LATEST COVID-19 NEWS

A Privilege to Support our Communities

Over the last nearly 70 years, partnering with and investing in the communities we serve has always been a core part of the way we do business.

In the face of the challenge that we now face, the community networks and partnerships that we have established over the years are allowing us to support those in need, those fighting the pandemic on the frontline and our customers that continue to serve our shared communities. As we do so, keeping our colleagues safe and healthy is our number one priority and lies at the heart of our ability to continue serving our communities. Therefore, wherever they are working, our teams have the protocols and equipment that keeps them – and others – safe.

Global Commitment, Local Action

Globally, The Coca-Cola Company and The Coca-Cola Foundation together with Coca-Cola HBC and all other bottling partners are providing a $120 million support package focused on the people and organisations engaged in the frontline fight against COVID-19. As a result, each of our markets is making a significant donation primarily to the Red Cross but also to other NGOs in order to support frontline work or to purchase medical equipment. WATCH: Our support for NGOs. Thanks to the Coca-Cola Foundation, applications for funding have been approved for all our 28 markets. An overview of grants provided globally by the Coca-Cola Foundation can be found here.

Product Donation to the Frontline

We and our partners are doing all we can to help across our markets, including donation of our beverages to hospitals, quarantine centres, food banks, emergency services, NGOs and the vulnerable. We have so far donated over 4 million litres across our 28 markets. As examples, in Italy, we have provided over 400,000 litres of beverages to the Italian Foodbank Banco Alimentare Civil Protection, NGOs and 30 hospitals in Northern Italy, Rome and around our plants (Piemonte, Veneto, Campania, Abruzzo) to support 18,000 doctors and nurses on the frontline. In Nigeria, we are providing beverages to COVID-19 Response teams, Emergency Medical Facilities and to quarantine centres and have so far donated over 130,000 litres of beverages; in Russia, we are providing beverage donations to “Russ” Foodbank and support #wearetogether, the largest volunteering movement in Russia. In Poland, we are donating water to 80 hospitals and food banks; in Greece and Cyprus, we are supplying products to all appointed COVID-19 hospitals and food banks and have provided over 111,000 litres of beverages. And in Romania, we have donated more than 244,000 litres of beverages to 8 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and 20 quarantine centres.

Supporting our Customers

Across our network, thanks to stringent global best health and safety practices, our production plants are authorised to remain open and producing.

You can see some examples of the additional measures we have taken at our plants in our video here.

This is in line with the essential role we play alongside our customers to keep supplies flowing to the community. Wherever it is possible, our sales teams remain on the ground, working alongside our customer partners to support them in this task.

Immediate customer support

The customer landscape  changed dramatically in the second quarter of 2020 and where customers needed help to cope with changed ways of working, we have been alongside them in their warehouses, in stores shifting product to shelves or delivering to consumers as e-commerce and home delivery needs have expanded rapidly. We have also been working on a case by case basis with our customers from the Horeca (Hotels, restaurants and cafes) sector to support them commercially. 

In the first phase of the lockdowns, for our customers with overstretched supply chains, overworked personnel trying to keep up with demand and restrictive regulations to navigate on the shop floor, we offered flexible supply and merchandising services. Where central warehouses of our customer retailers could not cope with the spikes of demand, we delivered supplies direct to outlets or offered volunteers to get the products onto the shelves. Where in-store activities were constrained by new regulations and outlets struggled to meet the demand, we offered support outside of normal working hours.

Here’s some specific examples of our support actions in various markets:

In Austria we made direct donations to industry initiatives that support the longer-term recovery of the whole sector and celebrated the reopening of local Hotels, restaurants and cafes. We launched a cashback campaign with marktguru, inviting consumers to have a free Coke on us, covering the cost of around 25,000 drinks. In Switzerland we have joined an alliance of partners from the Swiss food service and hotel sectors to launch the #HELPGASTRO platform, where consumers can buy gift certificates for their favorite restaurants, bars or cafés. In the Czech Republic ​we organised a legal advisory webinar for our partners, to support with access to recovery programmes and funds. In Croatia ​via the “Raise the Bar” initiative, we provided free training to hospitality professionals and are using social media to promote home delivery platforms. In North Macedonia using the Grouper.mk, platform, we gave the opportunity to consumers to buy vouchers for their favorite restaurant or café and use it when the outlets reopened. In Greece we are supporting the Save One Seat initiative, an online booking platform aimed to help HORECA owners bring back traffic after reopening.

On top, Market Impact Teams were deployed to support retail and HORECA customers by building displays, filling coolers and shelves and offering marketing support to businesses. In total, more than 1500 employees took part in the MITs, providing assistance to more than 30,000 outlets. 

Reopening safely

On top, as outlets gradually began to reopen in the summer, we deployed teams to support customers by building displays, filling coolers and shelves and offering marketing assistance. In total, more than 1900 employees took part in the MITs, providing assistance to more than 32,000 outlets. We then turned our attention to how we could help customers bring trade back. It was kicked off by a global campaign from The Coca-Cola Company called “Open Like Never Before”, which reflected and celebrated the new normal. The optimistic sentiment was backed up by technology assisted traffic-driving mechanisms for customers. For example, smaller outlets could access the “Ad Creator”, which offered customers free online advertising space. And “This Coke Is On Us” connected outlets with consumers by offering the first Coke on the table for free. Across our markets, more than 1 million bottles of Coca-Cola were given away in around 8,000 outlets.

Leveraging our Supply Chain

We are also leveraging the capabilities of our own supply chain to support the provision of protective and medical equipment WATCH. We are exploring a partnership with one of our major cooler suppliers, that will facilitate the manufacture and supply of ventilators. In Russia, we are using our 3D printing capability to produce protective face shields and will do the same in three of our other markets soon. Watch the video to find out more here. In Ireland we have produced 10,000 special bottles for health authorities to use for the dispense of hand sanitizer. In Romania we are loaning one of our microbiological detectors to support laboratory testing for COVID-19 and in Czech and Slovakia five of our vending machines are now offering masks in shopping malls and smaller cities, with proceeds donated to charity. All of these ideas and possibilities are being shared across our markets to increase the opportunity we and our partners have to provide direct and practical support and we are opening up our logistics and transport infrastructure for authorities and those delivering to the vulnerable.

Volunteering

We are also proud of how our people are supporting communities themselves through volunteering. WATCH: How employees across markets engaged in diverse support initiatives.

For example, our colleagues in Romania teamed up with the Auchan Romania and Leroy Merlin initiative to set up a medical centre for mild cases of COVID-19. The centre will have 350 beds, a well-equipped treatment area, a resting area for the medical team and a supply of our beverages.

In Hungary, a number of our Business Developers are supporting the Red Cross by distributing donations to families in need during work time. Together with other volunteers, they deliver groceries & medicine to those in need. In Austria over 20 of our employees volunteered as virtual #YouthEmpowered mentors during the “10K Job Day”. In Greece, our people are supporting the NGO “Help at Home” in Athens and Thessaloniki to deliver food and household goods to the poor and elderly. In Czech and Slovakia, 19 of our employees are volunteering for the “Smart Quarantine Project” of the Ministry of Health, where they support the call center for contacting people that were potentially in contact with an infected person.   

In each and every one of our 28 markets, we are privileged to be able to do these things and to help those who are themselves giving so much to help others. To every single one of them we simply say a huge THANK YOU.
 

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Covid-19 update and actions (27 March 2020)