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Sergio Zyman      

Former Coca-Cola CMO, Marketing Strategist, Author

Sergio Zyman, a former Coca-Cola marketer and the founder of Zyman Group, was named one of the top three marketing pitchmen of the 20th century by Time magazine. Notably, he held the first Chief Marketing Officer position ever created at The Coca-Cola Company, where he led the company to significant growth, boosting worldwide annual sales from nine to 15 billion cases.

Born in Mexico City, Zyman began his career with management roles in Japan, Brazil, Guatemala, and New York before moving to Atlanta for his first tenure with The Coca-Cola Company. This period was marked by the launch of innovative products including Diet Coke and Cherry Coke. Although New Coke was initially not well received, it is now considered an idea ahead of its time. After leaving The Coca-Cola Company in 1988, Zyman founded Core Strategy Group, serving clients like 7-11 and Miller Brewing Company. He played a pivotal role in the election strategy of former Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Returning to Coca-Cola in 1993 at the behest of then-Chairman Roberto Goizueta, Zyman re-envisioned the company's marketing strategy, a move that triggered the most explosive growth in Coca-Cola's history. After leaving Coca-Cola following Goizueta's death, Zyman authored four books, including two international best-sellers. In 1999, he established Zyman Group, an international marketing consultancy recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing consulting firms in the U.S. He sold majority ownership of Zyman Group to MDC Partners in 2005.

An energetic and engaging speaker, Zyman addresses topics such as non-traditional growth strategies and the impact of current and social events on consumer behavior. He holds an Executive MBA from Harvard University and has studied at graduate schools in London, Paris, and Jerusalem. In 2008, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asociacion Nacional de la Publicidad. Currently, Zyman is working on his fifth book and continues to teach businesses how to enhance their value proposition by understanding and addressing the needs of their customers and end-users.

Speech Topics

Green Marketing: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly About Going Green

9/11, the Tsunami in Thailand, Katrina, globalization, and the Internet, among others, are events that increased pressure over environmental issues and have raised the awareness of "going green"... but has "green" really gone mainstream? Are SUV sales really down? Are companies really investing to undergo green transformation? Zyman will give you an interesting perspective on the myths and realities behind green marketing and the potential opportunity this endeavor will create for companies pursuing green, thereby enabling them to play a protagonist role in the future.

Why Hispanic Marketing Is a Hoax

Everyone knows that Hispanics make up a large, growing, and increasingly wealthy demographic, but very few companies are getting it right when trying to market to them. It's not about sombreros, mariachi bands, and Chihuahuas—or what is commonly known as Hispanic marketing. It's about marketing to Hispanics in a deeper and more meaningful way that entails understanding Hispanics' needs, motivations, and purchase drivers, and then creating strategies and solutions that meet these needs. The companies that get it will benefit significantly. The ones that don't will miss a tremendous opportunity. Zyman, a Mexico City native, will show audiences how to better understand this important market and provide best practices for successfully creating breakthrough strategies. He will provide strategic and executional guidance to penetrate the Hispanic market to build true brand loyalty for longterm profitable growth.

SMEB Marketing: Marketing is Not Only For The Big Boys

Too many things to do, few resources to do it... don't fall into the trap and use scientific marketing to accelerate the value creation. Marketing is too important for Fortune 500 companies, and even more important for a smaller company's growth. Having worked for a large corporation like The Coca-Cola Company for so long, the question is constantly asked of Zyman, "Coke, yes. But how does that apply to a small business?" The reality is that the principles that apply to small, medium, and large businesses are the same for all, commercially speaking. In this presentation, Zyman discusses the principles of marketing that have evolved over the past 30 years, and how they apply to businesses ranging in size from a one-person entrepreneurial company to a three-store pizza chain or medium-sized business.

