Coca-Cola appoints former Cahoot chief to Euro role

Coca-Cola has appointed former Cahoot marketing director Deborah Cutler to a newly created role heading innovation and new product development across Europe.

Her job title is not yet confirmed, but she will report directly to European director of new beverages Laurie McAllister. Cutler, who does not have a packaged goods background, worked for Safeway, Tesco and Whitbread before joining Cahoot as head of brand at its launch in 2000.

By the time she was promoted to marketing director in 2003, Cahoot was the second most-recognised international financial services brand behind Egg, despite only having a third of Egg’s ad spend.

Her departure earlier this year came as parent company Abbey began to restructure the online bank as part of a wider move to reduce the bank’s workforce by 3,000.

Her new role at Coca-Cola comes after chief executive Neville Isdell, brought out of retirement to address sluggish sales in the US and western Europe, pledged late last year to invest an additional $400m (£223m) in marketing and innovation in 2005.

This year, the drinks giant’s major launches include Coca-Cola with Lemon, which was first introduced in the UK market, and Coke Zero – a no sugar variant of Coca-Cola.

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