Sergio Zyman (born July 30, 1945) is a

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

executive from Mexico best known as the marketer behind the failed launch of

New Coke New Coke was the unofficial name of a reformulation of the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by the Coca-Cola Company in April 1985. It was renamed Coke II in 1990, and discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to ...

and the success of Diet Coke, Fruitopia, Surge, and ad campaigns such as "Coke Is It."

Early life and education

Zyman was born to a Mexican Jewish family in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. He attended executive programs at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and graduate schools in London, Paris and Jerusalem though his professional resume does not list a graduate degree or MBA.

Career

Zyman's work experience includes tenures with

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

, and

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

, and his own firm Zyman Group. He is also known for helping introduce

Diet Coke Diet Coke (also branded as Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Diet or Coca-Cola Light Taste) is a sugar-free and low-calorie soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Unveiled on ...

in 1982 and conceiving

Fruitopia Fruitopia is a fruit-flavored drink introduced by the Coca-Cola Company's successful Minute Maid brand in 1994 and targeted at teens and young adults. According to ''New York Times'' business reports, it was invented as part of a push by Minute ...

in 1994. After leaving the Coca-Cola Company, Zyman launched a

consulting A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

firm called the Zyman Group, which he sold to MDC Partners Inc., a Canadian advertising firm

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, for around $60 million in April 2005. He was replaced there as Chairman by Scott Miller, formerly with

McCann Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in over 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McC ...

. The Zyman Group is no longer in business. Zyman later served as a director of Upstream Worldwide, the

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

uSell.com uSell (operating under PhoneX Holdings, Inc, ) is a publicly traded recommerce company with headquarters in New York City. It operates as an online marketplace where people can sell used cell phones, tablets, video games, textbooks and gift ca ...

, but he has been replaced there and is no longer on the Executive Team. He then worked with

JC Penney Penney OpCo LLC , doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalyst Brands portfolio alon ...

as a Marketing Consultant but left after the failed re-positioning of the chain.

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

.
Ackman calls for ouster of JC Penney chairman
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New Coke

A cover story in

Fortune Magazine ''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. T ...

from May 1, 1995 referred to

as the biggest marketing blunder since the launch of Ford's

Edsel Edsel is a discontinued division and brand of automobiles that was produced by the Ford Motor Company in the 1958 to 1960 model years. Deriving its name from Edsel Ford, son of company founder Henry Ford, Edsels were developed in an effort to ...

was a reformulation of the original

flavor. After significant consumer opposition, the original flavor was reintroduced after 77 days. ''Fortune Magazine'' reported:

Zyman, then head of U.S. marketing, was coming off his enormously successful introduction of Diet Coke when he was assigned day-to-day responsibility for top-secret Project Kansas in 1984. The zealous Mexican insisted that Coca-Cola (or Co-Coola, as he pronounces it) must act boldly to reverse its 20-year market-share decline vs. Pepsi. Zyman, a former Pepsi marketer, argued that the correct strategy was to replace 98-year-old Coke with a better-tasting cola, label it
New Coke New Coke was the unofficial name of a reformulation of the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by the Coca-Cola Company in April 1985. It was renamed Coke II in 1990, and discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to ...
," and blare the news--which is exactly what the company did. Zyman's greatest error was that he and his team failed to present the option of keeping old Coke on the market.

Published works

Zyman has written four books on marketing and advertising, including: *''The End of Advertising as We Know It'' with Armin Brott. John Wiley & Sons, 2002 *''The End of Marketing as We Know It''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zyman, Sergio 1945 births Living people Advertising people Businesspeople from Mexico City Mexican Jews Coca-Cola people PepsiCo people