Coca-Cola CEO praises ‘consumer-centric’ innovation as Coke brand grows

Coca-Cola praises marketing investment for helping to shift consumer mindsets about the soft drink company and its namesake brand.

The Coca-Cola Company is seeing strong growth thanks to innovations across its portfolio, including on its namesake Coca-Cola brand, which has struggled amid the shift to lower sugar soft drinks.

The soft drink giant saw net revenues increase 8% year on year to $9.5bn (£7.3bn) for the three months ending 27 September, driven by innovation, new packaging and low and no-sugar variants.

Speaking on an investor call today (18 October), Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey praised “consumer-centric” innovations such as Coca-Cola’s first own-brand energy drink – Coca-Cola Energy – and Coke Zero for its strong results – especially in its namesake brand.

Results have been better than expected, so much so that Coca-Cola has improved its outlook. It now expects organic revenues to increase by at least 5% for the full year, while operating profit growth should be between 8% and 9%. That is up from a previous operating profit target of between 7% and 8%.

Quincy has been leading efforts to diversify Coke beyond fizzy drinks and into juice, water and other beverages as consumers shift away from sugar-heavy soft drinks…[Read More]