B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • NRL
  • AFL
  • WPP
  • State of Origin
  • B&T Women in Media
  • Thinkerbell
  • Pinterest
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Meta
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • ARN
  • Foxtel
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: Why Coles And Coke Have Nailed This Customer Experience Thing
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Why Coles And Coke Have Nailed This Customer Experience Thing
FeaturedMarketing

Why Coles And Coke Have Nailed This Customer Experience Thing

Jessica Box
Published on: 28th April 2015 at 6:00 AM
Jessica Box
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

Focusing on the customer decision journey is now more important than ever, argues IE’s Marketing & PR Manager, Jessica Box. CX design enables customisation and best practice customer engagement.

We’re in the midst of a ‘Generation C’ outbreak. As IBM has confirmed, this is not a demographic as the title initially suggests, it’s everyone.

Consumers are now empowered constantly by their accessibility to information. Whether that’s through mobile devices or integrated social campaigns, the bench-mark for best-practice customer experience (CX) design has shifted.

Whilst at The Connected Marketing Summit, part of The Connect Show, it was widely discussed by speakers that the customer’s experience is now central to all digital planning. Monica McGurk, SVP strategy, decision support and eCommerce for Coca-Cola USA discussed this through the lens of a case study.

Coca-Cola’s marketing team works at optimal efficiency when they have strategic clarity from leadership, McGurk confirmed. So, as the business began to shift a few years ago, the strategic throughline needed to as well. Enabling staff to be clear on their purpose, the brand decided to focus on the ‘daily drinker’ as their target audience for particular campaigns and provide this customer with the best experience possible.

By working in a four week cycle of production and execution, the Coca-Cola team could test their data driven campaigns in the wild and pivot rapidly if required. This way, they were designing the CX based on real, tangible ROI for a specific segment of their customer base. For example, if a particular geographical location wasn’t performing as strongly as another, the targeted in-store messaging could be altered; all within a four week turnaround period.

McGurk is a firm believer in arming her team with data to make decisions, so continuously plotting the journey for Coca-Cola’s customers enables a sophisticated CX design to be implemented.

While in the realm of supermarket shopping, Dale Preston, head of customer research and insights – marketing for Coles, affirmed this stance. Australians have changed the way they like to shop, and Coles is always iterating based on their consumer feedback.

In fact, he pressed the point that consumer feedback directly drives their customer experience decisions. Data shows that 80% of all their shoppers are female, an astoundingly large majority. So, Preston mentioned that a focus for Coles is offering its customers real value in every brand interaction. By knowing this, it can target messaging to each unique audience demographic – both online and in-store.

An example he gave was the strategically customised eDM campaigns produced for FlyBuys, which cross-promote Coles products. Based on customer data, and previous purchases, FlyBuys sends emails with products unique to their shopping behaviours. By doing this, it has a 50% click-through-rate on ‘specials’ content, proving those customers had the brand experience they wanted.

On top of this, Coles has determined that $2m of revenue still comes from its shoppable catalogue. So rather than listening to the general consensus that ‘catalogues are dying’, it is catering to customers’ demands and providing a great CX online.

These brands have it right. They can pinpoint particular areas of the customer journey and target their messaging accordingly. ‘Generation C’ now expects this, and it’s enlightening to hear that there’s a way to get it right. However, failing is also important; to test, measure and learn from things that haven’t worked for CX and make them better. Both Coles and Coca-Cola admitted this is an important factor in planning for the future. For example, both brands agree they have too many apps out in the market, but they’re being proactive in trialing and testing ways to condense them.

The pressure to have customer experience design at the forefront of not only your digital, but entire retail strategy is only going to rise higher. To make sure you’re on track, get your data working for you and use it to drive your sales even higher.

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: GIFs, Salary, Sirens, UM Melbourne
Share
By Jessica Box
Follow:
About Me: I'm a digital marketing, branding and communications professional with an avid zest for learning and an entrepreneurial spirit. Aside from my love of fashion, dance, travel and all things foodie, I'm hugely passionate about digital. Social media, strategic marketing, event management, website development and design most pique my interest. I'm a passionate writer with a creative flare, coming from a background in all things performance. I also enjoy reading the paper daily, over a delicious coffee of course. Throughout my career, I've most enjoyed managing people and helping grow the careers of others through learning and shared experience. A highlight of mine is co-creating Silicon Block Party, an event series bringing enterprise and start-ups together. Areas I'm interested in: Digital Marketing Social Media Management Copywriting Inbound Marketing Customer Experience & Engagement Email Campaigns Digital Design and Development Event Activations

Latest News

Scott Heron.
Aussie Marketer Confidence Rebounds To Highest Level In 3 Years, Finds Sonar Group Report
10/07/2025
Spotlight On Sponsors: Voltaren’s Newest Ambassador Candice Warner Set To Lace Up For The City2Surf
10/07/2025
AI Is Moving Fast & That’s Exactly What CMOs Need
10/07/2025
Yang Han.
StackAdapt Launches AI-Powered Assistant ‘Ivy’ For Data-Driven Decisions
10/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?