The Coca-Cola Company
Orchestrating Global Scale
How I delivered the "ShopX 2" transformation
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The Coca‑Cola Company (TCCC) needed to migrate their massive content ecosystem to a new, high-efficiency platform, but their technology partner, CHILI Publish, lacked the internal resources to manage the complex transition alone.
I embedded directly into the team, orchestrating a web of six global agencies and vendors. The result was the successful launch of "ShopX 2," driving a 94% reduction in production costs and democratising content creation at scale for TCCC.
01
The Context
A Legacy Bottleneck
For years, The Coca‑Cola Company (TCCC) relied on "ShopX 1," a content creation platform built on legacy CHILI Publish technology. While powerful, the system was ageing. Producing templates was becoming costly, and the architecture couldn't keep pace with TCCC’s demand for speed and "self-serve" agility.
CHILI Publish had the answer: CHILI GraFx, a cutting-edge platform designed for efficiency. TCCC wanted to migrate to this new engine and overlay it with an "Experience Layer" (built by Kadanza) to allow stakeholders to create their own assets without constant agency intervention.
The stakes
The vision for "ShopX 2" was massive, but so was the risk. CHILI Publish faced a critical gap: they had the software, but they lacked the specific resources and skills to manage a migration of this magnitude. They needed to coordinate TCCC, global agency giant WPP, production partners Hogarth and VML, and 3D asset creators GRIP.
02
The Challenge
The Orchestration Gap
The project wasn't just a software update; it was a global ecosystem overhaul. The friction points were significant:
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The skill gap
CHILI Publish needed more than just developers. They required high-level Product Thinking, Template Strategy, and Commercial Structuring - skills that were missing in-house for a programme of this scale.
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The "Too Many Cooks" problem
The project involved aligning disjointed teams:
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TCCC (The Client requiring immediacy)
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WPP/VML/Hogarth (Agencies with their own workflows)
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Kadanza (The UI/UX partner)
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GRIP (The "Digital Twin" 3D asset provider)
The complexity
TCCC required bespoke features - from "Smartcrop" automation to complex resizing logic - that didn't exist yet.
CHILI Publish needed a partner who could act as "one of their own"- a bridge between the code and the client.
03
The Solution
Acting as the Central Nervous System
I was engaged to sit at the centre of the operation and wore multiple hats to drive the project forward.
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The strategy
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Unified Governance: I established the operating model, creating a single source of truth. I produced weekly triage reports to align product roadmaps with TCCC’s urgent requests, effectively managing the tension between "what is needed now" and "what is on the roadmap."
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Template Strategy & Accreditation: I didn't just move content; I optimised it. I orchestrated the strategy to ensure templates were "content agnostic," allowing a single layout to export for both Print and Digital - a capability impossible in the old system.
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Product Management: I acted as the filter for feature requests and led the UX workshops to define the solution. When TCCC needed "Combo Maker" functionality (pairing meals with drinks), I navigated the technical trade-offs between CHILI’s native tools and GRIP’s AI generation.
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The implementation
I facilitated the integration of the Kadanza Experience Layer on top of CHILI GraFx. This allowed TCCC marketers to self-serve - uploading custom images, changing headlines, and localising offers - while maintaining strict brand governance via the underlying CHILI templates.
04
The Results
Efficiency at Scale
The launch of ShopX 2 delivered undeniable metrics for both the end client and the technology vendor.
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For The Coca‑Cola Company
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94% Cost Reduction: By utilising CHILI GraFx and the new Template Strategy, agency production costs plummeted compared to ShopX 1.
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Speed to Market: The "All Layouts View" and multi-destination export (Print & Digital from one file) drastically reduced campaign execution time.
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Adoption Targets Achieved:
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Market Adoption: 36 markets onboarded (Goal: 30).
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Bottler Adoption: 33 bottlers active (Goal: 47 - noting strong progress despite complexity).
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For CHILI Publish
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Commercial Security: The success of the programme secured long-term commercial agreements.
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Strategic Expansion: The engagement led to additional funding arrangements for CHILI Publish
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Product Evolution: Real-world learnings from TCCC drove CHILI’s 2026 roadmap, including "Smartcrop 2.0" and GenAI image tooling.
05
The Future
The partnership has evolved from a vendor-client relationship to a strategic alliance. The CHILI & TCCC partnership continues to drive the roadmap, further cementing ShopX 2 as an "all-under-one-roof" content ecosystem.