Thursday, December 19, 2013

Starbucks May Launch Its Own Handcrafted Soda Line

via http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com


Since last spring Starbucks has been secretly testing the market for "handcrafted sodas." The experiment has been limited to stores in Japan, Singapore, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas where baristas have been using Soda Stream-like machines to carbonate beverages.
But it doesn't just stop with soda. The coffee giant has been letting customers add carbonation to a bunch of other drinks too. CEO Howard Schultz told investors recently that the company thinks carbonation is "a significant opportunity" for the company.
The idea to test the market for carbonated drinks came from the idea that customers generally want lighter drinks later in the day. But rather than offer bottled fizz, the company opted to go for handcrafted sodas that can be carbonated right before your eyes.
Though it's been very hush-hush, there haven't been many restrictions so far on which drinks customers can and can't add some fizz to. The only constraints so far have been espresso drinks and Frappucinos, which can't yet be carbonated according to what a company representative told Quartz.
So what does this mean for your caffeinated future?
Adding carbonation to your drink may be the next add-on to add to the list. In the future you might be able to add carbonation the same way you can add an extra pump of syrup or an extra shot.
"I would say that it's a next natural step in our customization options," a Starbucks spokesperson said.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

In South Africa, Coke Pays Its Respects To Nelson Mandela

via creativity-online.com

In the wake of Nelson Mandela's death, Coca-Cola South Africa has created this a tribute spot, using Coke bottles, bottle tops and signature colors to illustrate the words of the narrator. The brand is also asking people to submit online tributes to Mandela at this microsite, rememberingmandela.com.

Monday, December 16, 2013

New Coca-Cola Life is Perfect for Diet Drinkers Concerned About Aspartame

via http://foodbeast.com

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The next time you walk through the soda aisle don’t be surprised if you have to do a double take at these green labeled Coca-Cola bottles. It’s being reported that as early as next year Coca-Cola Life may hit U.S. shelves. The new Coca-Cola product is sweetened with sugar and zero calorie stevia, an all natural sweetener. Though the beverage isn’t being marketed as a new addition to the Diet Coke line, Coca-Cola Life does indeed have a significant lower amount of calories than it’s red can counterpart. At 100 calories for a 20-ounce bottle versus 240 calories for original Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Life is a smarter choice for the calorie conscious.

The creation of this new product could also come on the heels of aspartame being questioned more and more by diet soda drinkers and their growing concerns in consuming the questionable chemical. Or perhaps Coca-Cola is trying to ease Mexicoke lovers woes after the whole “cane sugar is too expensive so we’re switching to corn syrup” debacle. Either way, with obesity rates still on the rise Coca-Cola Life will be a lighter option for original Coke enthusiasts who don’t want to sacrifice the taste of their beloved beverage for the sake of calories.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Buffalo Wild Wings switches from Coke to Pepsi

via http://www.cnbc.com

NEW YORK -- Buffalo Wild Wings says it's switching from Coke to Pepsi, noting that it also plans to tap into PepsiCo snacks such as Doritos to create new menu offerings.

The Minneapolis-based chain, which more than 975 locations in the U.S., said the switch will take place starting in the new year.

PepsiCo has been working to extend its snacks business through partnerships with restaurant chains. Last year, the company famously teamed up with Taco Bell to create Dorito-flavored taco shells that have since helped the fast-food chain boost its sales.

PepsiCo's Mountain Dew drinks may also be a good fit for Buffalo Wild Wings, which provides customers with TV screens to watch sporting events.

It's not the first time a restaurant change has switched alliances on the beverage front. California Pizza Kitchen, for example, recently said it was switching from Pepsi to Coke.

"This is a good win by Pepsi but the fountain biz is highly competitive and accounts swing back and forth" when they open up, said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest.

Overall, Coca-Cola Co. still has about 70 percent of the fountain business in the U.S., according to Beverage Digest. Its clients include McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

COLORFUL ART DIRECTION TAKES CENTER STAGE IN COKE LIFE SPOT CELEBRATING PARENTHOOD

via creativity-online.com

Coke Life, the soda brand's low-calorite, natural Coke version made out of stevia plant extract, debuted in Argentina this summer. It's supposed to be a healthier version of Coke, and comes with a green label, implying nature, vigor and purity. So it's fitting that Santos, in advertising the product, goes for a heart-warming tale about new parents, chronicling their journey from finding that "positive" sign on the test through the interminable nighttime feedings, wanton destruction of property and complete lack of sex life any caregiver in charge of an infant is probably familiar with. The spot is gorgeously done, with some really colorful art direction that's reminiscent of Wes Anderson -- plenty of stark colors and a "homey" feel. Directed by Pucho Mentasti, it features the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" -- a track whose vocals are used especially well towards the end, when the dad in the family gets another big surprise.


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Driving Change: Coca-Cola Transforms Service Vans to Hybrid Vehicles

via http://online.wsj.com

Coca-Cola's familiar service vans are getting a makeover just in time for the New Year. Coca-Cola is converting all of its newly purchased 2014 Chevrolet Express service vans into fuel-efficient hybrid-electric vehicles using XL Hybrids' innovative powertrain technology. The updated vans will be traversing roads across the country by year's end.

Coca-Cola currently operates the largest heavy-duty hybrid-electric delivery fleet in North America. The addition of 100 hybrid service vans builds upon this work by expanding the variety of fuel-efficient options in the Company's light-duty fleet.

"Adoption of this hybrid technology supports Coca-Cola's goal to reduce the carbon footprint embedded in 'the drink in your hand' by 25 percent by 2020," said Bruce Karas, Vice President of Environment and Sustainability for Coca-Cola. "We continue to make energy-saving investments because they are good for business, good for the communities we serve and good for the planet."
Early test results of this hybrid technology were positive, showing a 15 to 20 percent fuel reduction compared to the Company's conventional vans. The 100 new hybrid vans are expected to eliminate about 4,000 total tons of carbon dioxide emissions that conventional vans would produce over their 10-year life span.

As a result of the low maintenance and fuel savings, the powertrain unit pays for itself three times over its life span.

"XL Hybrids provides technology that helps Coca-Cola meet its emissions reduction goals while saving money," said Justin Ashton, Vice President of Business Development and Co-founder at XL Hybrids. "Our company's goal is to accelerate fuel and emissions reductions at a large scale. To accomplish this, we had to design and commercialize technology that provides a solid economic return on investment to corporate customers."

