Communicator Spotlight: Coca-Cola's Beatriz Perez
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios; Photo: Courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company
From overseeing big brand and celebrity partnerships to managing the environmental impact of the world's largest beverage distributor, Beatriz Perez plays a key role in crafting the story of Coca-Cola.
Why it matters: As chief communications, sustainability and strategic partnerships officer, Perez is a prime example of how the role of communications and marketing has become more elevated.
📍 How she got here: Perez joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1994 and held various marketing roles before being named chief marketing officer for North America in 2009.
- In 2011, she was named as Coca-Cola's first chief sustainability officer, and in 2017 she took over the communications and strategic partnership portfolios.
🏗 How it's structured: She reports to chairman and CEO James Quincey and manages the company's global sustainability, communications and strategic partnerships portfolio.
- She also oversees the licensing and retail business and The Coca-Cola Foundation.
🧸 Communication hack: Present in front of your kids. They will ask tough questions and force you to finesse your messaging.
- "When I first started practicing for my kids, my son would ask these very innocent questions like, 'Why does that say 30% and not 100%? You're Coke, Mom — isn't Coke supposed to be 100% on everything?' Simple questions like that forced me to rethink what was I actually talking about and how I was framing it," says Perez.
- As they've gotten older, Perez's kids started asking tougher questions, like, "How are you going to put the math to that? What is that worth to your company's reputation? How do you know that, financially, this is making an economic impact on your business? How do you tell the consumer — the real people — the value you bring by changing these things?"
🌱 Zoom in: The ESG function sits squarely between business impact and corporate reputation, but it's difficult to message, says Perez.
- "You have to really get down to what problem are you solving, which brands don't like to do because typically you're a part of the problem. So how do you then legitimately and credibly say you're solving the problem that you're a part of?"
- "When we tested our messaging in Germany, we found that the social aspect of [storytelling] really resonated and outscored most other campaigns. While in Mexico, we found that messaging around community water really connected with the consumer."
🏔Who she's watching: Patagonia.
- "I study to see how they're communicating because they get quickly to what sets the problem to the solution, and they're very clear about their action and accountability."
🧠 Best advice: She has two pieces of wisdom that she says have made her personally better:
- Reject your first thought. Wait and hear other perspectives before blurting out your first instinct.
- "I have found that by doing that, I sometimes change my perspective based on new data, information or a new concept that has been brought to the table."
- Don't major in the minors, which means don't let the details bog you down.
- "Details do matter, but sometimes it stops us from moving forward. Focus on getting to the destination — and if we make mistakes along the way, we will fix them."
