Bringing refreshment to the millions of people who enjoy Coca-Cola beverages every day goes beyond the satisfying “pop” of opening one of Coca-Cola’s iconic drinks. It’s also about more than just product innovation — it’s about creating meaningful experiences and engaging campaigns that deepen connections with our consumers and build brand love. That’s why we are driving a major transformation to enhance and personalize our approach to omnichannel marketing, and ensure we meet consumers wherever they are in ways that are seamless, relevant, and refreshing.
As VP and Head of Global Marketing Technologies at The Coca-Cola Company, I help champion the use of Adobe solutions to fuel Coca-Cola’s transformation and boost engagement for our direct-to-consumer and B2B campaigns. We are strong believers in the power of platforms, and Adobe’s integrated technologies have revolutionized the way we create and execute campaigns across our nine global operating units.
Our results to date have been extraordinary, as has the support and recognition we have received from Adobe. That includes being named The Experience Maker Executive of the Year at the 2025 Adobe Experience Maker Awards alongside other leading brands like General Motors, Sling TV, and Kroger. There is no larger reward than knowing my team has driven significant impact for The Coca-Cola Company and our consumers while simultaneously raising the bar for omnichannel experiences in the wider marketing industry.
Ambitious goals, extraordinary results.
The Coca-Cola Company partnered with Adobe with an ambitious goal: to accelerate consumer engagement and increase transaction frequency across our portfolio of more than 200 brands in over 200 markets. No small task for any business — especially one that has been operating for more than a century and owns some of the most recognized brands in the world.
Within just one year of embarking on this journey, we increased the number of global consumers who enjoy at least one Coca-Cola beverage per week. A key contributor to this success was our India and Southwest Asia (INSWA) business unit, where marketers significantly expanded both paid and owned media reach, powered by our new Adobe stack.
We also saw incredible results in Latin America (LATAM). By using Adobe Target to deliver hyper-personalized product recommendations to customers, the LATAM team boosted checkouts for our En Tu Hogar ecommerce page by 25% with no additional content spend.
At the heart of these wins lies our unwavering focus on customers. By using Adobe Real-Time CDP, for instance, we can enrich our customer database in real-time. In turn, this allows us to personalize every experience we deliver, boost engagement for our campaigns, and optimize activations across more than 200 million consumer profiles.
Optimizing content workflows.
Growth rarely happens without new processes to support it. Adobe’s solutions also helped The Coca-Cola Company standardize global content and delivery processes, driving new efficiencies and accelerating our time-to-market for new assets and campaigns.
For instance, we consolidated thousands of brand websites onto a single domain. This allowed our global marketing teams to simplify website maintenance across 115 markets and 50 languages while managing regulatory compliance with ease. Most importantly, we empowered them to deliver more cohesive and engaging experiences to Coca-Cola customers around the world.
Edge Delivery Services in Adobe Experience Manager played a crucial role in the development of our new interactive microsites. The solution accelerated our time-to-market for the sites by 75% while reducing legal and privacy approval times. In turn, the ability to bring these innovative experiences to life more quickly has positioned The Coca-Cola Company to connect with digital-first consumers in new and engaging ways.
The time and cost savings didn’t stop there, and neither did their impact on our customer experience. The Coca-Cola Company also used Experience Manager to centralize our asset management with 550,000 pieces of approved content. We also partnered with Adobe Professional Services to create a single user-friendly website for our 13,000 marketers to access current, approved content. Finally, we cut thousands of hours from our content workflows by automating our processes with Adobe Workfront. Together, these enhancements have helped us to reduce our costs significantly.
Powering digital initiatives with generative AI.
The Coca-Cola Company’s omnichannel transformation is far from over. As our journey continues, we’re exploring the potential of Adobe AI to power our latest digital initiatives to further personalize our customer experiences.
Today, our design leaders are also drawing on generative AI capabilities powered by Adobe Firefly to streamline our creative workflows — making it possible for designers to customize assets and scale them infinitely to achieve new levels of reach, while maintaining brand consistency.
Want to learn more about The Coca-Cola Company’s omnichannel transformation? Get the full story on the Adobe Experience Maker Awards website.
And check out Shekhar Gowda’s strategy keynote session at Adobe Summit 2025.
Shekhar Gowda is vice president of global marketing technology at The Coca-Cola Company. He oversees the company's marketing technology strategy, products, platforms, architecture, product development, and deployment for both global and operating units.
Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Gowda was senior vice president of technology at MRM McCann, part of IPG. He managed digital transformation and customer experience solutions for Fortune 100 clients and established the Adobe Center of Excellence for McCann/IPG. Earlier, he led architecture and product development teams for clients like General Motors Corporation and Dialog Direct.
Before his tenure at MRM McCann, Gowda led diverse teams in architecture design and product development. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his family. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer sciences from the University of Mysore, a master's in computer science and engineering from Oakland University, and an MBA from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