In addition to the hybrid service vans, Coca-Cola recently announced the roll out of 16 first-of-its-kind refrigerated plug-in electric vehicles. These trucks deliver the Company's Odwalla(R) brand beverages in the San Francisco Bay Area. Coca-Cola is also making carbon footprint reductions across its manufacturing processes, packaging and refrigeration equipment.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa Goes Transatlantic In Hunt For Gentlemanliness

Old Spice's Isaiah Mustafa is back, but this time with a project aimed at the U.K. market. This time he's on a hunt not just for manliness but gentlemanliness, as epitomized by the traditional British gent. Mustafa will travel through the City of London for the Old Spice Gentleman City Tour, where he will be inviting journalists, bloggers and fans onto his carriage for photos of man-iconic landmarks, which apparently include St. Paul's Cathedral. Meanwhile, Old Spice will release a number of its trademark social media videos, where Mustafa will share his views on the quirky regional differences in gentlemanly behavior across Britain's biggest regions and cities.

All the content posted on the Old Spice U.K. Facebook page and on Instagram during December, hashtagged #GentleManHunt. Old Spice has also conducted its own research, with a sample over 2,000 U.K. adults, into views of masculinity (for example, the brand found that less than two out of 10 men thought a modern man should wear speedos or a sarong).

The work is by Leo Burnett, the P&G roster agency for Old Spice in the U.K.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Kombucha Bubbles Toward the Mainstream

via bevnet.com

For a small deal, it certainly aroused a fair amount of attention, at least in my world. Just a few weeks ago, Los Angeles-based First Beverage Group wrote a check of undisclosed magnitude for what it described as a significant minority position in a small, local kombucha producer with the avowedly retro name Health-Ade. But the Health-Ade deal was the first public acknowledgement that I’ve noticed that serious institutional money is starting to chase this rarefied sector. Coincidentally, the same week, Health-Ade and several of its peers in this rapidly burgeoning field joined up with kombucha proselytizers Hannah Crum and Alex LaGory to launch the industry’s first trade group, Kombucha Brewers International, with plans for a Kombucha Konvention in Santa Monica, Calif., in January. So first, a private equity move, then a convention. Does this herald that kombucha, all of a sudden, has come of age?

That may be a stretch at this point, but the segment certainly is becoming tantalizingly visible even to the beverage conglomerates. Some of that Health-Ade investment, after all, came from the Coca-Cola Co. via its stake in the First Beverage fund; also, there have long been rumblings that kombucha-like probiotic brand KeVita has dallied with PepsiCo’s incubation arm in Southern California. If you put aside all the distracting talk of “scoby” and “mushrooms,” kombucha has a lot going for it: health benefits via the high probiotic content, a broad palette of techniques that allow individual marketers to differentiate their liquids much the way craft brewers can (and craft soda purveyors can’t), a growing on-premise component, and a burgeoning sense of grass-roots authenticity that comes of having an active network of home brewers who swap their scobies. (OK, hard to avoid that word.)

Of course, the segment has produced one mega-brand already, GT’s, which so far dominates with its core GT’s and juice-inflected GT’s Synergy, and has showed agility by early clambering aboard the chia bandwagon with a well-received subline. It’s defined the segment so far, and attained the sorts of velocities we’re not supposed to expect in the natural food channel. In fact, I believe GT’s and the kombucha segment deserves credit for helping to elevate the overall beverage segment, much in the way Starbucks once elevated a dreary coffee sector. It’s offered a refreshing burst of premium positioning at a time that even the Whole Foods grab-and-go cooler seems to have become a price promotion battlefield. Arguably, kombucha’s premium but not scary-premium price softened up consumers for the really premium prices charged by the new breed of high-pressure-processed (HPP) juice and cleanse purveyors like BluePrint, Evolution Fresh and Suja.

But kombucha also comes with massive challenges to widespread adoption. Many items still carry a vinegary taste that may be a badge of authenticity to core users but is a turn-off to mainstream consumers. The artisanal nature of production, and the difficult-to-control risk that continued in-bottle fermentation will take the product above acceptable alcohol content levels, is another disincentive for the majors to play. (I’m sure you all remember the massive recall of the category undertaken by Whole Foods in 2010 after several brands, including GT’s Synergy, were found to have consistently excessive levels of alcohol. And I do worry that GT’s continues to be a bit too cavalier about this issue, which I don’t believed it’s fully resolved.) Another challenge, and a sizable one: the need for the products to be kept refrigerated from plant all the way to retail.

Are these insuperable obstacles? I suspect not, in part because so many of the most intriguing beverage sectors today – from cold-brewed coffee to HPP juices – share them that it’s in the industry’s interest to find ways to resolve them. On the distribution front, for instance, it occurs to me that beer wholesalers could prove a workable route to market. After all, they understand fermented products (quite a few beer wholesalers were among those eager to take a flier on the German fermented soda Bionade, though that company’s U.S. push disintegrated before it really got started) and many have been putting in cold capacity to accommodate their craft beer kegs. With kombucha also proving an ancillary sell to their more cutting-edge on-premise accounts, it may make sense. (My local multitap house in Manhattan, Dive Bar, has kept KBBK Kombucha Brooklyn consistently on tap for two years now.) And of course, these days, beer wholesalers have both non-alcoholic and alcoholic varieties of the product to choose from.

And there’s no question that, in the hands of countless celebrities, kombucha’s profile in pop culture is rising. Ironically, there’s a good chance the massive Whole Foods recall may have given the category an awareness jolt. Hey, that hilarious “It’s Gettin’ Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot” video has been viewed 5 million times on Youtube by now, and the rapper’s complaint that “I’ve been on edge ever since they took kombucha off the shelves” no doubt gets a lot of knowing smiles from viewers. Maybe it even gives the product an air of danger!

So who are the next winners likely to be, after GT’s? That’s a tough call. Among those looking to go broad, I can understand First Beverage’s enthusiasm for Health-Ade, with its approachable recipes, unmistakable apothecary look and links to local farms. Reed’s Inc. has made an aggressive push behind its highly drinkable Culture Club Kombucha, which is finally cracking major retailers. High Country has weathered its share of storms that rivals like Honest Tea and Vibranz didn’t. A group in Austin is intriguingly, if controversially, executing their Live Kombucha as a soft drink. But much as with craft beer, I think many winners will bubble up from the local level, as with a tiny outfit called Beyond Kombucha Artisan Fermented Tea in my burg. After all, who could resist a chance to try a Mava Roka Maple Vanilla Rooibos Kombucha Ale (with a 6.5% alcohol kick)? If things like that interest you, maybe it’s time to book a flight to Santa Monica in January for the konvention.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Five Ways to Use Twitter's New Targeting Capabilities

