What Keeps Coca-Cola’s Wasim Basir Awake At Night

Wasim Basir, Coca Cola

As a brand to reckon with, Coca-Cola MENA has had a good 2015. Whether it was industry accolades including the Effie Marketer of the Year 2015 or the sheer volume of content it had created and the impact that it generated in terms of viewership, shares and comments, Coca-Cola has been in a happy place. And there is no reason for the marketer to not continue with the winning streak in 2016. According to Wasim Basir, Director, Integrated Marketing Communications at Coca-Cola MENA, there are a few things that can be expected from the marketer, irrespective of the economic or geopolitical challenges that the region is bracing for.

Top of this list is the injection of sophisticated social media strategies in its marketing. “We did substantial work in the social media space to keep our conversations ‘always-on’. We looked at internal requisites including putting up a system for quality analysis to embrace social learning and interaction,” Mr Basir explained in a conversation with The Arabian Marketer. The beverage manufacturer put up centers to create an active social media presence by the second quarter of 2015, and began to see impact of real time listening on its content in the subsequent quarters. “Moving forward, this will continue to be important for us to not only constantly listen and respond to consumer, but to also feed that back on how we create content in the ‘always-on’ framework,” Mr Basir said.

Money Matters, But Not Always
Even though advertising spends on digital is still lagging behind the consumer time on newer forms of media, Mr Basir points out, that especially in digital, it is not always about the spend. Citing the example of Coca-Cola’s No Labels initiative, he said, “We were unable to spend the budget we had set aside for that campaign, because we reached the tipping point very quickly, and after that it is in the hands of the consumer. At a broad level, we are committed to this medium, and if that requires us to spend more, we will. But the important conversation is not as much about the spends, as it is about the content.”

The year 2016 would be no different for Coca-Cola to prove its forward thinking mettle, and kind of a budget constraint does not appear to be on the cards. “Every year there is bigger demand for business from us and a bigger demand to communicate to our consumers. We will keep finding better ways to do that, irrespective the channel we take. There would be an increase in our spends, but that would be in line with our business objectives,” Mr Basir said.

Measurement Matters, Always
While Mr Basir’s words would bring heart to all media owners – TV and print included – he cautions that the region faces some serious challenges when it comes to measurement. The TV audience measurement tops the list in this. “We would be keen to see some solution coming at an industry level on this, but I am not sure if there is even a plan to achieve it,” he said.

In the case of digital, another important word is effectiveness, and the ability to measure that on ultimate brand love. “We know that 18-19 million people saw the No Labels ad, but how does it impact the perception of the brand on these people. My mandate for the team in 2016 is to measure performance, and do so by measuring business metrics and not necessarily media metrics. There are many propriety studies that give us data on how much more an ad was seen in comparison to another similar video, but it is also important to know what happened after that. That is the conversation we need to have. This needs to happen internally first, and we will then seek partners on what we measure and how we measure. Making digital measurement smart is the only thing that we will focus on in 2016,” asserted Mr Basir.

In similar vein of that thought process, Coca-Cola will continue investing in data and analytics as well. “Big Data has become the biggest curse because people are unable to cut through it and come back on with analysis or action points that will make a difference to business. We have access to that data but how do we use it better for the benefit of our consumers, of our overall business and other stakeholders is also very important to us,” he said.

Consistency, Efficiency, Taking The Lead…
Coca-Cola’s narrative has always been about selling Coca-Cola, and a predicted skepticism in consumer mindset is not going to change that. The Company’s marketing approach in the region will be about being sensitive and smart about the environment it operates in. Coca-Cola’s best laid out plans will continue to put disproportionate focus on content and storytelling, an area where the brand has taken a significant leap over its peers. “Content has three or four roles for us. We expand storytelling from a time-defined medium such as TV to another where time is not a constraint. Essentially, the No Labels cans were an extension of the ‘Don’t Judge People’ campaign. The other form of storytelling for us is around brand experiences such as Coke Studio and Fanta Masters. And then we have programs with the community such Copa Coca-Cola. Those are the levers that keep us pulling forward every year,” Mr Basir said.

Coca-Cola’s broad plans for the years are in line with its fundamentals. But there are areas that keep Mr Basir up at night. An important one in this pertain to the agency ecosystem. “All agencies are not created equal and MENA is a big, diverse region. Not all agencies have equal presence across the region. One of our biggest challenges is how to maintain consistent quality across every part of the business. Consumers are democratized faster than creative creators or digital agencies. A consumer in Morocco has the ability to access the same content but do we have the ability to create the same quality content,” he said.

Another area that needs a revisit is whether a large set shares enough within the system. “Often times, and we are equally guilty of this, we do things for the sake of doing new things. There are things we have done in the past, especially in the digital world. Are we missing out on opportunities of taking successes to other markets with sensible adaptation than creating afresh? We are trying to do things more efficiently and get more productivity in the mindset.”

The final, and perhaps the most crucial, is keeping the team motivated, according to Mr Basir. He said, “I am blessed with a great team, but it is on me to keep them on top of their game so they are thinking ahead of the curve and not just following trends.”

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