has been trying to bring entry level pricing to the Rs 5 mark.

On why India has seen only a limited number of brands and products from Coca-Cola’s huge global portfolio, Mr Tripodi said, “There is a time and place to launch new extensions. First let me build the base brand well.”

He said that the company was still addressing the challenge of ramping up cola placements in India (per capita consumption of the drink is among the lowest in India), addressing the cost of commodities, and getting the supply chain and the cooler chain right.

“This product tastes best when drunk ice cold,” he said, holding up a can of Coke, “and we are still trying to educate people on how wonderfully compatible it is with food through some aggressive sampling’’.