via http://www.adweek.com



With the announcement of its new ad targeting capability, “tailored audiences,” Twitter opens the door to more data and sends a message to the rest of the marketing world that the new programmatic era has arrived.
Tailored audiences, a partnership between Twitter and companies like Chango, allows more advanced targeting at the individual level, meaning it takes into account the kinds of things people do when they’re not on Twitter, from visiting websites to searching for products on Google.
Until now, Promoted Tweets were limited to what Twitter already knew about a user—gender, location, interests. Meanwhile, access to big data and programmatic marketing tools were confined to the worlds of display ads and the increasingly popular Facebook media exchange, FBX. Starting this week, these capabilities combine into a powerful tool that has far-reaching implications for CMOs and others in the marketing business.
Here are five ways to use these capabilities in your next campaign, from “Twitter’s Tailored Audiences Handbook”:
1. Acquire new customers: Send a Promoted Tweet to in-market consumers who haven’t previously engaged with your brand but have searched for relevant terms. For example, a manufacturer of car seats for children could deliver a special offer via Twitter to customers who type the words “baby car seat” into a search engine. Using a partner like Chango that can collect billions of searches from Google, Yahoo and Bing can make it possible to do this.
2. Encourage new customers to engage socially: Leveraging information about a user who has visited a brand’s website, more commonly thought of as “retargeting,” can now be reimagined on Twitter with the tailored audiences product. A good use of this program is to deliver a promotional message on Twitter to a user who hasn’t made a purchase yet.
3. Start a conversation with brand loyalists: With Twitter’s tailored audiences, marketers will be able to run a Promoted Tweets campaign to their most frequent visitors, as well as to individuals who have visited sites that are positively associated with their own brand.
4. Market to a subset of your existing customers: Many marketers already keep track of their audiences in CRM systems, some of which have incorporated engagements on Twitter. This CRM data can now be made actionable on Twitter. For example, an advertiser could run a Promoted Account campaign to its most active customers from the previous month. 
5. Reconnect with dormant customers: Rather than showing dozens of banner ads to a an inactive user, a marketer can now look at each consumer at the individual level and decide what type of outreach represents the maximum value, or when the right moment is to make contact based on a person’s historical purchases.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Gourmet Sodas’ Second Wave

via bevnet.com

The stigma is receding. The notion of bubbles isn’t so bad. From the gourmet to the Stevia generation, fewer products are afraid to fizz.

Even as sprawling soda giants like Coke and Pepsi have seen overall volume declines, existing gourmet products like Fentiman’s, Reed’s, GuS, Fever Tree, Maine Root and Q Tonic have all ridden the expansion of the natural and specialty channel to increasing sales, while the first Stevia-sweetened CSD brand, Zevia, has vaulted into a top-20 spot in some supermarkets recently. Even Honest Tea jumped into the fray last year with Honest Fizz.

“I think it’s growing in sort of the same way that craft beer is growing,” said Tom First, who is a board member of Bruce Cost Ginger Ale. “It’s about quality drinks. And if you’re the quality player in a category where things are big, you can really make a dent.”

Just as a few survivors of the early craft beer boom – the Stones, the Sierras, the Sams – were able to clear the field for a new generation of brewers, so too is a new group of soda makers popping back up into view, either incorporating the natural sweetener Stevia or else recombining other product types like tea or lemonade into their branding. Like that new crop of craft brewers following Lagunitas or New Belgium into the breach, the new soda makers can learn the lessons of the ones who came before.

“I think it’s been sticking with it,” that has led to his company’s growth, said Craig James, the CEO of Fentiman’s North America. “We’ve had to accept there will be some parts of the market where the product doesn’t sell, while focusing on the parts of the market where it does.”

There are parallel trends that may be driving the flight to quality: on the one hand, there are restaurants making their own sodas, consumers enjoying the option to make their own fizzy drinks at home via contraptions like the SodaStream, and boutiques like the Fizzary opening in San Francisco; on the other, there’s Sparkling Ice and its knockoffs, which have reinforced an industry’s belief that bubbles, in one form or another, still sway shoppers.

But mostly, according to James, it’s that tastes have matured for shoppers in two key channels: on-premise accounts like restaurants and bars (the same places where craft beer and cocktails have thrived) and in natural and specialty stores.


“There’s an interesting dichotomy out there with consumers,” James said. “The kids what technology, what the modern world can offer them, but they’re sitting in the cool cafes sipping on funky sodas or gourmet teas,” that have a throwback feel.

While losing guilt is one motivation, losing weight is another – and it’s the reason that flavor chemist Bill Sabo and actor/environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. teamed up to create Begley’s and Bill’s, a craft soda that uses erythritol and a rare form of Stevia known as Reb-D.

Sabo had a heart attack a few years back and was forced to cut sugar out of his diet – but he’s also a master flavorist, owner of Nature’s Flavors, the largest online seller of organic flavors in the country. So over a two-year period, he came up with a broad assortment of old-time soda flavors running from cherry cola and strawberry to Bananas Foster and root beer.
“What caused my heart attack was eating and drinking too much sugar,” Sabo said. “I needed to change things.”
Other companies try to bridge the gap.

“When you look at carbonated, you can go for flavor or for healthy,” said Wonny Kim, the founder of Chai Elixir, who recently launched a line of carbonated chai sodas in Oklahoma City. “I wanted to create a viable soda alternative and revitalize the space.”

One other company trying to change things is Motto, a sparkling matcha tea-based drink that uses honey and agave to keep its calorie count low while incorporating carbonation.

“We’re more of a functional health drink,” said co-founder Tom Olcott. “The fact that we’re sparkling just lightens up the flavor a bit.”

But, added his partner, Henry Crosby, “We think the category itself is evolving.”

Monday, November 25, 2013

What Pepsi Discovered by Monitoring Millennials During the VMAs

via adweek.com



As a brand that has long had event sponsorship at the heart of its marketing formula, Pepsi sought a more scientific way to study the correlation between TV viewing and second-screen usage during live programming.

So using research methods such as biometrics, the brand looked at consumer behavior during the MTV Video Music Awards telecast this past August—the top-rated entertainment program on cable among viewers aged 12-34 this year, and the most social non-sports TV event.

What emerged were some surprising differences in media usage among millennials. During pivotal moments of the show—like Miley Cyrus’ twerk-tastic duet with Robin Thicke (which generated a record 360,000 tweets per minute)—consumers 18-26 immediately shifted from TV viewing to second screens. Meanwhile, those aged 27-34 stayed with the telecast, waiting to engage in social conversations.

