Coca-Cola in Saudi Arabia Coca-Cola in Saudi Arabia - Olayan Group

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Coca-Cola in Saudi
Last September in Riyadh, Douglas Ivester, head of
the world’s largest beverage company, unveiled a
plaque commemorating his visit to the site of a
new, $20 million Coca-Cola bottling plant. He was
invited to do so by Khaled Olayan, chairman of
The Olayan Group’s operations in the Kingdom, which
include the bottling joint venture with Coca-Cola.
“It is a clear indication of the success of
The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Saudi
Arabia (CCBCSA) that we are building this
plant, and we should recognize its symbolic
value,” said Mr. Olayan. “By building a stateof-the-art
facility in Riyadh, we send an
unmistakable signal. As the unified bottler
for the whole of Saudi Arabia, we are
determined to establish our presence in all
parts of the country with the goal of serving
every customer.”
The plant, which is scheduled to open in
March 1999, is the third Coca-Cola bottling
facility in the Kingdom and the first in the
central region. The others are in Dammam
and Jeddah. The Riyadh facility is being
built from scratch on a large parcel of
Olayan land adjacent to the Olayan Saudi
Holding Company complex in the capital.
The Saudi Arabian Bechtel Company, another
Olayan joint venture, is managing the
construction project.
Growth in a sizzling market
According to a recent report in the
Financial Times, the soft drink market in the
Middle East and North Africa as a whole has
grown 50 percent since 1991 and is expected
to expand 85 percent more by 2005. This
region, which runs from Morocco to Oman,
has benefited from $400 million in strategic
investments by the Coca-Cola system over
the past five years. Nearly one-quarter of
this investment has gone into the Saudi market,
which Ivester, who is chairman and
chief executive of The Coca-Cola Company,
called the fastest-growing for Coca-Cola
products in the region. A further major infusion
in the region is scheduled over the next
three years.
That type of commitment has already paid off. Coca-Cola
products now represent nearly 40 percent of all carbonated
soft drink sales in the region as a whole. In Saudi Arabia,
CCBCSA’s share of sales, including Coca-Cola Lite, Sprite and
The “Coca-Cola Giants” attract a crowd.
Douglas Ivester and Khaled Olayan after
unveiling the plaque at the Riyadh plant.
Fanta, have grown to about 28 percent from zero a little
over a decade ago. And that has been against tough
competition from an entrenched rival, which enjoyed a
quarter-century head start.
Celebrating its soaring success
Last April, Coca-Cola celebrated its ascendancy by choosing
the skies over Jeddah to introduce the
world’s largest bottle-shaped hot air balloons.
It would take 2 billion liters of
Coke to fill each one! Known as the
Coca-Cola Giants, the twin balloons
kicked off a Middle East tour in Saudi
Arabia as a special “thank you” to its loyal
customers there for helping lead the
region in sales growth.
During their two-week stay in the
Kingdom, the Giants were part of a new
world’s record. At an altitude of 5,000
feet, Coca-Cola stuntman Ian Ashpole successfully
performed the world’s highestever
somersault trapeze act. Then he
jumped from the balloons with Saudi
parachutist Mubarak Al-Suwailem, the first
Saudi daredevil to attempt such a feat in
the Kingdom.
After their stint in Jeddah, the balloons
moved on to Riyadh and Dammam. More
than 100,000 people participated in the
festivities, and more than half a million
residents got a chance to see the Giants
as they flew over the Kingdom.
Commitment to Community
“As we focus on our business we
have not lost sight of our
community,” Khaled Olayan stated
last fall during a tour of the new
Coca-Cola plant in Riyadh. “The
Olayan Group is very proud of its
long-standing tradition of contributing
to the development of the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia, a history that
Coca-Cola shares in its home markets.”
In Saudi Arabia, Coca-Cola is
actively supporting community
services, especially sports and
education, even as it finds innovative
ways to serve customers. Snapshots of
this work appear here.