Brands looking to grow in 2024 and beyond should combine the utility of artificial intelligence with the power of human ingenuity, according to Javier Meza, Coca-Cola’s president of marketing and European marketing director.
Speaking at Advertising Week Europe yesterday (May 16), Meza discussed how AI could be deployed to help businesses grow, urging his marketing peers to gain a solid understanding of how the technology works .
“One of the things we keep saying at Coca-Cola is that it’s about AI and HI. This is artificial intelligence, human intelligence and ingenuity. I really believe that our opportunity as humans is to continue to work on the creative side, on the values side, and use AI to evolve ideas,” he explained.
“If I could give you one recommendation, it would be to go back to school and study digital technology, analytics and artificial intelligence. »
After completing a year-long program at the Kellogg School of Management to study digital and analytics, Meza stressed the importance of learning more about emerging technologies given that the “AI generation revolution” is just getting started.
One of the things we keep saying at Coca-Cola is that it’s about AI and HI. This is artificial intelligence, human intelligence and ingenuity.
Javier Meza, Coca-Cola
Citing an example of how Coke is using the AI generation to create point-of-sale hardware, he asserted that the real revolution will come when brands use technology to redesign systems. He compared the growth of artificial intelligence in 2024 to the advent of the Internet in the 1990s.
“For me, it’s like the 90s, when the Internet was just coming. What is this internet? What is it going to be? How are we going to use this? And today the Internet is like oxygen,” Meza noted.
Currently, Coca-Cola uses AI to better understand consumers and market dynamics by collecting and processing information. Artificial intelligence is also being used for consumer experiences, such as a Christmas card created by Gen AI that was part of Coke’s festive 2023 campaign.
From a product perspective, the company used AI to imagine what Coca-Cola would taste like in the year 3000. Coke’s European marketing director also recalled a brand video recently presented by a member of his team and created using AI generation. Meza itself benefits from productivity gains.
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“I don’t need more to read 20 pages of reports. I usually use Gen AI to do a one-page summary. Or to send information to colleagues, I use Gen AI a lot,” he explains.
However, new technologies bring new rules. Recognizing the need to proceed with caution, Coca-Cola says it has more governance around AI than other areas of the company. Any project using AI is subject to a board led by CFO John Murphy. Decisions are made on how to advance an AI project or not depending on the case.
When it comes to trying new things, Meza said Coke has an appetite for risk. He used the example of the holiday season and the team creating 10-12 brand experiences, some of which the company agreed to might not work.
“As long as we focus on the essence and message of the brand, the risk is relatively low,” he said. “There is a risk that you invest money that doesn’t return anything, but that’s the price you pay to learn and then be able to replicate at scale. »
No change manual
Although AI plays a role in Coke’s transformation agenda, the company’s primary focus is on capturing first-hand data. One use is to segment consumers, as the company has moved from a “static, traditional” segmentation model to a “real-time dynamic” behavioral segmentation model.
“We plan the audience better so we can make better use of our money by targeting those we really want to target and with data we can better track and measure ROI,” added Meza. “This is the agenda and we are doing it especially with the younger generations (Gen Z), but not only with the younger generation.”
Coca-Cola launched a new marketing model end of 2021, the ambition being to help the company become “truly customer-centric”. The transformation is underway, says Meza, who acknowledges that there is no “guide” for change on this scale.
“We knew why we needed to change and we started trying new models, testing them and refining them. Ultimately, it’s about being more effective at marketing. This means driving the growth of your business by expanding your user base,” he said.
You must accept that transformation is more of a mindset than a goal.
Javier Meza, Coca-Cola
Coke’s European marketing director explained that the focus on “connected experiences” is key to the success of this new model, starting with product and packaging. This then extends to live experiences, partnerships and sponsorships – such as the Olympics and UEFA Euros – as well as retail, digital and in-store activations.
The transformation project also involved a complete overhaul of Coke’s agency structure. Believing that working with “fragmented partners” would not achieve the scale of transformation needed, the brand moved from 6,000 agencies worldwide to partnering with WPP.
“We really wanted to have a partner to help us on this journey,” Meza said. “The second thing is the ability to scale more quickly through agency. Often, when the local market has a need, the agency can identify what we need in different markets and help us meet it more quickly.
As part of the WPP partnership, Coca-Cola has developed nine Studio , design and media.
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Studio
In addition to its agency relationships, Coke has restructured its teams to better adapt to the new marketing model. The teams have “evolved” over the past three years, a process Meza admits can be painful.
“I can understand when team members say, ‘We just got organized and we’re moving again.’ “That’s why this mindset of ‘transformation is a way of working, not a destination’ is so important,” he said.
“We must remain open to change. You have to help your team come together and understand that it’s not easy, but you have to do what you have to do.
“Forget and relearn”
Marketing transformation is not a “one-off” situation according to Meza, who says marketers pursuing structural change will be frustrated if they think all their goals can be achieved in six months.
“You have to accept that transformation is more of a mindset than a goal and because you want to transform, you have to stay curious, humble and learning,” he said.
“It’s very important because it essentially redefines what excellence means. Sometimes, in large organizations like Coca-Cola, that didn’t mean failure. Today, it’s: learn quickly, learn intelligently, make things evolve.
It’s Coke’s global reach that has kept Meza with the company for the past 26 years. The head of European marketing, who took up the role in February 2023, has never lived in the same country for more than three years during his more than two decades with the company.
“Working in different parts of the world forces you to forget and relearn. I remember some moments in Asia, (it was) completely different. You may think it’s the same brand. Yeah, right, but completely different business, competitors, retail environment, regulations,” Meza recalls.
Although he has seen the role of the CMO evolve over time, the need to understand consumers is one thing that Meza says will not change. Describing the CMO as acting as the chief growth officer of any business, he recognized the continued need to stay abreast of evolving tactics.
“Digital technology empowers consumers. More competitors, fewer barriers to competition, more regulation,” he noted. “I would say the secret for me is to stay humble, curious and learn. If you learn, you grow and the things that work for the organization also work for you as a person.