“The younger group already had their hands ready and immediately went to social media to start talking,” said Chad Stubbs, senior director of marketing at PepsiCo.
“The show ebbed and flowed, and a key thing we learned was having a brand message throughout the show was important,” he added. “In the past, maybe we said we would need a big part at the beginning or the end.”

Carolyn Kim, associate director of business intelligence at Pepsi agency OMD, pointed out that while there is not a wide disparity of ages among the millennial set, continual advances in technology have led to behavioral differences among those consumers.

Consider this: When email became widely available in 1993, older millennials were 11 years old—but younger millennials were just 2 years old. “Those younger viewers really grew up more with technology as an ordinary part of their everyday lives,” Kim said.

During the VMAs, Facebook was the most popular social media brand, accounting for 41 percent of consumer usage, followed by Twitter with 32 percent. And while Cyrus’ antics burned up Twitter, performances by Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry had fans taking to Facebook to discuss.

Stubbs said he thinks there was a good balance between the brand’s TV and online investment during the VMAs. But he would consider devoting more resources to monitoring social activity. He imagines a focus group that might include a comic, an industry insider, and key millennials and influencers in order to explore ways that the brand might respond to ultimate fans. “We know live TV is a place we need to be—it’s still incredible appointment viewing,” he said. “But it’s not enough for an advertiser to show up with a beautiful ad and wait for everyone to come to it.”

Friday, November 22, 2013

Coca-Cola Designed Its New Can Around A Problem No One Has

via http://www.fastcodesign.com

There are two types of problems that designers try to solve: problems people have, and problems designers delude themselves into thinking people have. Venerable sugar tonic maker Coca-Cola has just released a new can design firmly in the latter camp: a chill-activated can to visually tell people whether their Coke is cold or not. First released as a 7-Eleven promotion six months ago, the chill-activated can is now available to everyone.

Chill-activation, of course, is nothing new. The designers at MillerCoors have previously rolled out a series of chill-activated Coors Light cans, glasses, and containers. When refrigerated, the outline of the Rocky Mountains on the cans turn a vibrant blue, indicating that the can is properly cold. Coca-Cola is doing the same thing here, only color-changing ice cubes serve as the visual cue.

It's all achieved with thermochromatic ink, a color-sensitive dye that has been used in cheap thermometers for years, and is increasingly being used by the big brands for packaging purposes. For example, Pizza Hut has used thermochromatic ink to show whether or not your pizza was delivered hot in an innovation they called "the Hot Dot." And Mountain Dew has also experimented with thermochromatic inks, releasing a limited edition 16-ounce can in a cross-promotional campaign with the last Batman movie that changed the color of the Dark Knight's symbol when properly chilled.
It's all innocuous enough, but with Coca-Cola getting in on the thermochromatic ink trolley, maybe it's time to call this what it actually is: faddish bad design.

It should be obvious, but for the most part, no one needs to be visually told when something is cold or hot. There are exceptions, of course: an electric stove burner that turns orange when it's hot is an important safety cue. But when safety is not a factor--and a lukewarm can of pop is not going to kill anyone--a can that shows you when it is cold is like a siren that goes off when it's bright out. It's self-evidently absurd. We don't expect to "see" cold. We expect to feel it, and our skin has been designed to do just that. When we want to know if a can of Coke is cold, or a pizza is warm, our natural instinct is to touch it. That's what our hands are for.

The design problem that Coca-Cola, Coors Light, Mountain Dew, Pizza Hut have tasked themselves to solve is how to convey the temperature of their product to people without hands. That's actually a noble pursuit in its own way--amputees need a nice frosty one now and again, just like everyone else--but something tells me, that's not why these companies' R&D departments spent their millions.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

SodaStream Plots 'Edgy' Return to Super Bowl

via adweek.com

SodaStream is headed back to the Super Bowl, where it plans to take direct aim at Coke and Pepsi with a 30-second ad in the fourth quarter of the Feb. 2 game.

The marketer of home soda-making machines was forced to tone down its ad in this year's game after the company said CBS rejected the original spot, which showed exploding Coke and Pepsi bottles to dramatize the environmental pitch that SodaStream could have "saved 500 million bottles on game day alone."

The 2014 ad has not been submitted for approval because it is still in development. But "it will be edgy because that is who we are," said SodaStream International CEO Daniel Birnbaum. "You have to be edgy if you are challenging and disrupting a big category."

"I hope that [Fox] will be a little more courageous than CBS, because CBS's behavior was pathetic," he added. "CBS chickened out and they just didn't want to take a risk of pissing off Coke and Pepsi who are big, big sponsors of theirs."

CBS declined to comment on Friday. A Fox Sports spokesman said that "ads cannot be reviewed until submitted, and all ads submitted for review must meet Fox's standards for broadcast."
SodaStream received a wave of free publicity as a result of the 2013 rejected ad, which it distributed digitally. "We never intended to be banned, but the end result was we got about 5 million views on YouTube, which we didn't pay for," Mr. Birnbaum said.

SodaStream has not picked an agency for the 2014 ad. But Mr. Birnbaum said former CP&B exec Alex Bogusky, who worked on the 2013 ad, is on the company's short list. "I loved working with Alex and he really brings an edge," he said.
Two new SodaStream flavors
The company sought a fourth-quarter time slot because it wanted to follow any Coke and Pepsi ads, Mr. Birnbaum said. (PepsiCo is sponsoring halftime and is planning to air two 30-second beverage ads, while Coca-Cola has yet to confirm its Super Bowl plans.) Mr. Birnbaum said he expects his soda competitors to use their ads to talk "about happiness and love and all those beautiful attributes in life."


As SodaStream grows -- its machines are now available in more than 60,000 retail stores in 45 countries -- it has adopted mainstream marketing techniques, including partnering with big food companies such as Kraft Foods Group. Co-branded flavor versions include Kool-Aid, Country Time and Crystal Light. The company also recently announced a deal with Cooking Light magazine, whose logo will adorn two new flavors: Passionfruit-Mango and Kiwi-Pear.
Fox is expected to fetch roughly $4 million for 30 seconds in the Super Bowl. Mr. Birnbaum said that amount roughly equals what SodaStream typically pays for TV advertising over three months in the U.S. The Super Bowl investment is a "big decision" and "we don't take it lightly," he said. But it's "bigger than the money," he added. "It's a statement that we have arrived."

According to Kantar Media, SodaStream spent $15 million on measured media in 2012. In the first half of 2013 it spent $11 million, including $4.5 million on network TV during the first quarter.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Coca Cola Helps Fans Create Custom Tacky Sweaters for the Holidays


via http://www.psfk.com/


It wouldn’t be Christmas unless you received a pair of knitted socks, or if you’re really lucky, a hideous handmade sweater that you have no choice but to wear at least once. To embrace the holiday spirit, Coca-Cola and Droga5 have joined forces to create the “Coke Zero Sweater Generator,” an excellent new service that lets you design your very own ugly christmas sweater.


