Coco-Cola South Pacific
Communicating impact with clarity and credibility
Challenge
Coca-Cola South Pacific came to us at a time consumer expectations were rapidly evolving. Driven by growing awareness of health, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility, stakeholders wanted transparency, action, and values that aligned with their own. Internally, Coca-Cola was already engaged in strategic work to address these shifts, including product innovation, packaging sustainability, and community initiatives.
The challenge lay in translating these efforts into communications that felt credible and emotionally resonant. Traditional corporate messaging, often formal, risk-averse, and brand-centric, was falling flat. The corporate affairs team had to navigate a complex landscape: balancing global brand consistency with local nuance, adhering to strict legal and stakeholder requirements, and maintaining trust across diverse audiences.
Solution
We partnered with Coca-Cola Australia to deliver a strategic communications innovation grounded in a clear theory of change: if Coca-Cola could shift to a human-first, evidence-backed storytelling model that elevated real voices and reflected local impact, it could build trust, sustain its reputation, and foster meaningful engagement. We developed a digital-first, multi-channel editorial strategy that elevated the voices of employees, consumers, and community partners to translate internal initiatives into emotionally resonant, culturally relevant evidence of action.
Balancing global brand consistency with local nuance across Australia, New Zealand, and ASEAN, our in-house team produced and published high-quality, multi-modal content, including articles, interviews, social media, video, and graphics, along with managing the corporate website. We designed and managed risk processes to meet rigorous standards and ensure accuracy and credibility. We worked extensively and autonomously with internal teams and external third parties, bringing empathy and diplomacy to all stakeholder interactions.
Outcome
- Human-first storytelling introduced as a brand innovation. Successfully piloted in our market, then rolled out across 20+ international markets.
- Navigated complex stakeholder sets as project lead during global website rebuild and rebrand, aligning digital presence with evolving consumer values.
- Collaborated on rebrand for the Coca-Cola Australia Foundation, with renewed focus on sustainability, and employee and community engagement.
- Supported government relations through consistent, evidence-backed storytelling highlighting social and environmental contributions
- Increased consumer trust and engagement, evidenced by sustained digital traffic and positive sentiment metrics
