The First Sip is the Sweetest

Neighbourhood Retailer speaks to Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland’s Sales Director Simon Fitzpatrick about his role, and ingenious sales and marketing that means the brand still wears its crown well.

Simon joined Coca‑Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2002 as a business developer – rising through the ranks to become sales director in 2020. After almost twenty years with the company, what were the main achievements and high points?

“It was the first time our organisation had achieved this on the island of Ireland – it’s hard to follow that.”

As an avid football supporter, Simon enjoyed his year with the IFA. “I also spent a year outside the organisation working for the Irish Football Association in 2018. I then came back to the role of commercial excellence manager. 

“It brought lots of personal and professional opportunities. It was great to develop the first commercial strategy for the IFA and to spend time doing that work.”

“Although I had a great time there, obviously my heart was embedded in the work of Coca-Cola and so I returned. I’m glad I did.”

The role of sales director 

What does the role of sales director entail?

“Fundamentally the role is responsible for driving sustainable sales growth for the business. In simple terms it’s about three things - people leadership, developing strategy and delivering results.  I’m so fortunate to have a team of 320 people across various disciplines within sales to support that. We like to say in Coca-Cola HBC that people are our secret ingredient. Personally, I am committed to leading and developing the capabilities of our high performing sales team.

 Shaping strategic direction

“Shaping the strategic direction of our business, our portfolio and route to market is also vital. We’ve leveraged data insights technology and more modern and contemporary methods of data collection to do just that.”

“Thirdly, delivering results is a crucial part of any sales director role. It’s paramount not just for our own organisation, but also for our customers - to drive joint value.”

Icon status

The Coca-Cola name and brand is one of the world’s most recognisable – how powerful is a brand’s name, recognition and recall in terms of driving sales?

“As a global iconic brand, there are two strands to that question. In terms of heritage, Coca-Cola has been uplifting the world for generations - for over 80 years on the island of Ireland alone. It has a really respected heritage, and I’m proud to be part of that for twenty years.

“Consumers love the brand and although our heritage goes back 80 years, our campaigns focus on simple and relevant ideas in the here and now. For example, in 2020, our campaign ‘Open to Better’ was launched in a short time frame to spell hope and optimism. The campaign focused on a special moment of joy – offering a symbol of normality during the pandemic.” 

“Secondly, product availability and distribution is key – although it’s a powerful brand name, we never rest on our laurels. I believe the brand’s success lies in how we execute our campaigns in store for our customers. 

With over 99% availability, our portfolio, which includes Fanta, Sprite and Deep River Rock, are available whenever our consumers want them.

Moments of joy

 “Moments of joy form part of that connection. The company continues to evolve and grow - our portfolio continuously expands – not just Coke, Diet Coke, Zero Sugar, Schweppes, River Rock, Fruice and two completely new categories – Costa Coffee and a new alcohol brand Topo Chico Hard Seltzer. 

“There has been rapid expansion in these two new categories to help achieve our vision of becoming a 24/7 beverage company – with a beverage for every occasion around the clock. There’s been a huge amount of diversification.

“We took over Costa two years ago and have the agreement to distribute the ready-to-drink portfolio, as well as roast and ground, beans and pods since last year.”

Diversifying 

Technology has also been transforming the landscape of Coca-Cola HBC.

“In the past year we have fully embraced digital data. Digital selling solutions play a key role in allowing our field sales teams to focus on added activities for customers.

 “We continue to invest in e-commerce and e-marketing, this is an ever-growing sector and has accelerated changes in shopper behaviour. Capturing data to turn into actionable insights allows us to remain agile in capturing new and emerging trends” explained Simon. 

 It’s a fiercely competitive market place and holding on to the brand-leader crown must be a challenge at times – how do you address those challenges in a tough sales environment?

“There are several areas that differentiate us – firstly, the strength of our portfolio, secondly, dedication to customers and thirdly support for our communities.

Customer Partnerships

“With regards to partnering with customers, we are really proud to offer such a strong portfolio which allows us to respond to all occasions. However, true partnership is tested in the darkest of days. The pandemic reshaped our market more dramatically than we could have envisaged and I am incredibly proud of how our sales team maintained service to our customers throughout; ensuring shelves remained stocked at all times. We also worked tirelessly with our customers to reshape our strategy to respond to new shopper behaviours – focusing in particular on the ‘at-home occasion’. Our activations focused on ‘screen time’ and ‘socialising at home’, with meals deals, adjacent displays and points of disruption in store. 

Rapid revenue recovery

In 2021, we are committed to partnering with our customers to lead a profitable and rapid revenue recovery for the benefit of all. We will continue to act on emerging consumer trends, bringing innovation and insights to our customers so that, together, we can adapt with speed to emerging shopper trends. 

