Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Honest Tea continues to measure the “state of honesty” in the American society

via http://popsop.com

Honest Tea has conducted a large-scale national experiment to determine how honest the U.S. consumers actually are when nobody’s looking.

The beverage brand set up unattended kiosks in 61 locations across all 50 states earlier this month, leaving bottles of Honest Tea on a display. Consumers could either leave $1 on the honor system or grab a bottle with no refund—in other words, steal it.  The brand has been evaluating “shopper honesty” with a smart mobile app for some time, and now they’ve rolled out anonline tool to forecast honesty by location, gender and appearance of the participants.


The research, conducted in its fourth year, showed that women tend to be more honest than men—95% to 91% respectively, and individuals were less honest than people in groups. When it comes to physical appearance, clean-shaven men proved to be more honest (93%) than those with the 5 o’clock shadow (88%). Eye glasses or sunglasses were usually an accessory of honest people (93% and 94% respectively). Blonde people were more honest than those with darker hair (95% vs. 91%). In general, Americans were quite honest during the experiment—there were 11,000 participants in general, and 92% of them paid for the bottle of Honest Tea. The most honest shoppers appeared to be from Alabama and Hawaii, less honest (for the second year in a row)—from Washington D.C.




Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Grumpy Cat Now Has Its Own Branded Coffee Drink, the Grumppuccino

via http://www.adweek.com


Nothing says "this cultural phenomenon isn't cool anymore" like a branded coffee drink, so Grumpy Cat will have to make peace with being old hat now that it has one. It's called Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino (because Grumpspresso looked too awkward on the bottle, I guess), and it will have three flavors when it comes out, whenever that happens. The tagline is: "It's awfully good." Was coffee really the best they could do? A Grumpy Cat version of Duke Phillips's "You Smell" toy would have been more fun, and relevant to the cat's image.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Naked Juices Will No Longer Be Labeled 'All Natural,' Pepsi Says



NEW YORK — PepsiCo Inc. said it will no longer label its Naked juices as being "all natural," after a lawsuit complained that the drinks contain ingredients that don't fit that bill.
The company, based in Purchase, N.Y., also agreed to pay $9 million to settle the lawsuit.
In an emailed statement, the company said it uses an "added boost of vitamins" in some of the drinks. But a lawsuit filed against the company noted that the vitamins are actually synthetic ingredients, including a fiber made by Archer Daniels Midland.
PepsiCo did not respond when asked whether those synthetic fibers are in fact included in the juices. The company's statement said it will drop the use of the word "natural" until there is more regulatory guidance around the world.
A hearing for the settlement is scheduled for Monday and has not yet been approved by a judge, noted Shirish Gupta, an attorney who's representing a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits filed against PepsiCo's Naked juices.
Gupta noted that the settlement was reached by a different attorney who was negotiating on behalf of several similar cases. Gupta's firm plans to oppose the settlement, in part because he feels the method of notifying affected customers wouldn't reach a broad enough audience.
The case highlights the confusion around the use of the word "natural" in in the industry. The Food and Drug Administration doesn't currently have a definition for what constitutes a natural product. But it says that it doesn't object to the term's use if the food doesn't have "added color, artificial flavors or synthetic substances."
Notably, the FDA said it's difficult to define a food product that is natural, since it has likely been processed and is no longer a "product of the earth."
Michele Simon, a public health lawyer and critic of food industry marketing practices, noted that there are numerous cases making their way through the legal system because of food companies' use of the word "natural." She said the PepsiCo case was notable because the company was in essence addressing the murkiness of the word with the settlement.
"This company is basically surrendering the use of the offensive, deceptive marketing term," Simon said.
One of the lawsuits against PepsiCo noted that the company cultivates a "healthy and socially conscious image" to boost sales of the drinks, which typically cost around $4 a bottle. It noted that PepsiCo knew its target market would be willing to pay more for natural drinks that are 100 percent juice and free of genetically modified organisms.
The lawsuit also claimed that PepsiCo used genetically modified organisms in its Naked juices. In its statement, the company denied that claim and said its drinks will continue to be labeled "non-GMO." It said it plans to enlist a third-party to confirm the non-GMO status of the juices.
PepsiCo did not say when it planned to make the labeling changes in line with the settlement, reached earlier this month. On Friday, the website for Naked Juices still showed bottles with the words "all natural" on them.

Friday, July 26, 2013

PepsiCo to enter premium water market with 'Om,' according to report


NEW YORK — PepsiCo plans to jump into the premium bottled water market with a drink called Om, following the popularity of Coca-Cola's Smartwater.
The soda and snack food company, which also makes Aquafina bottled water, plans to launch the line next year, according to the trade publication Beverage Digest. PepsiCo Inc. has so far been on the sidelines when it comes to the premium water segment, which includes brands such as Evian and Fiji.
A representative for PepsiCo, based in Purchase, N.Y., declined to comment or provide any details. 
Bottled water in particular has been growing in popularity over the years, but the problem for companies is that the bulk cases of bottled water sold in supermarkets typically aren't as profitable as other branded drinks.
Premium bottled waters are different, however, because people are willing to pay more for them. Whether there's any difference in the quality of various bottled waters is up for debate. For example, Coca-Cola's Smartwater and its cheaper Dasani water are both made from municipal sources, or tap water. But the Atlanta-based company says Smartwater, which comes in distinct cylindrical bottles, is purified differently.
Sales volume for Smartwater is up 16 percent for the first half of the year, according to Beverage Digest.
Notably, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo aren't the biggest players in the bottled water category. That distinction goes to Nestle, which owns brands including Deer Park and Poland Spring, and has nearly a third of the market.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

New flavors from Dry Soda, now in Rexam Sleek 12oz cans

via http://www.foodbev.com


Dry Soda is making its sodas more accessible to customers by offering it in Rexam 12oz Sleek cans. There are also two new flavors: Apple Dry and Ginger Dry.

