Design to Grow

December 1, 2014
Butler, Coca-Cola v-p of innovation and entrepreneurship, and Tischler, senior editor of Fast Company, are firm believers in the power of design to retain customers, foster innovation, and save companies from sliding into irrelevance. They aim in this book to help readers navigate a dual strategy: to scale like a big company and move with a startup’s agility. According to them, incorporating design into every aspect of your work—from product development to customer service—is what will get you there. The book uses Coca-Cola as its main example, beginning with the company’s 2001 decision to become a “total beverage company.” However, their drive toward providing more varied options to consumers initially floundered, since the company’s approach had always been based on having a simple, memorable brand. Butler’s efforts, following his 2004 arrival at Coca-Cola, focused on expanding the versatility of the Coca-Cola brand. Drawing on this experience, he and Tischler walk readers through how to design for agility and speed. Though the tone is chatty and friendly, the overall result is unsatisfying—and too often reads like an ad for Coke. Agent: Jim Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency.

January 1, 2015
Butler is a leader in global design and entrepreneurship and vice president of innovation at the Coca-Cola Company, a business that took a flavored sugar-water recipe and turned it into a $170 billion global brand. Coca-Cola now controls about half of the world's beverage industry, including Coke and Fanta sodas, bottled water (Dasani), and juices (Minute Maid). How they did this, according to Butler, is all through design. When we think of Coke and design, we picture the iconic logobut everything, from the secret recipe to the packaging, vending machines, trucking and distribution system, signage, commercials, and even the jingles, is strategically designed. Who can forget I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke, or the legendary hourglass-shaped glass Coke bottle? Despite having one of the most ubiquitous brands on the planet, Butler says that Coca-Cola has to adapt to survive, so he maps out how Coke and other large companies must design for agility in order to grow. An easy-to-read, if sugarcoated, look into the transformative forces inside a behemoth company.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)