There’s all kinds of colors, patterns and graphics to choose from on the site. Some of the more obvious design elements include reindeer, abominable snowmen and cooked turkeys, but there are also king cobras, saxophones and other random elements to choose from.

To keep things interesting, the Sweater Generator is only available for the next two weeks, during which you’re encouraged to try and get as many votes as you can for your design. The 100 sweaters with the most votes on December 1st will be handcrafted and sent to their creators in time for the holiday.

Monday, November 18, 2013

New Zealand Water Brand Attaches iPhone Cameras To Bottles

 via http://creativity-online.com


New Zealand bottled water brand Pump is encouraging its customers to film themselves doing interesting activities while they consume the brand. In a campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, Pump is giving out a hand-held, acrylic camera mounts that attaches their iPhone 4 or 5 and to their Pump water bottle, and asking them to film themselves doing something that shows they "grab life by the bottle" (for example, some kind of sport or activity). The campaign kicks off with a TV ad launching this week, then customers apply on the brand's website and the most creative footage will be featured in forthcoming TV ads, as well as having the chance to win prizes.

Friday, November 15, 2013

What's Behind the Green Juice Fad?

via wsj.com

How much will consumers pay for healthy-in-a-bottle?

As much as $10 and sometimes more. At least that's the belief of high-end grocers like Whole Foods and a spurt of small juice companies trying to move the cold-pressed-juice craze from small-batch to mass-produced.

A 16-ounce bottle of BluePrint Red, containing beets, carrots and ginger, among other ingredients, goes for $10 at some retailers. And Whole Foods customers are paying $9 for a bottle of celery-based Twelve Essentials vegetable juice, one of the top-sellers from Suja, an 18-month-old juice brand based in San Diego. Suja co-founder Annie Lawless says customers understand the high cost of what goes into the bottle, including organic produce that is cold pressed and then preserved using a process that leaves most of the nutrients intact. "When you buy a bottle, you're getting all the goodness without any of the effort," says Ms. Lawless, a 26-year-old former law student and yoga instructor. The company says it generated $20 million in revenue in its first year.

Just as carrying a Starbucks coffee cup has become a celebrity fashion accessory and a slung-over-the-shoulder yoga mat can signify a certain devotion to spiritual fitness, porting a clear bottle of green vegetable juice has evolved into a status symbol. Initially, the juicing market was supported mostly by people doing liquid-only cleanses, marketed as a way to rid the body of toxins and bloat. Now, more consumers are drinking juice as a meal replacement, a quick infusion of vegetables or to convey the impression of superior health and discipline.

Suja's product line is a slate of fruit-and-vegetable juices meant to dose the body with a palatable concentration of nutrients from organic produce. For people doing a liquid-only cleanse, Suja sells packages on its website. A three-day supply costs $225, including shipping on ice outside of California. It has flavors such as Glow, which contains apples, cucumbers, mint, kale and other ingredients, and Green Supreme, with apples, kale and lemon.

Health experts say the vegetable drinks have many beneficial nutrients, although some ingredients, like apples and carrots, can add a lot of sugar. Consumers should be careful to get enough fiber in their diets, since the process of cold-pressed juicing extracts the juice from the fiber-rich leaves and stems. Good sources of fiber can include whole grains and nuts, which aid digestive health.

A simpler route to a well-rounded diet might be to eat the vegetables themselves, rather than as juice, suggests Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. "It's a lot of money, why not have a salad?"

Juice companies say the high cost of the organic produce, and the expense of processing, prevent them from selling their product for less. Consumers making their own juice at home with similar ingredients would pay about the same or more, not counting the cost of equipment, they say. "We wish we could bring the cost down," says Zoë Sakoutis, co-founder of BluePrint.

Sarah Andersen, 31, drinks about five bottles of Suja juice a week and says it leaves her feeling healthy and confident. A health-and-wellness trainer for teenage girls in Madison, N.J., Ms. Andersen says she used to make her own juice. But the time, effort and mess became onerous. Now she buys Suja, even if it means cutting back elsewhere. "I know it's expensive but I would rather have a juice than get my nails done."

Industry experts say overall sales of cold-pressed juice aren't tracked separately. But the segment is a bright spot in an otherwise stagnant juice market, they say. National retailers like Whole Foods are devoting increased shelf space to the products, more companies are launching, and acquisitions and expansion in the industry have been robust, says Jonas Feliciano, a beverages analyst for Euromonitor International, a market-research company. "Americans are drinking less juice," he says. "So what manufacturers are going for is attracting the health-conscious consumer who will pay higher costs for smaller volumes."

Errol Schweizer, executive global grocery coordinator for Whole Foods, says the company was skeptical at first that consumers would be willing to pay such high prices for juice. But, he says, "I have been surprised by the cleansing products and what people are willing to spend."

Still, Whole Foods is hedging its bets. Mr. Schweizer says he called on Suja to work with Whole Foods' product team to create a secondary line of less expensive juices and smoothies. The line, called Suja Elements, was launched in Whole Foods stores around the country this fall and retails for $5. The bottles are smaller—12 ounces versus the usual 16 ounces—and the recipes tend to use lower-cost ingredients like apples and carrots.

BluePrint was founded six years ago to sell a six-bottle-a-day-cleanse product that costs $75 a day. It includes a lemon, cayenne and agave concoction meant to "hydrate, refresh, curb that 4 p.m. snack craving and stay focused," the company website says. BluePrint now also sells individual bottles of juice at high-end grocers around the country. Another cleanse product: BluePrintBride, for women wanting to lose weight and detoxify before their wedding, starts at $350. BluePrint, which was acquired last year by Hain Celestial Group Inc., in Melville, N.Y., says it had $20 million in sales last year.

Another cold-pressed juice company, Evolution Fresh, was purchased by Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co. two years ago for $30 million. The company recently invested $70 million to open a factory in Southern California to produce 140,000 gallons of juice a week, says Chris Bruzzo, general manager of Evolution Fresh. Mr. Bruzzo says the juices are now carried in 5,000 Starbucks locations and 3,000 grocery outlets. The best sellers are two varieties of green juice, he says.

Getting pricey cold-pressed juice on the shelves of national supermarkets and specialty stores has been a challenge. Stores like Whole Foods typically require a shelf-life of about 30 days for packaged juices. But traditional methods of preserving foods use heat, which destroys some nutrients. Cold-pressed juice companies didn't want that.

