Dallas-based Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (AC-CCSWB) is not only the local bottler of some of your favorite drinks, but it’s also deeply embedded in the community. That’s why its third annual Big Game ad in America’s biggest football game features real employees and highlights the company’s efforts to support the communities it serves.
“We want people to understand that this is a great company with a vibrant culture and that we are good community partners,” says Silvia Martins, vice president of human resources. “The ad illustrates that our company is a special place to work with an involved and diverse culture.”
In the 30-second spot, two merchandisers install a display of iconic Coca-Cola products in a warehouse-style store. But all is not as it seems: When the associates walk away from the display, it comes to life as a playful animation.
Accompanied by original music, a narrator describes how the company supports numerous nonprofits, promotes recycling and conserves water — all part of its overall strategy to help the people and territories it serves.
“We are the local bottler,” Martins points out. “We are right in the communities — not just Dallas, Austin and Houston, but Alpine and Bryan and more. In very small places like El Campo, Texas, we are one of the largest employers.”
AC-CCSWB is a division of Arca Continental, the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. Spanning an expansive region in the U.S., the company operates seven plants and 37 facilities, providing services to 31 million people across Texas, and parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas.
AC-CCSWB collaborates with numerous nonprofits throughout its extensive market, including organizations such as the Special Olympics, Boy and Girls Clubs, the USO, and is open to new partnerships, she notes.
“We are a very diverse, inclusive company,” Martins says. “We don’t just partner with one or two organizations. We work with numerous nonprofits and local businesses that support the community’s unique needs.”
AC-CCSWB’s outreach efforts include programs to support businesswomen both inside and outside the company, purchasing laptops to encourage education, providing beverages and volunteers for nonprofit events, and greeting returning military veterans at the airport — even if their flight arrives at 2 a.m.
This is the third straight year that AC-CCSWB’s Big Game ad features actual employees. The company also highlights its associates in a corresponding billboard campaign.
“We have many employees who want to be in our pieces and internal videos,” Martins points out. “People participate in quarterly town halls. They dress up and go. It helps us create that culture.”
Last year’s Big Game ad emphasized AC-CCSWB’s hiring efforts. This year’s spot focuses on its flourishing workplace culture. Employing 8,500 people, AC-CCSWB emphasizes five focal points: transparency, people, customers, change and innovation. It communicates these pillars through a variety of messaging, including posters throughout its facilities.
“Our president, Jean Claude Tissot, says our first priority is culture, number two is culture, and number three is culture,” notes Martins. “It’s a really dynamic workplace, and we want folks to understand that we really are people focused, and we want them to be engaged on a day-to-day basis. We understand that when we have a strong culture, it reflects on every employee. It’s empowering. We want all our employees to be entrepreneurial, to be able to make decisions and do things according to these principles.”
This environment facilitates long tenures: One employee has 53 years under his belt. Others have more than 40 years with the company. Countless have remained with AC-CCSWB for 20 years or more.
In December, AC-CCSWB honored its dedicated employees with a special celebration at the Adolphus Hotel and a gala dinner for 200 at the Arts District Mansion, formerly known as the Belo Mansion. The event recognized associates who had devoted 30, 35 or 40 years to the company..
Martins says she has been impressed during her two-and-a-half years with AC-CCSWB. “I’m an HR professional with over 25 years of experience, and the culture that we live here is really special,” she says. “AC-CCSWB is not just a workplace — it’s a community-driven environment that values and supports both our local communities and our dedicated heroes.”
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