James Quincey
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Coca-Cola
Thanks, Robin, and good morning, everyone. In 2023, we achieved our near-term goals while also positioning our business for the long term. Our all-weather strategy delivered 8% comparable earnings-per-share growth despite greater-than-expected 7% currency headwinds. Today, we are leveraging our scale globally and winning locally, which gives us confidence that we can deliver on our 2024 guidance.
This morning, I'll talk about the global consumer landscape. Then I'll highlight how our strategy and enhanced capabilities are making us a more agile and effective organization. And finally, John will discuss our financial results and our 2024 guidance.
During the quarter, we benefited from strong performance across many of our markets. However, some were impacted by elevated inflation and others by geopolitical tensions and conflicts. We delivered 12% organic revenue growth, which included 2 points of volume growth, continuing a positive volume trend for the year. Throughout, we continued to invest in our business to provide the right portfolio of brands and packages to retain and attract more drinkers.
We drove industry growth and delivered value share gains in the quarter and for the full year. We achieved these results by effectively navigating a number of headwinds and capitalizing on tailwinds across our markets. During the quarter, we saw strong consumer demand across Australia, India, Latin America, Japan and South Korea. In North America, consumer spending in aggregate is holding up well, and in Europe, consumers remain cost-conscious. In Africa and China, the macro environment remains uncertain. And in the Middle East, tensions have resulted in some shifts in consumer behavior that have had an impact on our business.
Another important factor to highlight is the inflationary pressures which are moderating or stabilizing across most of our markets. To keep consumers in our franchise, we are leveraging our revenue growth management capabilities to tailor our offerings and price pack architecture to meet consumers' evolving needs. In North America and Europe, while inflation is moderating, the cumulative impact of inflation is pressuring certain consumer segments who are seeking value. Throughout 2023, we increased our affordability offerings and won volume and value share in both regions. In Latin America, despite double-digit inflation during the fourth quarter, we grew volume 4% and increased household penetration and basket incidents. There are a few pockets of the world that are experiencing hyperinflation. John will later speak to how this dynamic is impacting our business. However, I did want to mention that our local franchise operating model allows us to navigate through hyperinflationary environments and then gain an advantage over the long term.
Across our business, we continue to prioritize agility and focus on improving every aspect of how we operate. An important part of this is our marketing transformation. To recruit the next generation of drinkers, our marketing has shifted from a TV-centric model to a digital-first organization that balances local intimacy, scale, and flexibility. Our digital mix has gone from less than 30% in 2019 to approximately 60% of our total media spend. In 2023, we stood up StudioX, the digital ecosystem that brings this all together. We created physical hubs in each of our operating units to integrate disciplines, standardize data and technology, and step-change our capabilities. Creative media, social, and production capabilities are now operating at scale, connected by our global network structure.
In our previous model, it took several months to create a TV ad. Now we're producing thousands of pieces of digital content that are contextually relevant and measuring these results in real time. [Indecipherable] is driving tangible results. For example, Coke Studio, which originated in Pakistan and taps into consumers' passion for music, has been scaled to our top 40 markets. The campaign uses packaging as digital portals to access real magic experiences, which have generated more than 1.2 billion YouTube views and 100 million music streams this year, resulting in strong recruitment of Gen Z drinkers.
We're engaging differently with consumers, and it's delivering results. In 2023, according to Kantar, Coca-Cola brand value increased $8 billion. Coca is now the 10th most valuable brand in the world, up seven spots from the prior year. In the U.S., Sprite was named by Morning Consult as the number one beverage brand for Gen Z drinkers. We were also named one of the top 10 innovative companies in augmented and virtual reality by Fast Company.
Our innovation agenda is increasing our competitive advantage across our products, packaging, and equipment. Taste is the starting point. Simply put, people want drinks that taste great. To drive superiority across our total beverage portfolio, we're continuing to build capabilities to tap into unique insights in taste and aroma science. We're applying digital tools, ingredient processing technology and AI to create bolder and more successful innovations. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is an ongoing example of how superior taste drives demand, with volume that grew 5% in 2023, leading to continued volume and value share gains. We're applying learnings from this multi-year success and driving taste superiority elsewhere in our sparkling portfolio. In 2023, we launched Sprite and Fanta reformulations in 25 markets, delivering mid-single-digit volume growth in those markets and driving overall sparkling flavors value share gains.
Outside of our sparkling portfolio, we're dialing up flavor profiles, adding functional benefits and expanding into new categories. In Japan, we relaunched Georgia Coffee, which generated broader customer interest and led to value share gains. In the U.S., Fairlife's Core Power and Nutrition Plan offer high protein dairy without compromising taste. In 2023, Fairlife grew volume 15%, its ninth consecutive year of double-digit volume growth. We're also seeing continued promising results from Fuze Tea across Europe, Jack and Coke in the Philippines, Flashlight in Mexico, among many others.
In 2023, innovation contributed to approximately 30% of gross profit growth, and our success rates have nearly tripled compared to 2019 levels. Our revenue growth management execution capabilities continue to be distinct advantages, as demonstrated by our ability to deliver volume and transaction growth despite ongoing inflationary pressures. We're working with our bottling partners to capture every opportunity available to create significant value for consumers and customers. By offering a total beverage portfolio in the right packages and at the right price points, we're driving category expansion and becoming more relevant to more consumers and customers.
In North America, we're evolving packaging options across more distribution points to drive affordability and premiumization. On the affordability side, our 1.25-liter PET bottles are now available in 80% of supermarkets and our 16-ounce can distribution increased by 14 points in convenience stores during 2023. We're also focused on premiumization through the expansion of our mini can offerings. During the quarter, we launched 15 PET minicans in grocery and club channels. In Europe, we're leveraging the same playbook, but adapting it to local needs. In Spain, our 1.25-liter PET package is offered at a compelling price point and it drove 16% volume growth and increased household penetration in 2023. In Italy, Great Britain and Ireland, we drove premium single-serve mini cans and smaller package offerings to generate positive mix and incremental retail sales.
Our franchise system uniquely combines the benefits of scale and knowledge sharing with the know-how needed to execute for customers and win locally in many different operating environments. For example, approximately 70% of purchase decisions are influenced at point of sale. Our system stepped up in-store displays during the quarter, which drove incremental retail sales and cross-selling opportunities. Putting it all together, we created $15 billion in incremental retail sales for our customers in 2023, more than any other beverage company. This was our sixth year in a row as the leader in value creation. While we're pleased with our progress, we recognize there's still much work to be done to capture the vast opportunities available. Our system is galvanized to move further and faster.
Before I hand over to John, I want to acknowledge that none of this could happen without the unwavering dedication of our employees. And so, as we turn to 2024, we expect the year will bring new challenges and opportunities, and we'll remain ready to respond through continuing to improve execution of our strategy across our total beverage portfolio. I look forward to sharing more next Tuesday at CAGNY and I encourage everyone to listen in.
With that, I'll turn the call over to John.
