David Butler, VP of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Coca-Cola, discusses how design can help companies achieve both scale and agility. He explains that large companies struggle with agility while small companies struggle with scale. However, design used strategically can help companies create both. Butler advocates using a "systems-based" design approach to maintain consistency while adapting to local markets. He also discusses how Coca-Cola leverages design across the entire business.

1. Interview with: David Butler, VP
Innovation & Entrepreneurship, The
Coca Cola Company
“Every company needs two things to
grow in today’s world - scale and
agility,” says David Butler, VP Innova-
tion & Entrepreneurship, The Coca Cola
Company. Large companies struggle
with agility, while small organisations
struggle with scale, but design can help
them create both scale and agility, he
explains.
David Butler is a speaker at the marcus
evans EuroPack Summit 2016,
taking place in Montreux, Switzerland,
19 - 20 September.
Who is tomorrow’s “business
winner”? Why?
Every company needs two things to
grow in today’s world - Scale and
agility. What is interesting is that every
big, established multinational has scale
but they struggle with agility - the
speed and flexibility needed to adapt to
a fast changing market. And what every
early-stage company struggles with is
scale - how to grow and expand their
product, team, and customer base
before they run out of “runway” (time
and money). What most people do not
realise is that design can help compa-
nies create both scale and agility.
What advice do you have on
combining scale with agility? How
can organisations ensure it is a
success?
When it comes to design, most
companies do not think about design
strategically - in terms of connecting
their approach to design with their
growth strategy. But in my book, Design
to Grow, I share how any company, big
or small, can design strategically. I use
many case studies from Coca-Cola and
this will be the focus of my keynote at
the Summit.
What are the key concepts in your
book Design to Grow that would
interest packaging executives?
What lessons can you share?
In the book and in my keynote, I will
explain how to use a “systems-based”
approach to design. For Coke, this
approach enabled the company to
create consistency around the world for
its global brands but also adapt to each
local market to feel very relevant. Any
packaging executive will tell you this is
actually quite difficult no matter the
brand or product that is inside the
package.
How can companies use design
more strategically? What role could
packaging play?
Obviously packaging is only one piece of
the overall customer/user experience
but it is often a key indicator of whether
or not the company is using design
strategically. In my book, Design to
Grow, I go deeper into this concept and
I’ll do the same in my keynote.
How does The Coca Cola Company
leverage the full power of design
across its business? What lessons
has the company learnt from its
successes as well as failures?
One of the biggest lessons I have
learned working at Coke is that to be
effective, the design leader must help
everyone in the company understand
that they are all “designers”, that what
they do, no matter if they are an
accountant or a factory worker, adds or
subtracts value from the customer/user
experience. And to leverage the full
power of design, the whole company
must “design on purpose.”
Packaging is
often a key
indicator of
whether or not
the company
is using design
strategically
How Coca-Cola
Designs Strategically

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About the EuroPack Summit 2016
The EuroPack Summit is a premium forum bringing together the leading packaging
professionals with the most renowned leaders in the provision of services,
technology and information to executives. Taking place at Fairmont Le Montreux
Palace, Montreux, Switzerland, 19 - 20 September 2016, the Summit includes
presentations on grasping the opportunities within the IoT, investing in intelligent
technology enhanced packaging to trigger brand messaging, human-centred
packaging and creating an engaging story to actively enchant your customer and
increase the added value of packaging.
www.europacksummit.com
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