Yesterday I posted The Coca-Cola Company should head to South America looking for the next Kola nut (or coca bean), perhaps something with healthier-for-you qualities, around which they can create a new soft drink. Easy for me to say from my typing chair. “Exactly how, Mr. Poppe, should we go about this little hunt?” they might ask.

First, visit some exotic places and explore local eating and drinking habits.  Look for products and beverage that have been around for hundreds of years. Anthropologists and researchers should speak with older people who go back generations in the area, perhaps visit some museums and look at old artifacts. What did they use in the mortar and pestles?  What beads were on the necklaces?  Check out old art to see what people were consuming. Talk to botanists? Ask older physicians. (Remember the healthier for you value prop?) Gather nuts and berries, for goodness sake.  

Find the top ten ingredients from 5 or 10 countries and come home to Atlanta and start coding.  Give your chemists and beverage engineers and tasters 3 months to create some drink options. Get marketing involved at this point and leaks some information to the masses via social media. Build buzz.

We know which way beverages are moving. Why is Coca-Cola Company ceding control of product development to others?  (Why is Coca-Cola Ventures and Emerging Beverages sending MBAs across America looking for companies to buy?)  If anyone can find the next kola nut it should be Coke.  Peace.

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