Alpha Rho Chapter Alumni Association's October 2020 Digest

Coca Cola’s Fred Clark III (Spring 2009) Drew On

Kilts Center Resources To Make The Leap

From Finance To Marketing — For One Of The World's Most Recognizable Brands

by LeeAnn Shelton www.chicagobooth.edu

When Fred Clark, ’20, landed an internship and then a full-time role at renowned Atlanta-based beverage maker Coca-Cola, he knew he had a marketer’s dream job. With a storied legacy to draw upon, the iconic brand and its focus on storytelling provided a plethora of inspiration and opportunity for the recent graduate. But Clark also brings to the role his own profound passion: a focus on multicultural marketing.

“I’m passionate about multicultural marketing because I want minority communities to be able to benefit from the marketing that targets our strong buying power and cultural influence,” said Clark, a Houston native. He’s driven to become a marketer who not only considers multicultural demographics, but also serves as a good steward of the marketing that reaches those communities. “By investing dollars with vendors and creatives in our minority communities,” said Clark, “we will be able to influence change related to systemic issues that still have an impact today.”

Clark’s introduction to marketing came from a company he launched with classmates as an undergraduate at Morehouse College. The group would curate fun events, primarily in nightlife and entertainment, which they advertised to fellow college students across Atlanta. “We turned it into a viable business—brands started to come to us and ask us to market for them at our events,” Clark remembered. “I always did it on the side, but I had an itch to explore it in a greater capacity.”