Steve Jones has a knack for knowing what consumers want, often before they do.
As president of Minute Maid in 2000, he sensed there would be a market for premium juice and green-lighted the creation of Simply Orange and the purchase of Half Moon Bay, Calif.-based juice maker Odwalla Inc. As chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola Co. later that year, he thought a U.S. version of Britain's “Pop Idol” was just what the soft-drink giant needed to reach teenage girls. He then authorized Coke's sponsorship of the show, renamed “American Idol.”
Now he has teamed up with Michael McCloskey, a dairy farmer near Rennselaer, Ind., with the intent of reinventing the $31-billion U.S. milk industry by churning out designer dairy beverages such as Athletes HoneyMilk. “We are going to be the Starbucks of milk,” Mr. Jones, 56, says.
Mr. Jones walked away from the corporate world in 2003 to become a consultant. A political science grad from the University of Toronto, he managed marketing of Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Huggies brand and then traveled the world during his 18 years with Atlanta-based Coke. Except for a short stint as CEO of Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. (no relation) in 2008, he says, he was perfectly happy “coaching from the sidelines.”
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