The company, in its recent Q2 earnings call, warned of cost savings of up to US$500 million a year by the end of 2011. Many of those savings will, inevitably, be found in marketing. Like Unilever, Coke’s strategy is to reduce costs through increased use of global campaigns.
Coke isn’t the only one feeling the economic pinch. In Asia, confidence in the global economy is deteriorating, with many brands holding spend and adopting a wait-and-see approach.
Globally, firms which once trumpeted sustainability initiatives are eerily silent lately, with green policies around the world in threat of jettison.
So what’s up with Coke? Does a global green drive really speak to economic reality?
Sustainability isn’t a particularly new word at Coca-Cola. The company lists water conservation, environmentally friendly packaging and carbon emissions reductions high on its corporate agenda.
Great on paper, but consumers and activists argue otherwise. The brand has faced harsh criticism for its poor sustainability reports. The soft drinks giant uses 76 billion gallons of water every year, and in recent years has been accused of environmental criminality in India and human rights abuses in South America.
It’s a global issue. Consumers, including in Asia, are becoming increasingly sceptical of brands making claims about the effect they have on the environment, and on sustainable development.
Most importantly, the proliferation of social media and blogging has given them a voice, and enabled their thoughts and opinions to be shared and debated by an international audience. Indeed, the number of bloggers and communities dedicated to bringing down corporations such as Coke is astonishing.
And so this pressure has come to bare on brands, whose ability to communicate strong green credentials is finally becoming as important an element in marketing communications as any other. Some good, perversely, out of the bad news.
Which makes Karen Wong’s role that much more interesting. Wong heads up global sustainability for Coke out of Singapore. Interestingly, her remit goes beyond CSR to cover all operations, from technical to HR.
In her mid-30s, she is one of the youngest senior executives working in a global role at the company, and was, early on, singled out for her leadership potential.
She’s one of those rare marketers agencies fall over themselves to work with, constantly on the look out for new, radical, relevant approaches to connect with consumers. But that’s not all that makes Wong unique.
In the US, most major corporations have in place a ‘sustainability officer’. Although when it comes to the traditional trappings of a department head - namely budget and staff - they tend to operate lean. Unlike Wong, most don’t shoot up from the marketing side, which often results in a glaring gap between technical and marketing experts.
However, in Asia, outside of the oil companies, they are a rare breed. Which is partly because social and environmental responsibility is only just beginning to filter through to the bottom line for many companies, as investors start to make decisions based on corporate governance. It’s a testing time for companies. More so for mainstream brands in Asia that aren’t traditionally aligned with the sustainability agenda.
But for the region’s agencies, this is a valuable opportunity to take the lead on this fundamental issue. After all, as communications specialists, agencies are the prime conduit through which brands can communicate their values. For Ogilvy, beyond the global impact sustainability represents, this is something of a golden opportunity to help one of the world’s biggest brands align marketing communications strategies with corporate strategic thinking.
