Coca-Cola’s climb
Lead review
Isdell’s story of Coca-Cola takes the reader through a fascinating corporate and brand journey through the markets of Africa, Philippines, West Germany, and even Coca-Cola’s capital, Atlanta, writes Harish Bijoor.
Big brands are always the ones with the most to gain. And most certainly, they also have the most to lose. Coca-Cola is most definitely the biggest of them all, and brand Coca-Cola gains every second, just as it loses every second.
Any growth in market share of anyone else in the same functional category of this behemoth company is always at the cost of Coca-Cola. This is the brand that is first to lose. But, when you are as big as Coca-Cola, you are used to it.
Inside Coca-Cola, touted to be a CEO’s life story of building the world’s most
popular brand, is an engrossing read. I am not sure whether the panache with which this story has been written and told is to be credited to Neville Isdell or David Beasley, but both bring to the book the joy, challenge, sorrow and excitement of being at the helm of such an elephantine brand that can be found dancing almost all the time. The market makes it to. In fact, at the drop of a hat.
This is a crisp story of building, marketing and re-creating one of the most
successful and recognisable brands in the world, Coca-Cola. A brand that in many ways transcends boundaries, cultures, political regimes, languages, religions and literally everything that makes the world a variegated place to live in. If there is one great big ‘iron box’ brand that seems to erase out the creases of differences all across, it seems to be Coca-Cola.
How does one manage such a brand? What really are the challenges? Is everything really as hunky-dory as it looks from the outside? Or, is there a tale to tell every day? A tale that re-defines the brand story every day.
This crisp and quick read is a peek into the world of Coca-Cola, inside-out. And the Coke-voyeur this time around is Neville Isdell, the former chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, who retired as chairman in 2009, leaving behind a memory trail of 40 years of being a Coke-bloke.
Inside Coca-Cola has its moments quite well defined. There is young Neville, the climber. And then there is Neville who has just about finished climbing and crawling and indeed creeping at times. The overarching feel of the book is however the perspective that a very mature Neville Isdell brings to the company, moving his passion-pawn of developmental and co-operative capitalism as a theme for the future.
The Neville Isdell story of Coca-Cola takes us through a fascinating corporate and brand journey through the markets of Africa, Philippines, West Germany, India, and finally the capital city of Coca-Cola, Atlanta. This, in many ways, is a fine read as the perspective at play is a
bottom-up perspective — market-upwards, rather than Atlanta-downwards. In many ways, Isdell can be credited with being a true-blue market-oriented man, who took the big and tough decision. He listened to the market, and in turn, the market listened to him.
Take the case of the decision to buy out Thums Up and sundry companies that were owned by Ramesh Chauhan. The buy-out of Thums Up, which still remains a market leader in its space, is one that makes for a fascinating read with details such as the Chauhan astrologer fixing the time of 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon for the signing of the sale agreement, and the near precipice moments when Coke might just have been wrongly hauled up for child labour issues in India.
Remember, when you are a big multi-national of the stature and size of Coca-Cola, everyone is just about waiting to beat you with that great big stick of public
conscience.
When it comes to Neville Isdell’s Indian experience, I am glad to say that the man has understood India and its diversity. He has peeped well into the contradiction that is India. The acute poverty as compared to the state of flaunt and money. Isdell seems to have enjoyed the best parties in town, including the ones where you have rose petals sprinkled on the pathway upon which you must walk. I must say I am yet to see one, but Isdell has been there and done that.
And in turn, he does to India what everyone else waits to do to Coca-Cola as well. He picks up the small and the anecdotal, and tries to whip the India story going, subtly throwing up the soft underbelly of it all.
The book has a refreshing foreword written by Pamella Isdell, which adds to the flavour of the experience. After all, who knows a man and the company he keeps best? His wife, of course! And this First Lady of Coca-Cola does a nice and personal piece.
I loved reading this book. It has got its moments. A book to pick and read whilst drinking a piping hot cup of coffee (and not Coke), when you have nothing else to do but peek into the life and times of Coca-Cola.