To extend shelf life, some companies, including Suja, BluePrint and Evolution Fresh, have turned to a process often called high-pressure processing (HPP), which inactivates most microorganisms while retaining natural freshness. HPP, also used to preserve guacamole and ready-to-eat meats, subjects the food to intense pressure of thousands of pounds a square inch.

High-pressure processing, however, is the subject of a lawsuit filed against Hain Celestial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last month. The suit says that HPP destroys some probiotics and enzymes and that BluePrint labels falsely advertise its products as "raw." A BluePrint spokeswoman declined to comment on the suit.

Ms. Lawless, the Suja co-founder, has long made juice at home because she has celiac disease. She and a partner, Eric Ethans, in 2011 began selling juice to her yoga students who would ask about her juicing.



The small operation attracted two investors, including Jeff Church, 52, a bottled-water entrepreneur. He approached Whole Foods, which began offering Suja products in its stores in fall of 2012. Suja—a word the company founders made up that signifies to them "long and beautiful life," a spokeswoman says—now produces on average 10,000 bottles a week of each of its 19 flavors at its Southern California plant. It acquired an organic-produce distributor to ease supply issues. And it plans to open a plant in the Philadelphia area next year to have quicker access to more markets. "It's about getting the kale picked and on the shelf at Whole Foods as fast as we possibly can," says Mr. Church, Suja's chief executive.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Coca-Cola Exec Kevin Keith Splits for JWT Atlanta



via mediabistro.com

After spending the last four years as group director/integrated content marketing at Coca-Cola, Kevin Keith has headed back to the agency side, joining up with JWT’s Atlanta office as director of planning. Keith has taken over for Michael Deszo as of this week and will report to the agency office’s president/CCO, Perry Fair.

During his time on the client side, Keith led brand strategy and integrated marketing communications on both Coke and Sprite. Regarding his meeting with Fair and the JWT Atlanta crew, which works on clients including the U.S. Marine Corps, Shell, Transamerica and Quaker State, Keith says in a statement, ““I was introduced to Perry when he joined JWT Atlanta and have followed his accomplishments and work over the past two years. The extensive technology capabilities at JWT and the supporting infrastructure to propel creative ideas into business solutions for clients made the agency very attractive for me, and I’m excited to see what we can invent together.”

During his previous stints in ad land, Keith worked on the account side at the likes of Draftfcb, Lowe and Hal Riney & Partners.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

PepsiCo (PEP) Plans To Invest $5.5 Billion In India By 2020, Expansion in Rural Areas Seen As Key



PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) will spend about $5.5 billion between now and 2020 to expand its operations in India as part of a larger effort to bolster sales in emerging markets, the company announced. 

The expansion coincides with an economic slowdown in India, where output growth has slowed to its lowest level in a decade, spooking some investors, the Wall Street Journal reports

PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Indra Nooyi on Monday called the investment a “vote of confidence in India’s future.”

The announcement follows a similar claim by The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), PepsiCo's top rival, which said last year that it would invest $5 billion in India by 2020. 

PepsiCo will double its manufacturing capacity and improve its distribution network in rural areas while developing products geared toward Indian tastes. While the Purchase, N.Y.-based company doesn’t publicize sales and earnings by country, it said that eight of its big brands in India generate annual sales of more than $1.26 billion.

PepsiCo has been operating in India since 1989. Pepsi is currently beating Coke for market share in the emerging market, garnering 15 percent of the market to Coke’s 8.8 percent.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Heartwarming Campaign Asks Viewers to Be More Human by 'Staying Apes'

via creativity-online.com

In this big old rat race that is modern day life, sometime we lose sight of who we really are -- animals. And, at heart, animals are empathetic creatures, as this campaign for F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi sets out to show.

The keystone of the campaign is this video, shot in what appears to be a scientific lab. In it, we see what happens when two monkeys who had never met before are placed near each other -- one, in a cage, without food, and another, free, with as much sustenance as his heart desires. he result will tug at your heartstrings. It's an attempt to encourage people to "Stay Apes," that is, remember their empathy and donate to Operation Smile, an organization dedicated to funding reconstructive surgery for children born with cleft lips.

We wanted "to remind people, especially non-donors, that the act of sharing is what helped us evolve as a species and should never be ignored," said F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi ECD Eduardo Lima in a statement.

The commercial was inspired by a study out of Duke University on the nature of empathy.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Coca-Cola to Invest More Than $4 Billion in China From 2015-2017

via http://www.bloomberg.com

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company, plans to invest more than $4 billion in Chine from 2015 to 2017 as it builds factories and adds new products to meet demand and counter rising competition.

The Atlanta-based company is also open to acquisitions in China and may consider deals with complementary businesses, such as makers of juices or plant-protein drinks like almond milk, David Brooks, president of Coca-Cola’s Greater China and Korea business unit, said in an Nov. 6 interview in Shanghai.

“You will see an absolute increase in investment on an annual basis and on a three-year basis,” Brooks said, commenting on the company’s future plan for China. Coca-Cola is investing $4 billion in the country for 2012-2014.

The U.S. soda maker is ramping up its China investment as the company and its bottlers seek to double global revenues to $200 billion in the 10 years to 2020. While it is the country’s largest soft-drink maker, it faces competition from companies including Pepsi-Co and the local Hangzhou Wahaha Group as it seeks to expand in the most populous nation.
 
Competition in China’s beverage industry is intense and the sector is one with “low growth and weak profitability,” analyst Jean Chan from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. wrote in a Sept. 25 report. Sales are typically driven by promotions, she said.

Coca-Cola said in July that its second-quarter sales volume in China was little changed after rising 7 percent a year ago. Sales in the third quarter have shown improvements, and this will continue over the next several quarters, Brooks said.

The Asian nation has pared economic growth projections to an average of 7 percent this decade, compared with 10.5 percent in the previous 10 years.

Coca-Cola plans to open as many as two facilities each year in China over the next decade, Brooks said. In the nearer term, it will invest about $40 million in a new pulp blending factory in Shanghai, and likely open a plant in the southwestern Guizhou province in the next two years, Brooks said.
“The beverage market in China is still very fragmented,” the executive said. “No company has predominant market share, and there is a huge amount of untapped opportunity left to grow.”

The company also plans to expand its offerings of Chinese-style beverages, with traditional Chinese items such as wolf berries and herbal ingredients all being considered in future drinks, Brooks said, declining to elaborate further. It will also roll out more low-calorie and no-calorie drinks as it caters to an aging population, he said.

“People like new flavors,” Chan, the analyst, said. “Going forward, product innovations will help you expand your categories and also drive growth.”

