TheFiresideCEO 239was in southern California! Coke sold more cans and bottles of Coke
per capita in Hungary than in southern California, making the latter
the more “emerging” of the two markets.
Financial reformation, infrastructure fortification, and geo-
graphic expansion were meant to create the “best machine possible.”
A complementary initiative would “equip that machine with a
uniquely powerful growth engine.” This was the consumer marketing
effort designed to drive world demand for the brand. It called for
Coke to market its products as distinctive—“different, better and
special”—relentlessly deepening brand power.
Goizueta ignored the varied views from the sidelines that ranged
from those who said Coke already was a premier consumer market-
ing outfit and could do no more to those who said there were plenty
of other great companies that hold that title. Noting that the average
human body needs at least 64 ounces of liquid daily to survive, Goi-
zueta saw Coke as having a huge window of opportunity.
Goizueta sought to promote the brand everywhere in the world,
driving dramatic growth in already developed markets such as the
United States, Japan, and Europe. To deepen brand strength verti-
cally—that is, in existing strong markets as compared to horizontal
building in new ones—required exploiting Goizueta’s commitment
to product differentiation. Goizueta said that if the keys to selling
real estate are location, location, location, the “keys to selling con-
sumer products are differentiation, differentiation, differentiation.”
Many were astonished in 1996 when Coke did what they thought
was impossible: It surpassed the combined consumption of the two
leading teas in the United Kingdom and that of the leading bottled
water in France!
Learning Culture
These insights guided Coke instinctively for years. Goizueta set them
out in writing as part of an effort to create throughout the company
a “learning culture” in which these principles were institutionalized.
Like GE’s Welch, he sought to learn from every participant in Coke’s
business: consumers, customers, partners, competitors, and even un-
related organizations. For example, another reality at Goizueta’s
Coke was his team’s ability to find opportunities others could not
see. His people search the world not to see where Coke already is
but to see where it is not.
Goizueta helped create another extraordinary reality: Coca-Cola