Pio Schunker, SVP Creative Excellence, The Coca-Cola Company, North America
Throughout his career, Pio Schunker has always been a fervent champion of creative leadership and vitality. As Senior Vice President for Creative Excellence at The Coca-Cola Company/North America, he has led the creation of a wholly new department focused on raising the bar of creative excellence for communication and packaging across all of the Company's major icon and challenger brands.
Under his leadership, the brands have experienced a creative renaissance, which Pio credits to a renewed focus on better connecting the company's business strategy to long-term brand-building platforms and to his unique working partnerships with his agencies. The campaigns and packaging borne of this model have achieved several creative firsts for the company: a first-ever Gold Lion at Cannes and One Show Gold Pencil (both for Coke's “Videogame" in 2007). A “Top Ten Guerilla Marketers" by Brandweek for the irreverent Coke Zero “Lawyers" campaign in 2007 and ID Magazine's Top Packaging Design for Tab Energy in 2006.
Currently, Pio is looking to take the Coca Cola brands into the digital and retail marketing space in ways that will re-define the company's presence at these critical consumer touch points. However, while one the first to embrace alternative media for his clients in the 90s; Pio is a passionate advocate for an industry return to the fundamentals of longer-term brand building.
His perspective on what it takes to be a good client today and how to build brands as well as brand momentum has touched a nerve in the industry, and has recently been shared in the pages of Contagious Magazine, Creativity Magazine and Brandweek, among other publications.
Pio has been in the advertising field for over 15 years, and has brought to bear true brand expertise across a diverse range of categories from financial (American Express), automotive (Mercedes-Benz), retail fashion (Revo Sunglasses) to technology and telecommunication (Sprint and Autodesk). His experience in revitalizing icon brands (Coca-Cola, American Express Classic, Mercedes) as well as in giving momentum to challenger brands (American Express Blue, Coke Zero, and Revo Sunglasses) is unmatched.
Obviously one doesn't achieve the breakthrough creative that Pio has without kicking some butt. Which just may explain why kickboxing is his favorite pastime.