Chinese consumers are buying more juices and ready-to-drink teas and fewer carbonated drinks as they seek a healthier lifestyle, Chan said.

China regulators blocked the Coca-Cola’s planned $2.3 billion buyout of China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. in 2009.

Coca-Cola, which broke ground on the first of its 43 factories on the mainland in 1980, already sells snow-pear fruit drinks and sour-plum sparkling beverages there. On its website, there are suggested recipes including sweet and spicy hoisin spare ribs with Coca-Cola, encouraging consumers to incorporate the carbonated beverage into local cooking.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Smashburger Announces New National Partnership with HONEST® Tea

 via businesswire.com


Smashburger, the rapidly expanding better burger restaurant concept, today announced it is the first national restaurant chain to roll out HONEST Tea’s fresh-brewed iced tea options at all restaurants nationwide. HONEST Tea is the nation’s top-selling organic bottled tea company. Each Smashburger location will brew a selection of freshly brewed iced tea options, all made from organic ingredients:  Classic Green Tea, Just Iced Tea, Lemon Herbal Tea and Naturally Flavored Raspberry Tea. 


“Smashburger and HONEST Tea share a passion for providing guests with fresh-tasting, high caliber products, so the partnership was a natural fit for us. We are excited for the opportunity to be the first national restaurant to serve their fresh brewed teas to guests in all of our restaurants across the country,” commented Tom Ryan, Founder and Chief Concept Officer of Smashburger. “There are many synergies between our two brands, but first and foremost is our commitment to serving food and beverages that our guests can feel good about, comprised of quality ingredients for a better dining experience.”

Smashburger has long focused on offering premium beverages, serving craft beer (excluding New Jersey) and craft sodas at its locations nationwide.
Added Ryan, “The trend toward non-carbonated beverages in particular is continuing to grow, and has been the strongest area of growth in our beverage business recently. The addition of HONEST Tea’s freshly brewed iced tea platform fits in well with this growing consumer demand.”

Friday, November 1, 2013

Coke Unveils Broad Array of New Products, Packages at NAC's

via bevnet.com


With the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) show returning to Atlanta for the first time since 2010, executives from the Coca-Cola Co. didn’t have to travel very far from the company’s downtown headquarters to the show’s location at the Georgia World Congress Center. That was probably a good thing considering that they certainly had their hands full with a heap of new products and packages that Coke unveiled at the event.

Staffed by a small army of sales and marketing executives, Coke’s sprawling booth was packed with a broad array of line extensions and packaging updates, each highlighted by the company’s new Digital Cold Vault platform. The video-based technology uses demographic data and market insights that give C-store operators the ability to customized beverage sets each designed to increase sales and shopper satisfaction on a store to store basis.

Embedded within the Digital Cold Vault presentation were several of Coke’s new product introductions, which the company termed as “business-generating innovation.” From the recent launch of Sprite Cranberry, to an upcoming revamp for Vitaminwater’s 20 oz. bottles, to a new cold-activated 16 oz. can, Coke sought to offer retailers new ways to attract consumers and maximize shelf space.

“Retailers are looking for meaningful innovation that drives traffic,” said Doug Middlebrooks, Asst. VP of Shopper Marketing – Convenience Retail, The Coca-Cola, Co. Inc.

For Coke, part of that meaningful innovation meant doubling down on its presence in the liquid water enhancer category, which was pioneered and dominated by Kraft Foods’ MiO brand. Coke’s foray into liquid water enhancers began in October 2012 with the launch of Dasani Drops, and earlier this year, the company introduced Powerade Zero Drops, a likely response to MiO’s launch of MiO Fit, a sports-centric line extension. Coke will soon extend the “Drops” platform with products from Minute Maid and Vitaminwater Zero, both scheduled to debut early next year.

Minute Maid Drops is “the only liquid beverage flavor enhancer in the U.S. made with real fruit juice (an important driver of purchase intent)” according to a fact sheet that Coke distributed at the NACS show. The products contain 5 calories per serving and will come in three flavors: Lemonade, Pink Lemonade and Mango Tropical. Each will be packaged in a 1.9 oz. bottle.

Vitaminwater Zero Drops will launch in late March 2014 and is a line of naturally sweetened, zero-calorie liquid water enhancers that are packaged in 3 oz. bottles. Coke will debut the new line with four varieties: XXX, an acai-blueberry-pomegranate flavor, Revive, a fruit punch flavor, Squeezed, a lemonade flavor, and Rise, an orange flavor.
A line of liquid water enhancers wasn’t the only brand extension for Vitaminwater. Coke has reprised the short-lived Vitaminenergy with a new line called Vitaminwater Energy. Similar to Starbucks’ Refreshers brand, the products are naturally sweetened and formulated with an energy blend that includes green bean coffee extract and B-vitamins. Unlike the previous incarnation of the line, the non-carbonated beverages are packaged in slim 12 oz. cans (as opposed to a 16 oz. package) and contain 50 calories per can.

Coke also showcased a new bag-in-box fountain dispenser for Vitaminwater. The 4-value unit uses a Postmix Bag-in-Box, each of which holds 2.5 gallons of liquid. The fountain station will dispense four Vitaminwater varieties: XXX, Revive, Essential and Vitaminwater Zero Squeezed.

Fruitwater, the Vitaminwater brand extension which Coke revived earlier this year, will have two new flavors — Fizzy Lemonade and Tropical Pineapple — coming in 2014. The artificially sweetened, zero-calorie carbonated drinks are, like many new brands and products seen at the NACS show, similarly positioned to Talking Rain’s Sparkling ICE, which has seen many companies attempt to latch on its remarkable growth rate over the past two years.





Thursday, October 31, 2013

Coke Debuts New Clothing Line

via http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Coca-Cola has debuted a 200-piece clothing line by vintage designer Dr. Romanelli, aka DRx, reports Ad Week.

The streetwear collection was inspired by Coke-branded clothing that Romanelli sourced from flea markets and vintage stores around the world. And it doesn't come cheap -- jackets could cost up to $1,650 and t-shirts go from $35 to $50. The line is available in select stores in nine cities around the world including New York, Los Angeles and Shanghai.

So if you're a huge soda fan that also really likes bomber jackets, well, then this line is for you. Check out some of the pieces:

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Pepsi Unveils Teeny Tiny New Cans Conceived During In-House 'Shark Tank' Contest

via http://creativity-online.com/

Recently, Pepsi debuted this hilarious new film promoting what appears to be tremendously scaled-down packaging, and a perfect item to drop into trick-or-treaters' bags this Halloween -- Lil' Pepsi. The teeny tiny cans are so small it looks like only Barbie would be able to pry them open. The lilliputian containers turns out to be a big joke, one conceived during Pepsi's own internal marketing contest inspired by the television show "Shark Tank."

