Coca-Cola constantly churns out great financial results, but there’s no secret to its success other than consistent marketing excellence on every level.
It is traditional when writing a column about marketing to write about something. Anything. A company did something new that was especially successful. Or something dumb likely to blow up in its face a few months from now. Someone said something clever. Someone else said something stupid. You know… something… stuff.
But this week marks a departure. This is a column about nothing. I mean, it is about a company. It’s about Coca-Cola. But it’s not about anything specific that Coke is or isn’t doing. Nothing newsworthy has happened to Coca-Cola. It hasn’t invented something. Or done anything especially interesting. It has just continued to be Coke. And I realised last week that was an awesome achievement.
I was giving a virtual talk on the ‘Five Levels of Advertising’ (free, excellent, nudity from the waist down) when this remarkable unremarkable thought hit me. I wanted an example for each level of my talk that illustrated how to do it right. And every time I started thinking of who illustrated each challenge best, every advertising road led back to the Rome of Coca-Cola.
Quietly smashing it
Make no mistake, there was nothing amazing in any of the Coke examples that came to mind. Nothing new. But they were all just excellent. Flawless. In a boring, Roger Federer kind of way that – if you aren’t careful – means you miss how good it is. All the time.
Look at Coke’s results. It is quietly smashing it. Over and over again. Despite persistent macroeconomic headwinds, slowing global growth, bonkers Americans, and inflationary pressures biting into consumer spending patterns, the company continues its relentless march. Its recently unveiled financial results for the end of 2024 and entering 2025 paint a picture of growth. Organic revenue (Coke’s non-GAAP measure of choice) is up 5-6%, as promised by CEO James Quincey.
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And it’s not the usual story of revenues delivered at the expense of the bottom line either. In its most recent earnings release, the company reported a robust increase in operating margins driven by effective pricing strategies and disciplined cost management. Notable growth in emerging markets and a continued focus on higher-margin products have helped offset headwinds from rising input costs and global supply chain pressures.
When you wrap all that good news together, you have robust stock market performance in a time of great market volatility. Since the end of Covid, Coca-Cola stock has added roughly 50% in value while delivering generous dividends to delighted investors. By balancing disciplined earnings growth with shareholder-friendly policies, Coca-Cola has continued to solidify its status as a cornerstone of long-term investment portfolios.
But here’s my point…
