IN AN era when juiced-up energy drinks are beating Coke and Pepsi at their own game, the fizzy drink giants have both turned to women to save them from a sticky fate.
Flat sales of cola have long dogged both companies but Mary Minnick, the head of marketing, strategy and innovation at Coca-Cola, and Indra Nooyi at Pepsi have proven to be visionaries who have put the fizz into the bottom line.
Ms Nooyi was key in coaxing Pepsi into acquiring Tropicana in 1998 and paying $13.8 billion for Quaker Oats in 2001. She also played a vital role in the spin-off of Pepsi’s restaurants and bottling arms to focus on developing and marketing innovative drinks and snacks.
Most importantly, Ms Nooyi has worked on developing healthy fruit and dairy-based snacks and drinks in an effort to tap into the health food market and improve Pepsi’s image among parents concerned with childhood obesity.
Her strategy has been a success. In July Pepsi reported a 14 per cent increase in second-quarter profit with non-carbonated drink volumes up 23 per cent.
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At Coke, Ms Minnick is said to be destined for the top job too, having pulled off a similar turnaround. She has hired experts from fields as diverse as beauty therapy and herbal medicine to launch dozens of supposed health drinks. She has tried many of the products in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East, where she headed operations for a decade.