Adobe Summit: Coca-Cola’s James Quincey on personalising a changing world

James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola, strode onto the Adobe Summit stage in Las Vegas jeans on and Coke Zero in hand—a signal of change that hit harder than he expected. Jeans are kind of his thing, as upon joining the beverages giant, he shocked colleagues and employees with his casual dress. "The only thing people remembered was I wore jeans and it wasn't Friday," he quipped, but the real message was clear: out with the old, and in with the new. Coke had been stagnating, and it was time to adapt or stand still.

Quincey said in a world demanding more every day, Coca Cola has shed its old cloak where Coke was the be-all and end-all, to become a "Total beverage company," and he said personalisation is the key to meeting that demand.

"We were formal, hierarchical, stuck in our ways," Quincey admitted. "People said 'Coke' first, even though we had 400 brands [now narrowed to 200]. We had to break out—sell what customers want, not just what we make."

Growth drives the machine, he said, and with 30 of its 200 brands topping a billion dollars, Coke is making bold moves. "Sometimes one more campaign won't cut it. You need courage to change."

That courage shines in personalization. Quincey pointed to "Share a Coke," a digital marketing leap that put customer names on bottles. "Creative and scale don't often hold hands," he noted, but digital printers changed that, kicking off physical customisation not formerly possible with traditional printing equipment.

It was practical then; now it's profound. "Consumers want to be the centre of their story—not just in the virtual world with social media, but in the real physical world. That's an attractive value proposition."

Today, Coke's scaling that vision. Quincey described ads once needing photographers, art directors, transport, sets and weeks to months for completion. The introduction of AI powered technology incorporated into Adobe products including Experience Suite, Creative Cloud and more, quality, customisable marketing collateral is produced rapidly, accurately and at comparatively astonishingly low cost.

That's notable, because as Quincey noted, while some aspects of the human condition are universal, others are not. A Coke with a meal, sure. But is that meal a curry, a pizza, or, God forbid, surstromming? Those details matter because that's a step forward towards mass personalisation.

In a previously filed story, we mentioned the few and the many, and this is where that particular rubber hits the road. In, for example, producing its most recent Christmas ad featuring polar bears, Quincey noted it was cheaper and quicker than ever before. That means the few creatives who would previously laboured on the production, sat idle.

Or, hopefully, put their talents to use learning to use AI tools like those available from Adobe; after all, as the cliché goes, if AI doesn't take your job, someone using it will.

"Productivity's the opportunity," Quincey said, and he is spot on. The axe made chopping down trees faster and easier, and AI is no less a tool nor more a threat to the many. Indeed, the many now have access to powerful creative tools, though at the expense of more challenging cut-through in an inevitably noiser marketplace.

Quincey finished with some advice for anyone on the outside of AI peering in. "Generative AI? "We had no idea, but we jumped on the train early. We know big makes slow, so if you're not in early, you're behind."

Point-of-sale ads, he said, could soon morph instantly, chasing until you click. "There's the possibility of ads with you in them, adapting and tracking and responding 'til you say yes."

But there's a catch: annoyed consumers might block the flood. "It's Minority Report dystopia versus something personal," he said – so there is a balance to be struck.