So You're On the Health and Wellness Bandwagon? Going Beyond Trends to Generate Growth

From counting calories in the '70s to severely limiting fat intake in the '80s to shakes and bars replacing meals in the '90s to counting carbs instead of calories in 2000 to today's focus on everything organic and functional... what is a reality and what is a myth? What are the major trends and the perceptions among consumers? "Better-for-you food and drinks" are impacting the market and the lifestyle of many consumers today. With many stories and battle scars, Zyman will show audiences how understanding these mega-trends is the easy part. He will also detail how to effectively activate these trends across brand touchpoints and to achieve a wellness marketer's mandate: growth.

Why Marketers Need To Be More Like Politicans

What do candidates and brands have in common? What can a brand strategy mimic from a campaign strategy? What can marketing learn from a campaign that has an expiration date? Businesses keep reminding themselves: "It's all about the customer," but politics never needs the reminder: "It's all about the voter." Zyman will show audiences differences and similarities between marketing a brand and marketing a candidate, but most importantly he will lay out the principles and guidelines to successfully apply the political model to your brand to create breakthrough strategies.

Private Equity: It's Not About "Managing Business"

Changes in external factors are driving new challenges for the private equity industry, forcing it to move beyond transactional thinking and embrace transformational and value-creating investment opportunities. With deal flow on the decline and liquidity/credit challenges, there is a need to evolve the approach. Quite simply, PE firms must go beyond managing the business (operations, supply chain, efficiency) to running (driving acceptability, affordability and availability) and growing the business (creating demand and new sources of growth). Zyman will help audiences understand how, by focusing on the consumer and not only the financials, with transformational vs. transactional growth, PEs can improve the profitability of the portfolio of companies.

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A Down Economy: The Lazy Marketers Lame Excuse

Customer confidence is in the tank; cost cutting is in vogue; geo-political uncertainties remain; non-traditional competitors are proliferating; unemployment is rising; housing and personal wealth are at generational lows; greater than $100 a barrel oil is here to stay.... it's no wonder consumers "are on the sidelines."

Are consumers really on the sidelines or do they just need better reasons to buy you? Zyman will detail how economic times like these are golden opportunities for strategic marketers. He will outline proven models/approaches that require marketers to change their mindset from "inside out" (selling what you make) to "outside in" (make what you can sell); from aspirational goal setting to aspirational planning; from capturing share to capturing potential; from being positioned by others to controlling the dialogue; and why it's the restless and discontent that are the first to benefit.

Sell More By Understanding Your Customers Consumers

Learn how to increase your value proposition to your customers by helping them sell more product to their customers. Sergio shows how an understanding of what your customers and the end users need and how to position your product to specifically meet both of these needs. By understanding this, you will differentiate yourself from other suppliers therefore becoming the preferred supplier (and maybe charge that elusive price premium). Everyone wins when you demonstrate to your customer how to use your product to sell more to their end customer.

Embrace the New Future of Marketing to Drive Increased Profits

Marketing is serious business. Its about increasing sales and profits, through rigorous deployment of strategies to grow your business. So its time to replace the art of marketing (you know using instinct and gut feel to communicate to your customers) with a scientific, data-based approach to driving sales. Sergio will help audiences understand how, by transforming marketing efforts from the product of guesswork to outcome of a disciplined process, their businesses can sell more stuff, to more people, more often, for more money, more efficiently. Sergio offers his unique observations about who gets it, who doesnt and what it all means for your business.

Accelerate Profitable Growth By Renovating Before You Innovate

Many companies rely too heavily on innovation to solve their problems. When a brand gets old or tired, the impulse is to scrap it and start over with something fresh. But more often than not, innovation simply doesnt work. Sergio knows this firsthand he was the chief marketing officer at The Coca-Cola Company during the disastrous launch of New Coke. So whats the alternative? Sergio preaches the power of renovation - recapturing the essence of your existing brands, products, and core competencies and doing more of the things that made you great in the first place. Too many managers are so obsessed with innovation that they launch products that no one will buy. Premoistened toilet paper or smokeless cigarettes, anyone? Sergio delivers the solutions managers need to revitalize their strategies to improve growth, and he challenges conventional business wisdom to help companies make smarter, profitable decisions.

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