Bouncing Ahead: Coca-Cola HBC's Strategic Leap

We have been working with Coca-Cola HBC (CCH) since 2021, helping them become an insights-driven organisation; with consumers at the front of their decision-making.

The Business Question

Lacking insights into the “why”

As the market bounced back from COVID-19 restrictions, CCH found itself racing to keep up with rapidly shifting consumer behaviours. Despite having plenty of sales data, they struggled to understand why people were making certain choices and missed having direct connections with their target audience. This lack of insight into the 'why' behind consumer actions, and limited access to local consumers, made it tough to make quick, and successful decisions. Plus, market research was mainly reserved for big projects with big budgets, slowing down CCH’s ability to adapt to changing consumer needs.

The main challenge? Getting regular insights straight from the audience they cared about, to drive innovation and make effective decisions. That called for a solution that provided quick and accurate consumer insights, as well as expert research support.

How we helped

Tailored insights at speed

CCH got more than just the run-of-the-mill respondents. Our team of experts built a bespoke community that enabled CCH to ask the right questions to the right people at the right time. They honed in on niche groups like energy drink enthusiasts, tackling smaller projects and diving deep into unanswered questions. With our support, CCH's internal team focused on actionable insights, from double-checking consumer responses to gathering feedback on freshly launched products.

The strategic dips that CCH completed were often focused on New Product Development (NPD). For example, before launching a premium sparkling soft drink, CCH probed consumers about everything from flavour preferences to shelf placement. All of these questions were tested with the Bounce platform and the support of the research team, allowing them to enter the market confidently. They were also able to follow up post-launch to gauge consumer feedback, make sense of sales data, and identify areas for improvement. Beyond NPD, CCH continues to leverage Bounce for strategic projects across various product categories, tapping into consumer insights to fuel savvy decisions and future plans.

“In a fast-paced industry, the turnaround speed of survey concept to results delivery allows for our strategic questions to be answered quickly. Coupled with a very supportive and knowledgeable team who make a real effort to understand our business needs in detail, Bounce has firmly established itself as one of our most trusted and important research partners, and one we look forward to collaborating further with in future.”‍

Richard Harten, Category Insights Manager CCH

The Business Answer

Becoming truly consumer-centric

Working with Bounce has transformed Coca-Cola HBC's approach to consumer insights. Leading to initiatives such as the creation of an internal cross-functional team to investigate mixer strategy - from occasion to pricing.

Quick access to actionable feedback through ad-hoc surveys has boosted research volume and decision-making confidence, enabling CCH to provide customer-specific insights and making a step-change in customer-centricity.

CCH is staying ahead of market trends leveraging Bounce for different forms of tracking, monitoring consumer perceptions and reactions, and gaining regular insights

across channels to support a holistic view of the market and optimise their innovation strategies. The partnership with Bounce has empowered CCH to become truly consumer-centric, driving its success in the industry.

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Some of the solutions we used to solve this challenge:

• Research Consultancy & Design
• Consumer Behaviour Tracker
• Packaging & Flavour Evaluation
• NPD