In July, the beverage giant challenged its North American marketers to come up with an innovative idea for the Pepsi brand. Winners would receive funding to execute the idea. During the big event, eleven marketing teams and agency partners each had five minutes to present a pitch, followed by another five minutes of drilling from "sharks," played by division VP's. Pepsi even tapped real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, a real judge from "Shark Tank," to participate. In the end, Pepsi Brand Manager Maggie Connors, Media Strategy/Investment Director Katie Haniffy and Marketing Director Zach Harris emerged the winners with their small, but compelling idea.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Coca-Cola to launch cold-activated cans

via http://www.nydailynews.com

Coca-Cola is set to release a new line of cold-activated cans that lets consumers know when their bevvy is cold enough to drink.

It's an idea borrowed from the playbook of beer brand Coors Light, which unveiled the thermochromic ink technology years ago.

Here's how it works: When the can reaches about 46F, a trio of ice cubes etched inside the silhouette of a drinking glass will change from silver to blue indicating that it's chilled and ready for consumption, reported trade publication Bevnet.com.

The new packaging was unveiled at a conference of the National Association of Convenience Stores in Atlanta this month.

The cold-activated cans were also sold at 7-Eleven stores earlier this year in an exclusive partnership with the convenience chain.

It's the latest packaging innovation out of the soft drink giant. This summer, to play on their global tagline "Share Happiness," the company introduced a line of cans that could be divided in half by twisting and pulling apart.

In France and the UK, bottles and cans were likewise emblazoned with the most popular first names in each country in a bid to personalize products.
In other news, Coca-Cola announced plans to add another product to the already crowded liquid enhancer market with Minute Maid Drops, billed as the only water flavor enhancer made with real fruit juice.

Minute Maid Drops is set to debut next year and will join other Coca-Cola brands that have drop-versions of their beverages such as Vitaminwater and Dasani.

Kraft Foods also has a portfolio of liquid enhancers that includes MiO and Crystal Light Liquid.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Maker and Pepsi Get Baseball Fans Singing

Just in time for the World Series, Maker Studios cranked out a video for sponsor Pepsi featuring a cadre of baseball fans singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

Maker tapped popular YouTube a cappella artist Mike Tompkins—who boasts of having more than a million subscribers—to produce the crowdsourced clip. In the a cappella tradition, no instruments are used, though the sounds of bats hitting balls add a bit of a soundtrack to the sing-along. The Pepsi branding is fairly low-key: singing fans are wearing Pepsi t-shirts, and a quick Pepsi image and tagline appears at the clip's conclusion.

The fans are from across the country, and per Maker, the clip was shot at Wrigley Field in Chicago and the MLB Fan Cave in New York.

The video would seem to be the kind of work Maker is looking to quickly churn out for brands via it's new in-house ad group Maker Made. Check it out:

Friday, October 25, 2013

Coke Introduces Dasani Sparkling

via http://www.bevnet.com

The Coca-Cola Co. Inc. has once again extended the Dasani brand name to a new line of products and today introduced Dasani Sparkling, a five-SKU line of naturally flavored, unsweetened and lightly carbonated waters.

Dasani Sparkling comes a year after Coke made its debut in liquid water enhancers with the launch of Dasani Drops, and follows other brand extensions including Dasani Flavors and the discontinued Dasani Plus, a line of vitamin-enhanced flavored waters. Featuring a variety of packaging options, including a 12 oz. can and 20 oz. PET bottle, Coke will roll out Dasani Sparkling in select outlets beginning in December, and launch the brand nationally in February 2014, according to a statement from the company.

The announcement of the new brand comes amid a whirlwind of activity in the enhanced water category, particularly among launches of flavored sparkling waters, most of which have followed in the mold of artificially sweetened, Sparkling ICE-type products. While Dasani Sparkling features an all-natural formulation and appears to be more likely to challenge carbonated offerings from Poland Springs and Lacroix than Sparkling ICE, the timing of the launch is noteworthy considering sustained declines in Americans’ consumption of soda and highly-sweetened beverages.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Honest tea turns up organic ingredient purchases

via http://www.foodbusinessnews.net

Organic bottled tea maker Honest Tea increased its purchases of organic ingredients by more than 500,000 lbs during 2012, up 13% from 2011 and more than six times the amount purchased during 2007. The company also reformulated its Honest Kids line by removing the organic cane sugar and increasing the organic fruit juice content.

The moves represent a few of Honest Tea’s innovation and sustainability efforts detailed in the company’s 2013 Mission Report issued Oct. 22.

“There is no such thing as a socially responsible business because that term suggests that an enterprise has reached a destination and there is no more work to be done,” said Seth Goldman, co-founder and TeaEO of Honest Tea. “Our annual mission report helps Honest Tea and its stakeholders understand where we’ve made progress, and how much more work we have to do. Our progress in growing the demand and the supply of organic ingredients helps illustrate that our efforts to democratize organic and healthy beverages are bearing some fruit, but there is still more work to be done.”

Organic ingredients are a core part of the Honest Tea business. The company created the first organic ready-to-drink bottled tea in 1999, and in 2004 converted all of its tea and juice drinks to certified organic. This past year Honest Tea moved to sweeten its Honest Kids organic juice drinks only with fruit juice. The company had been sourcing organic white grape juice concentrate since the launch of Honest Ade in 2005, but the reformulation substantially increased its orders.
Honest Tea said the transition required more than simply revising its purchase order.
“Our sourcing team traveled to Turkey and Argentina, along with several orthodox rabbis, to inspect and certify the white grape juice crop as kosher,” the company noted in the report. “After months of planning, our orders now account for a majority of the world’s kosher, organic white grape juice supply.”

Honest Tea also has altered its sourcing of organic ingredient purchases. The company said it expects to buy 5,000 lbs more of organic erythritol in 2013 than it did in 2012, 270% more organic white grape juice, and 70% more organic stevia.

This year also marked a change in the way Honest Tea measures antioxidants. Prior to 2013, the company had an illustration on the labels of its Honey Green Tea and Peach White Tea stating the levels of catechins in the bottle. But in April Honest Tea switched what it measures to “flavonoids” from “catechins.”

“We use an independent lab to verify the claims we make through ongoing testing,” the company said. “Flavonoids are a more comprehensive classification of antioxidants that includes all types of catechins. Labels that reflect the flavonoid levels started appearing on shelves in April 2013.”