Community initiatives 

“We believe as a significant contributor to the economy in Northern Ireland and Ireland that we have a responsibility to give back to our communities. Last year, we donated one million of our drinks to frontline health staff and those-in-need. We funded over 100,000 meals through Food Cloud.

One million drinks 

“In addition, to the one million drinks and a hundred thousand meals, we also leveraged our supply chain and provided ten thousand bottles for use as hand sanitiser dispensers for nursing homes across the Northern Ireland and Ireland. It’s been a tumultuous time for our communities, and Coca-Cola HBC has been happy to help in whatever way we can.” 

Brexit

Has Brexit had any implications for the company north and south?

“It raised various complexities and implications. Our production facility in Lisburn serves the island of Ireland. Our supply chain is fully integrated north and south, and we import finished goods.

“We make 40 cross border movements every single day, so it was a very challenging period to navigate. However, we have managed the transition successfully so far. The certainty provided by the NI protocol and barrier free trade for the island of Ireland has significantly helped that, along with the extensive preparation we did internally. That was important to protect employment and future investment in our plant, which is crucial to future stability.”

Health

HFSS – High fat, salt and sugar – with new guidelines and regulations coming in to play from Westminster for England – will that impact on your business here?

“It comes back to your question a few moments ago – we are committed to being a 24/7 beverage company, giving people the drinks they want, when they want.

“How are we responding to customer needs for healthier beverages? We have launched forty new drinks since 2002, such as SmartWater, Fuzetea, and Appletiser.

“We have reduced sugar across the portfolio - reduced sugar in Fanta, Sprite and Schweppes. We’ve also created smaller pack sizes to make controlling sugar easier, with 275ml cans and 375ml bottles.”

Hero zero

“We’re making low and no-sugar drinks the easy choice through our “Hero Zero” approach – making zero sugar variants the easy choice for consumers. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is the fastest growing soft drink brand on the island and 52% of all cola we sell has no sugar. 

“We believe in giving the right information about our brands, with colour coded labelling on the front of pack. We are committed to responsible marketing and do not advertise to under 12s

“While the HFSS controls apply only to England, we will work with all stakeholders to continue to play a partnership role in the delivery of the public health objectives.”

Key messages

NR readers are mainly c-store retailers, symbol groups, independents, community based and high street retailers – the life-blood of the brand’s sales base – what key messages would you wish to give to the readership to help boost sales, confidence and support?

“Whilst the overall grocery sector has performed well, we’re also aware of challenges facing smaller independent retailers as a result of workplace closures. Convenience stores and forecourt retailers are a priority, and we will always work with customers to help their business grow.

“We will continue to invest in marketing initiatives that drive mutual value. There’s a brand new campaign called ‘Open that Coca-Cola’. It’s all about bringing to life the first sip of Coke and the uplift and joy of that first moment” said Simon.

“We will continue to appeal to young adults and families, invest heavily in above the line marketing and in campaigns such as the European football championship, summer and Christmas. We’re going to support customers and retailers by bringing them the campaigns and events to drive footfall and transactions.”

New pack formats 

“New one litre packs of Coke, Fanta, Sprite will replace the 1.25 bottle, in response to consumers’ making smaller basket trips. The one litre available in convenience stores with permanent displays to increase sales and profit margins for our customers.

This is a key initiative that will support retailers over the coming weeks and months, increasing sales and profit margins due to its higher price point.

Global brand

The mantra ‘think global, act local’ all the time and of course for a global brand you know this more than most – how do you view the challenges and opportunities of the future for the company in Northern Ireland and Ireland – what closing messages would you wish to make to your customers?

“As a global company on the island of Ireland, ‘think global act local’ I believe is best demonstrated by our commitment to operate in a sustainable way. We are firmly committed to our sustainable packaging strategy and have taken a leadership role in creating a circular economy on the island.

“All bottles and cans sold by Coca-Cola HBC are 100 per cent recyclable. More than 46 per cent consist of recycled PET, which has eliminated 3,450 tonnes of virgin PET from our supply chain annually. Deep RiverRock has been moved to a 100% recycled bottle since June 2019. SmartWater is also made from 100 per cent recycled plastic.

Key strategy

“Reducing plastic is key to the overall strategy. We have significantly reduced the overall plastic used. In manufacturing, we have reduced our plastic use by 10 per cent, through the light weighting of packs and the introduction of a smaller closure.

Secondary packaging 

“Shrink wrap is being replaced with innovative technology called KeelClip across multi-pack cans. In April we will follow with ‘Qflex’ - a cardboard solution for larger multipack cans, thereby eliminating a total of 500 tonnes of shrink wrap annually” explained Simon.

“Our ambition is to collect and recycle every can we sell by 2030, to partner with NGOs and others to achieve that; to champion the mindset that packaging need not become waste, but a valuable material that can be recycled. We will deliver that message on packs and in our campaigns.”

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