Consumer-driven product and packaging innovations, customizedprograms and state-of-the-art...

'There's a wealth of untapped opportunity in every beverage category for our customers, and we want to capitalize on those opportunities in new and exciting ways," notes Steve Hyland, director, supermarket channel, for Coca-Cola North America.

With its new consumer insights—en- hanced this year through a ground-breaking research project—and its ability to tailor programs to customer needs, Coca-Cola is in a prime position to help retailers grow their beverage business.

"All of our activities this year are grounded in consumer insights and designed to meet our customers' unique needs and help them achieve the objectives they have for their business," says Hyland.

You Talk, We'll Listen "Our priority is to listen to our customers, first and foremost," Hyland says. "We want to know what their objectives are for the beverage category and for Coca-Cola—whether it's to drive store traffic or to increase per-customer transaction. Whatever a customer's objectives are, we can develop a category plan that can help them achieve those goals. For instance, right now one account team is working with a customer whose main initiative is launching a loyalty card. We're developing an entire marketing plan for them that ties in with their loyalty program. The result is a strategy that not only grows their beverage business but also helps them achieve their objective of increasing customer loyalty."

Understanding Shopper Motivation Coca-Cola's already keen consumer insights are taking a giant leap forward this year with a comprehensive research study focusing on what motivates consumer purchase decisions in all beverage categories. Coca-Cola will begin sharing findings of this proprietary study in April. "The study looks at the consumer decision making process along with a host of other consumer purchase drivers," Hyland explains. "We're excited about applying these expanded insights to help retailers achieve their business goals with the female household shopper."



Consumer-Driven Brands and Packaging

Coca-Cola will create excitement in the beverage category throughout the year with new brands and packaging innovations, all based on their unparalleled understanding of the consumer.

"Consumers want variety in what they drink, so we're looking at brand entries in all non-alcoholic beverage categories," says Hyland.

If the company's track record is any indication, the brands Coca-Cola unveils this year are sure to make substantial inroads. A case in point is the 1999 introduction of DASANI, Coca-Cola's first bottled water brand in North America, which has grown to number five in the category and is forecasted by some experts to claim the number one or two spot in a year's time.

Packaging is also a key driver of consumer purchases. Coca-Cola's planned packaging innovations for 2001 tie in with the company's consumer insights and are designed to grow category volume.

"We're taking a long, hard look at the functional benefits of beverage packaging," Hyland says. "We're thinking about things like packaging that would provide an easier way for consumers to transport beverages home and place them directly into the refrigerator, rather than store them in a pantry. That could encourage more consumption and drive volume for our retailers."

In another example, Coca-Cola is responding to the active lifestyle of many of today's consumers by developing more portable, new packaging for its DASANI bottled water that could enable on-the-go people to stay refreshed.

Volume-Building Strategic

Partnerships Coca-Cola has entered into a strategic partnership with two other high-equity brands— Nabisco and Kraft. Its Super Bowl promotion with Kraft this year was a huge success and programs slated for the rest of the year promise similar results.

"Dollar rings generated by consumers who buy Coke and Nabisco products average a hefty $96 per basket, which is $61 larger than the average basket of just $35," says Hyland.



Promotions That Go Beyond Price Coca-Cola has developed high-impact promotions for the carbonated soft drinks category, where there is still plenty of potential for growth.

"Price has been the primary driver of volume in the CSD category," notes Hyland. "Our challenge is to help boost category profits by adding value to the category through the creation of new drivers."

The company's "Pop the Top" promotion, a huge success last summer, is being brought back this year in an expanded version, including more brands and more prizes.



Customer-Specific Programs

Coca-Cola maximizes the performance of its promotions in its customers' stores by tailoring the promotion to a retailer's specific market needs.

Coca-Cola wants to leverage its powerful brands, customized promotions and considerablecategory management capabilities to help itscustomers achieve their business objectives. Together, we can make 2001 the best year yet!