Lessons from Soft Drinks

The Melinda Gates keynote demonstrates how not-for-profit organizations can benefit from the business model and marketing tactics used by Coca-Cola. The co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation remarks that in every developing nation she has visited throughout her life, Coca-Cola has been ubiquitous. While she is continuously startled by everything these countries lack, she is equally as startled by the undeniable presence of this soft drink.

Worried by the fact that these individuals can so easily access a can of Coke, but are unable to access clean water or proper health care, she decided to evaluate Coca-Cola's business model to see how it could be applied to improving the progress and impact of nonprofits.

Gates found that the success of Coca-Cola rests in its ability to take real-time data and immediately feed it back into its products, to tap into local entrepreneurial talent and to effectively market its products. Gates believes that if nonprofits apply these similar methods, they too, will achieve the success of Coca-Cola and change the lives of so many people.