Posted on: July 30, 2019

Show Notes

Air date: 7/30/2019

About this episode: 

Katie Rollins DelSignore, Senior Shopper Marketing Manager at Coca-Cola

Katie Rollins DelSignore grew up in Augusta, Maine, where she was a three-sport athlete and graduated in 2005 from Cony High School as Maine Athlete of the Year. Katie was a four-year starter for the Women’s basketball team at Harvard and graduated in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology.

Katie is the subject of a Showtime documentary “No Look Pass,” which followed her and her Harvard teammate, Emily Tay, during their basketball careers in college and overseas. Upon coming back to the states, Katie started working at Coca-Cola as a category analyst, interpreting data on shopper behavior and trends to help guide brand strategy.

She then transitioned to a sales role, managing the Coca-Cola portfolio in 3,000 CVS pharmacies across the east coast.

For the past three years, she has been a sports marketing manager, managing Coke’s contracts with the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics. She has recently transitioned to a shopper marketing role, calling on CVS pharmacies and managing all Coca-Cola branding, advertising and marketing programs nationally. Katie currently resides in South Boston, Massachusetts, with her husband, Edward DelSignore.

In this episode: 

2:53 – The podcast starts off with Katie sharing how her career actually started as a professional basketball player after going to college at Harvard.

04:57 – Katie tells where you can find the documentary of her and her friend during their senior year of college and traveling through Germany, called “No Look Pass.”

6:44 – Katie describes how she found her path at Coca-Cola through family friend and informal mentor, Rich Baruch.

08:30 – Katie shares the roles she has held at Coke, starting out by taking courses to teach herself how to use Excel and how to manage her emails.

11:30 – After looking for a position where she would have more interaction with customers, Katie shares how she transitioned to a role on the CVS team in sales, being in charge of the portfolios of 3,000 CVS stores.

13:30 – Nancy asks how Katie’s role at Coca-Cola now brings people together.

14:30 – After her sales position, Katie went into sports marketing, managing contracts with the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, Buffalo Sabers, NASCAR and Six Flags.

15:55 – Katie talks about how generations like baby boomers and Gen Xers represent the Coca-Cola brand differently than millennials and centennials and how to reach them.

17:36 – Nancy asks how Katie is trying to make a connection with Coke customers, such as working with sports teams.

20:00 – Katie talks about Coca-Cola becoming the official beverage of Major League Baseball.

22:41 – Nancy and Katie admire the Red Sox Nation brand and how Coca-Cola has had the longest relationship in sports with the Red Sox at 107 years.

29:51 – Nancy asks how responsibilities between different departments are divided up and how each part of the global company works together.

33:30 – Katie shares how Coke is working with Stranger Things to re-release New Coke.

37:28 – Nancy asks Katie if she gets to travel all over the country to visit CVS stores for Coca-Cola.

40:03 – Katie shares different techniques for networking, including how she has found success networking even when she is not trying to network.

Quote:  

“What we want to be part of is meeting our customers in the moments that they’re already experiencing and just becoming part of that moment inherently for them.” —  Katie Rollins DelSignore, Senior Shopper Marketing Manager at Coca-Cola

Links:  

Looking to connect: