Coca-Cola is combining teams responsible for carbonated soft drink strategy and integrated marketing communications to create a new internal group charged with growing its sparkling brands.
The new team will be responsible for coming up with strategies that grow the company’s sparkling drink business, which includes its flagship Coca-Cola soft drink.
Spokeswoman Kate Hartman said the goal is to “bring strategy and execution together to work more closely” when it comes to marketing soft drinks and delivering services to retailers, restaurants, bottlers and other business customers.
The new team will be headed by Wendy Clark, who had been senior vice-president of integrated marketing communications. Clark, now senior vice president of the global sparkling brand center, had led the company’s integrated marketing communication team since joining Coke 2008.
Shay Drohan, who had been senior vice president of sparkling brands, left the company to pursue outside entrepreneurial opportunities, Coke said. Drohan had been with Coke for 15 years.
The sparkling brand team will work closely with Coke’s commercial leadership group, which is responsible for delivering services to the marketplace. The commercial team is headed by Tom Boyle.
Hartman said the internal realignment also creates another team, called the “business services center,” for added support to the marketing and commercial teams.
Business services will be headed by John Hackett, who had led marketing and customer and commercial operations for Coke’s Pacific group.
Coca-Cola and its rivals face a challenge in growing their carbonated soft drink businesses as health conscious consumers seek out less sugary alternatives, such teas, water and other non-alcholohic beverages.
John Sicher, editor and publisher of trade publication Beverage Digest, said that sales of fizzy sodas saw their third consecutive year of decline in 2012 — a 1.2 percent drop. That followed a decline of 1 percent in 2011 and .5 percent in 2010. (Beverage Digest includes energy drinks in the carbonated category; excluding them, sales fell 1.7 percent).
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