Shakir Moin has worked for Coca-Cola Co. for 26 years in 10 countries. But the best marketing lesson he got was in one of the few countries where its flagship cola was not sold. Moin—who was promoted this week to head Coca-Cola Co.’s North American marketing—in 2012 was charged with leading Coke’s introduction to Myanmar where it returned after 60 years away as a result of the U.S. lifting sanctions against the country.

It “was an opportunity of a lifetime,” Moin recalled this week in an interview. And it was one filled with challenges such as “how to enter a totally new market where there's no consumer data, there's no nobody who can advise you [and] no agencies.” So Moin went back to the basics, visiting homes, schools, villages and colleges to “understand the lives of consumers,” he said.

He also visited Coke’s archives in Atlanta to see how the cola was first introduced in 1886. The message—“delicious and refreshing”—was simple yet effective, and the marketing tactics, which leaned into sampling, also worked. The experience “transformed me,” said Moin, teaching him that “the best thing to do is still go to the frontline and see the consumers directly.”

It’s an approach he plans to take as he prepares to lead marketing for what is arguably Coca-Cola Co.’s most important market. Moin officially begins in North America on Jan. 1. He will work from Atlanta and assume the duties now held by Melanie Boulden, who is leaving Coke after joining in 2019 and serving as North American chief marketing officer since late 2020. 

Moin, who was born in Pakistan and is a citizen of Singapore, has since July been interim CEO of Coke-owned international coffee brand Costa; he routinely worked in Costa stores to get to know the brand better. In addition to Myanmar, he has held marketing and operational roles covering China, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. 

Moin, 50, takes the marketing role as Coca-Cola sales are growing. The company reported strong third-quarter results in October, including global net revenue growth of 10% to $11.1 billion, and raised its full-year financial outlook. But operationally, the company is not satisfied. Jennifer Mann, a longtime Coke employee who will take over as president of the company’s North America operating unit on Jan. 1, has signaled that she wants Coca-Cola to, in her words, “accelerate our growth, improve speed and capabilities, and make it easier to get work done.”

Below, more on how Moin views marketing and what approach he will bring to his new job. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How will you use your international experience in the North American role?

The world is incredibly connected now. My advantage is I've lived now in 10 countries with Coca-Cola, practically every continent in one form or the other. So I have the benefit of reaching out and picking up almost like a global library of work across a portfolio of brands that I can pick up and bring faster into North America, making the right choices. 

Coca-Cola in November 2021 selected WPP as its “global marketing network partner” after a massive media and creative review that covered some 200 brands across about 200 countries. Yet it seems non-WPP shops are still getting big assignments, such as Wieden+Kennedy New York handling Sprite’s “Black Panther” campaign. Will this continue?

Our relationship with WPP is working, and it's continuing to evolve in North America, which is great news for us because it's a bet that we made and thankfully, that bet is working.

[But] very selectively, I think we would want to continue to explore whoever brings the best ideas in. Because eventually, I think the success mark would be what wins with consumers. So WPP continues to work well, but I think very selectively, we'll continue to explore opportunities as we receive them.

Mann has signaled she wants Coca-Cola to move faster. What will that look like inside the marketing department?

I have worked with Jennifer now for slightly more than four-plus years in my capacity at Costa. And one ethos that Jennifer brings in is that we don't need only leaders, we need what she calls window washers, which are leaders to roll their sleeves up and get work done. And that ethos drives very quick action and decision-making. Because then it is not about, you know, three people who first see this and then it goes into someone and then someone— it moves straight into the people who are making decisions. So it is both structural, and cultural, that Jennifer is trying to push.

Will this involve cutting marketing staff?

It is more on the structure and design of it. So ensuring that the layers are minimal.

The cost of indecision is often always more than the cost of decision. Jennifer is encouraging this, which is, it’s okay to make a mistake, but at least go and make a decision, do it faster.

Coke historically has been known for big, iconic ad campaigns that often include big-budget TV ads. But like most brands, Coke is trying to do more on social and digital channels. How do you view the split between TV and digital?

I'm a big believer in iconic ideas versus iconic campaigns. And obviously, campaigns come from ideas. Sometimes big campaigns do not have big ideas, they have just big budgets. 

It’s not about awareness, it's about fame. So how do we create fame for the brand, even if it's a five-second message or a 10-second message? And then you know, find the right connection channels to do so. 

In North America, what channels work the best for Coke? Is it TikTok? Instagram? Something else?

What is important is the equity of the channel as much as its reach. So for example, TikTok clearly has a relevance and a certain empathy with consumers apart from just being a channel. 

What I'm not in favor of is just spreading messaging randomly across channels. 

(Moin and a Coca-Cola representative declined to comment on how the brand will approach paid advertising on Twitter.)

You have talked about the importance of being on the front lines. How do you see that happening in your North American marketing role?

I’ll give you a very real example. One of our bottling partners contacted me and sent me a very nice message welcoming me into North America and invited me over whenever possible. So I wrote back to them to thank them for that. I said if it’s possible can I route-ride, get on a truck and see how our products are developed [and] delivered in your territory?

I want to do the same thing for consumers, which is doing home visits and understanding how consumers live and what are they going through. This is not a one-off, like I do the store checks every single week. [With Costa] I work in a store at least once a month, despite my schedule. And that's an uncompromisable thing.