The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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James Quincey: Yes. I mean, Coke Space, bit like Coke Creations, not exactly, but it is really aimed at increasing connectivity with Gen Z and the broad consumers, driving engagement — driving reconsideration is part of a whole overall strategy that as you say we’ve been deploying for a good number of years, that has really worked to reengage consumers with the Coke trademark, whether it’s Coke original, Coke Zero Sugar or even Diet Coke to some extent. The overall strategy of an upgraded approach to the marketing, the innovation whether it’s Coke’s Space or some of the Creations through the RGM in the execution has allowed us to drive our Coke growth across the global business. And actually by also increasing the focus on Fanta and Sprite even organizationally splitting them out into two sub teams within the organization has allowed us to bring more clarity and more focus onto Fanta and to Sprite and to drive growth there, too.

Which has worked in Q4 in 2023 and as you say, over the last five years. I know that sometimes people — well, I would say that people think about the sparkling category just through the optic of the U.S. over the last 20 years. And I would invite you to look at the optics or everyone to look at the optics of the sparkling category globally all the time, and actually there, you see that the category remains robust on a global scale, both in terms of volume and revenue growth. And of course we are not just the leaders, but we are the share winners, so we see — if we do the right things for our brands, we will be able to drive the category forward and benefit disproportionately from that growth.

Operator: Our last question today will come from Carlos Laboy from HSBC. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Carlos Laboy: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. Can you comment for us on the state of global independent bottlers CapEx or digital capabilities, we’ve seen a really robust Latin American digital investment over the last four years or five years, but where else do you see a step up in digital market development capabilities like this. And can you comment on the U.S. in this area as well.

James Quincey: On U.S., what?

Carlos Laboy: On the U.S. regarding digital bottling system investments.

James Quincey: Sure. Carlos, yes. I think it’s fair to say that the overall investment levels that you referred to in Lat-Am are pretty consistent across the world. Like one of the underlying tailwinds, I believe we have is the degree to which our system is sharing and thus the opportunity that’s ahead and willing to increasingly invest ahead of the curve. So I think that’s happening across the global system. One of the subsets of that, of course, is the degree to which digital, and its many forms is playing a pivotal role to sustaining and indeed building advantage wherever we operate. We have CAGNY next week. And I think you’ll hear more of that threaded through the conversation we’ll see up there. But safe to say, I think CapEx levels are at the highest as a percentage of system revenue that I can remember. And within that the appetite and willingness to invest ahead of the curve, particularly in digital is also at a very high level.

Carlos Laboy: Thank you.

James Quincey: Right. Thanks very much, everyone. Just to summarize, we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in 2023. We are winning in the marketplace, we’re going to be maintaining agility and improving every aspect of how we do business across our total beverage portfolio. John and I look forward to discussing more with you all next week at CAGNY. Thank you for your interest, your investment in our company and joining us this morning. Thank you.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating, you may now disconnect.

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