Coca-Cola can get really fresh output because it is getting people who are outside the traditional model and they are combining ideas in very novel ways.
John KaoCommunication is the essential medium of a creative culture: the communal sea in which we all swim. A company that can't communicate is like a jazz band without instruments: Music just isn't going to happen.
John KaoThe mark of the developed intellect is that it could accommodate two contradictory ideas at the same time.
John KaoInstead of command and control, managing the creative process is about facilitating and permitting.
John KaoJazz has to work. It has to play with the audience and with the marketplace. I think that is relevant to business.
John KaoEvery day, there are 770 million Cokes consumed, which means that there are 770 million purchasing decisions made each day regarding the product. To support those decisions, the company must constantly reinvest in its marketing links to its customers. As a result, a high level of creativity must go into everything the company does, from cause-related campaigns - Coca-Cola and its sponsorship of the Olympic Village in Atlanta, for example - to new catch phrases, commercials, marketing slogans, advertising campaigns and promotional tie-ins.
John Kao