Coca-Cola’s 70-20-10 Marketing Investment Strategy

Stuart Brameld, Founder at Growth Method

Article written by

Stuart Brameld

What Is Coca-Cola’s 70-20-10 Marketing Investment Strategy?

Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most successful brands, and their marketing strategy is a key driver behind their growth. One of their most effective frameworks is the 70-20-10 marketing investment strategy, also known internally as the NOW/NEXT/NEW approach. This framework helps marketers balance proven tactics with innovation, ensuring consistent results while exploring new growth opportunities.

How the 70-20-10 Framework Works

The 70-20-10 framework divides your marketing budget into three clear categories:

  • 70% (NOW): Invested in proven marketing channels and tactics that consistently deliver results. These are your reliable methods that maintain and grow your existing customer base.

  • 20% (NEXT): Allocated to emerging channels and tactics that have shown early promise. These are lower-risk opportunities with potential to scale and become part of your core strategy.

  • 10% (NEW): Dedicated to completely new, untested ideas and experiments. This budget allows you to innovate, test new channels, and discover future growth drivers.

This structured approach helps Coca-Cola maintain steady performance while continuously innovating.

Coca-Cola 70-20-10 Marketing Investment Strategy

Why the 70-20-10 Framework Is Effective

The 70-20-10 framework works because it provides a clear balance between risk and reward. It enables marketers to:

  • Maintain consistent results by investing heavily in proven marketing methods.

  • Identify and scale emerging opportunities before competitors.

  • Encourage innovation without risking the majority of the marketing budget.

By allocating budgets strategically, marketing teams can confidently pursue growth while minimising risk.

How to Implement the 70-20-10 Framework in Your Marketing

To apply the 70-20-10 framework effectively, follow these steps:

  • Analyse your current marketing activities: Identify channels and tactics that consistently deliver results. Allocate 70% of your budget here.

  • Identify emerging opportunities: Look for channels or tactics showing early promise. Allocate 20% of your budget to test and scale these.

  • Experiment with new ideas: Reserve 10% of your budget for completely new and untested marketing initiatives. This encourages innovation and helps you discover future growth opportunities.

How Growth Method Supports the 70-20-10 Framework

Implementing the 70-20-10 framework effectively requires clear planning, prioritisation, and analytics. Growth Method is the only work management platform built specifically for growth marketers, helping you manage your marketing investments and experiments seamlessly.

Growth Method simplifies your growth marketing workflow by combining ideation, experimentation, and analytics in one powerful platform:

  • Ideation: Our intuitive ideation system ensures your marketing ideas align with strategic goals and follow best practices for hypothesis-driven experimentation. Ideas are automatically categorised and shared with your team for feedback.

  • Experimentation: Growth Method guides your experiments through clear stages—building, live, analysing, and complete—ensuring high experiment velocity and maximising learnings.

  • Reporting: Integrated with major analytics platforms like Google Analytics, Amplitude, and MixPanel, Growth Method provides industry-leading reporting to clearly demonstrate the ROI of your marketing investments.

"We are on-track to deliver a 43% increase in inbound leads this year. There is no doubt the adoption of Growth Method is the primary driver behind these results." Laura Perrott, Colt Technology Services

Conclusion

The 70-20-10 framework is a proven marketing investment strategy that helps brands like Coca-Cola balance proven methods with innovation. By allocating your marketing budget strategically, you can maintain consistent performance, capitalise on emerging opportunities, and continuously innovate.

Growth Method is the only work management platform built specifically for growth marketers, helping you implement the 70-20-10 framework effectively and drive measurable results.

Ready to implement a systematic approach to grow leads and revenue? Book a call today and discover how Growth Method can help your team.

Stuart Brameld, Founder at Growth Method
Stuart Brameld, Founder at Growth Method
Stuart Brameld, Founder at Growth Method

Article written by

Stuart Brameld

Real experiments. Shared monthly.

Join 500+ growth professionals