A founder pitched coconut water to Coca-Cola by claiming Matt Damon was his partner. When the executive dismissed PowerPoint decks, the speaker called Damon for a favor. Damon agreed, and the playful pitch of him climbing a coconut tree won over the executives and secured the deal.
The president of Coke's emerging brands division was friends with one of my customers at Marquis Jet. He got me a meeting. In the meeting, I pitched this idea of coconut water. He says, "We don't buy PowerPoints. We're Coca-Cola. We buy brands." I just turned to the president and I'm like, "You know, my partner, Matt Damon, and I—" And the guy went, "Matt Damon's your partner?" I said, "I didn't mention that. What are you talking about?" I leave and I call Matt. I'm like, "Matt, I need a favor." About a week before, I was at Matt Damon's house. And I said to Matt, I'm starting a coconut water business. He's like, you gotta be kidding. He's like, I love coconut. I have a coconut tree in my backyard. He goes, if anything happens with this company, let me know. I may want to get involved. A month later in the meeting at Coke, I'm like, can we climb up your tree, get a coconut, chop it open, go in the kitchen, put a straw in it, turn to the camera and say, Moutar Kent, the CEO of Coke. There's gotta be a better way than this. He's like, all right. And we got the deal.
