Big risks, global scale, and the failures in between: Rapha Abreu, Global Vice President of Design, The Coca-Cola Co.

Few design jobs carry the reach of Rapha Abreu’s. He is Global Vice President of Design at The Coca-Cola Company. A company that dishes out 2.2 billion servings of branding, and beverage, every single day.

In July, Rapha put out a global visual identity system that has to hold up across more than 200 markets, so he knows what’s what when it comes to building a brand at scale.

Obviously he didn’t do it alone – so part of this podcast covers how he chooses his partners, and the roles they play. (Spoiler alert: partner is the word, and you better be up for collaboration and down with commercials.)

Of course we talk about how the epic brand identity refresh came to light, but also more personal stories from Rapha, following our season theme of Failures & Fortunes. For example, what a career looks like when you measure it in risks.

On his own career, Rapha is clear about what risk costs. His first job outside Brazil was with Cola-Cola, based in Costa Rica. He signed the contract and moved his wife and daughter to a country he had never even visited.

The portfolio he had built in Rio got him the role, and then everything else reset immediately. The relationships, credibility, reputation, built over years, has a sudden reset. It’s something that is easy to forget in the exciting move into a new role; Day One is humbling at any level.

Rapha called this an identity risk, because people simply do not know you yet.

But even more risky than that? Standing still. The more senior he has become, the more he notices the pull towards caution, and the more he checks himself on it. The world keeps moving: comfort is not an option.

Fresh out of college, Rapha left an internship he loved at a small exhibition design studio for a more famous, trendy agency. He sat down on day one, looked around and knew immediately it was wrong. He quit on day two.

“The myth and the legend of The Intern For One Day. That guy was me.”

It was the right decision. What does this tell us? Gut feeling has a real place as a legitimate driver in decision making – especially when it’s a reflection of how you’re being treated and the respect you receive.

Above: Key images from the Coca-Cola global brand identity refresh 2026. Featuring work from JKR, The SUPERULTRARARE & Brody Associates.

In a role like Rapha’s, you absolutely need to value clarity, commerciality, and collaboration. But another value shines through in the way Rapha talks about his management style of respect and listening, and in his plea to the industry: be kinder.

“I think that clarity is kindness when you’re leading with people.”

We all know the comment sections of design case studies get a lot of heat. A lot of valid points, educated opinions and reasonable reflections, yes – but they can be clouded by negativity too.

Rapha’s take brings his signature clarity to the negative social media storms: the work was given to someone, they spent months or years on it, they are proud of it, and tearing it apart in public teaches everyone outside our industry to question all of it.

As we all suspect, it probably boils down to jealousy, which is tough. But before you comment, remember: today it is your peer. Tomorrow it is you.

We couldn’t not ask Rapha what he looks for in an agency partner, seeing as he must be approached by so many every week.

So here it is: Solve a clear business problem.

Aesthetics matter, type choices matter, but if a proposition is not backed by reasoning it becomes a ‘beauty contest about which option is prettier’. He needs facts to take into the room, because selling the work internally is his job. And on collaboration, he has no patience for the old school: it’s normal to work on a file together, back and forth, having an agency working as an extension of his own team.

This whole conversation is about kindness, clarity at scale, and the beauty of the outcome. And while Rapha’s design decisions touch billions of people every day, it’s refreshing to end on his own, early and humble, inspiration: