Today I met with Kenth Kaerhoeg, Coca Cola Pacific's Group Communications Director. He happens to be from Denmark, which was a small world. We had a brief discussion in his office then headed to lunch at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC), the original hang-out for reporters during the Vietnam War. Photographs of the war cover the walls and old newspapers, the one declaring the Titanic sunk, line the hallway.
We chatted about the differences in working in Europe vs. Asia as well as Coca Cola's purposes in each region. Where some product succeed, others fail. He shared an interesting story about Minute Maid juice. Selling 100% juice was too expensive to be attractive to the Asia population so they used 15% juice to provide the real juice flavor but lower the cost because they were just buying and using pulp (fruit waste).
Another fascinating discussion was the power of Sprite in Asia over Coke. The reasons are:
1. Asians understand that drinking water no matter how much they boil it still has dirty particles. A Sprite is crystal clear, which yields thoughts of purity and goodness - tastes better than boiled water.
2. Most Asian remedies in liquid form resemble Coke, making Sprite look more desirable because it doesn't remind them of Auntie's concoctions.
3. Nothing tastes better than an ice-cold Coca-Cola. Many things taste better than a nice warm Coca-Cola. Boiling their water to kill bacteria, Asians are accustomed to warm drinks and rarely drink cold ones. Everyone is always hesistant about local ice. So when someone is drinking a soft drink, chances are it might be warm. Sprite wins the taste contest at the warm level because it's not that bad in comparison to hot Coke. Those 3 factors make Sprite the champion for Asia, which was something I definitely did not know before meeting Mr. Kaerhoeg.
Also, Coke has a very strong emphasis on performance of employees. With a report card listing the good, the bad, the ugly, employees are able to predict their bonus and promotion based on keen recommendations. It keeps you working for a personal goal. Coke also finds most of its employees through head hunters snatching the greatest of someone at another line of work. Although their are instances of people working up from the bottom, most of Coke's go-getters were champions of some other field. Mr. Kaerhoeg was into politics and government communications before he worked for Coke.
Very interesting to hear how one can enter a large brand like Coca-Cola from a communications stand-point not necessarily finance. Although he did say that Hong Kong was a banker's city, best experienced from a banker's life. Which was interesting. He also mentioned that it is a male driven city, lacking many women with skills in high positions - looks like an opportunity for me! Wonderful experience, fantastic lunch (cod dumplings, Szechuan beef skewers, and rhubarb cobbler - he did mention the food at the FCC had some amazing Indian food because journalists covering Vietnam also spent time in India so they requested it frequently) Oh! and I received a Coca-Cola pin from the Beijing Olympics with a portion of the metal used for the bird cage that Coca-Cola bought from Beijing. Add that one to my Atlanta 1996 pin and let's call it a collection!
-Catherine
