New Coke man aims to add fizz

Simon Harris has recently taken over the PGA account in his role with Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE). Having worked for the company since 1999, Simon will bring a wealth of experience to the role and build on the long-standing and successful partnership between CCE and The PGA.

What’s your background?

I’ve been working with Coca Cola since 1999 across various sectors of the business, most recently in what we term leisure which covers venues where you’d purchase a Coca Cola product you wouldn’t consume at home. That includes leisure centres, cinemas, festivals and of course golf venues! I’m a golfer as well and I think that gives me an insight as I go into golf clubs and golf shops quite a bit, so I have an awareness of the challenges.

You’ve just taken over the role as National & Key Accounts – Leisure PGA, what will you be doing?

The first part of my job will be to get know the PGA regional secretaries, meet them where they’re based and get their input on what we’ve done previously and what we can do in the future and what support I can offer to them. Long term, the strategy is to grow sales through the PGA.

How will you go about that?

The way I see it there will be two parts. There are a number of PGA Members not buying through the agreement and we want to grow that. We’ll use our business support network to work with current account holders and generate new accounts by explaining the benefits of buying our products via Palmer & Harvey Direct to make their life as easy as possible.

The second element is to create a look of success so account holders can make more profit through our products. That may be just awareness of what we offer. I go into a lot of golf clubs and it’s the same range and I guess it won’t have changed much for the last 20 years, so I think we could be missing out there.

What are the benefits of PGA pros being an account holder with you?

They get preferential terms, we run competitions through the PGA and we also provide incredible ease of service. It should be a minimum part of their working week, which allows them to focus on their main roles. It is a small part but it also a profitable part of their week. We also look at what deals we can provide for PGA pros to drive sales throughout the season, targeting key times of the year when we know there will be spikes in participation.

Is this an overlooked area in terms of revenue?

Golf professionals know they need to have a drinks cabinet and they know it’s a revenue stream but I believe many are content ordering the same drinks time after time. The customer will accept what’s in the fridge but that doesn’t mean to say they are maximising sales. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference with the odd tweak. I have to appreciate that to a PGA professional is it a relatively small part of their business but an important one.

What are all brands you have?

Our key brands are Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Life. We have Fanta (four flavours), Lilt, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Oasis – which is a still juice and popular with golf courses as there’s a high percentage of people that don’t want fizzy drinks. We have Powerade, which is an energy drink. For those interested in fitness, maintaining performance and replacing electrolytes this is an ideal product. We also have Relentless and Monster, caffeine based energy drinks, and then our waters which are Glaceau Smart Water and Schweppes Abbey Well.

Has there been a shift in focus?

As a business, rather than leading with Powerade we feel that by leading with Coca Cola, which is the major brand, it gives us greater exposure to PGA Members and more presence. We now feel we should be leading with Coca Cola instead of other products as this has been informed by consumer preference. So, moving forward, the branding will be Coke and while we’ll still support events with Powerade, it will be under the Coke banner.

How do I get an account?

You can email P&H Direct to open a new account. If it’s product range, equipment such as coolers or vending machines, that would come to me.