Dry Soda cans are available throughout the US in traditional and specialty retail stores, restaurants, cafes and online. The cans will be sold individually at retailers for $1.29.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Energy-drink market goes after different kind of user


via http://seattletimes.com

Newer energy drink are boasting about “natural” caffeine, but one expert warns that “caffeine is caffeine” whether it’s produced in a lab or the fruit of a plant.
ALBANY, N.Y. — Energy drinks are busting out of the convenience-store cooler and into the health-food aisle.
As energy-drink sales soar like a caffeine-fueled rocket, more drinks are promoting organic ingredients, added juices, natural caffeine and so-called “clean” energy. A jolt from Rockstar not your speed? There’s the “natural energy drink” Guru, and Steaz Energy, which according to the can is “good for the mind, body and soul.” Or there’s Runa’s energy drink, made from something called Amazonian guayusa leaves.
Claims of cleaner caffeine boosts come as energy drinks find themselves under increasing scrutiny, particularly for their effects on children and adolescents.
The word “organic” in front of “energy drink” might seem as incompatible as yoga pants with a backward tractor cap, but analysts say that as the market for energy drinks grows, it’s diversifying, too.
“I think we’re going to see more beverages that offer energy functionality, but in nontraditional energy drinks,” says John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest.
Energy-drink sales hit $12.6 billion last year, representing a 14 percent jump from 2008, according to market-research firm Packaged Facts. While Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar still dominate the U.S. market, part of the recent growth comes from new kinds of products, including diet and natural energy drinks.
Even the big players are getting into the act. Campbell Soup’s venerable V8 line of drinks now includes a canned V-Fusion + Energy drink made with juice and green tea. And Starbucks sells fruit-flavored Refreshers made with unroasted coffee beans.
“Because retailers are devoting more shelf space to energy drinks, there’s always a battle among the competitors within the sector. So what you’re seeing within the energy-drink category is an innovation in products,” says John Lennon, president of Xyience, which makes Xenergy energy drinks.
But with growth comes greater scrutiny.
Regulators have been increasingly concerned about caffeinated products, particularly energy drinks. The Food and Drug Administration in April said it would investigate the safety of caffeine added to snacks and gum and its effects on children and adolescents.
The FDA said last year it was investigating reports of deaths linked to energy drinks. The federal agency has said they would take action if they could link the deaths to the drinks, including forcing the companies to take the products off the market.
And San Francisco’s city attorney in May sued Monster Beverage for marketing its energy drinks to children. The lawsuit came after Monster sued City Attorney Dennis Herrera over his demands that the company reduce caffeine levels in its drinks and stop marketing to minors.
At least on face value, some of the natural drinks seem to be aiming for a different audience. Xenergy calls itself the “energy drink of the health club, not the nightclub.” The company expanded its line this year to include energy drinks with tea or lemonade.
Ray Jolicoeur, vice president, marketing, for Guru, says consumers of his product, which has been available in the United States since 2005, tend to be slightly more mature and educated.
The entrepreneurs behind Runa say they are not looking for people who want “head throbbing, punched-in-the face energy” like some other brands.
“Some of them went after adrenaline junkies, others went after NASCAR fans,” says Runa co-founder Dan MacCombie. “For us, it’s just part of the people who are already ... being careful about what they are putting into their bodies.”
It’s typical for the caffeine in natural energy drinks to come from organic and natural sources. But in the end, as Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins University, notes, “caffeine is caffeine.”
“It doesn’t matter whether that compound is synthesized in a laboratory or is synthesized in a plant,” he says. “It’s going to have identical pharmacological, subjective and behavioral effects.”
Guru says one 8.4-ounce can has 125 milligrams of “naturally occurring” caffeine. Steaz says a 12-ounce can of its energy drink contains 100 milligrams of caffeine from sustainably sourced ingredients. Ounce for ounce, that’s in the ballpark of mainstream energy drinks, such as Rockstar or Monster, which each deliver 160 milligrams per 16-ounce can, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group.
The natural products generally do not make explicit health claims, opting instead to tout ingredients such as organic guarana or the lack of artificial colors. But Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says words like “natural” and “organic” printed on a can make consumers assume the contents are good for you, even if that’s not necessarily so.
“It implies that there’s something helpful about them and it’s totally vague,” he says
.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Coca-Cola's 'Smile Back' Video: Cute or Kind of Creepy?

via http://www.adweek.com/  


Coca-Cola's new "Smile Back" out-of-home stunt (scroll down to see it) is cute and nicely done, and everyone everywhere will love it. But let's overthink it for a moment.

Coke is famously skilled at being able to "Open happiness," as its slogan goes, through innovative real-world stunts. These have ranged from overly generous vending machines to splittable cans and personalized bottles. The typical transaction is that Coke gives you something of obvious value—a free drink or a fun, surprising experience—and that thing makes you happy, sometimes infectiously so. That's an honest interaction. This new stunt, though—produced and crowdsourced with Victors & Spoils and MOFILM—is different. As the company explains in the YouTube description:
"Coca-Cola sent our people all over the world, from Jamaica to the United Kingdom to Pakistan and more, to simply smile at strangers—to see who would smile back. As we passed others on the street, on the bus or in the park, we gave a smile, held up smiley face posters or did a silly dance with a grin on our faces, all to prompt a little friendliness in the mundane. When someone smiled back, they received a free Coke or some other fun prize: everything from sunglasses to hats to bicycles."
So, instead of a product, first you get a smile—from someone who, regardless of how awesome they may seem, has been paid to smile at you. (This is sometimes called a Professional Smile, and is clearly of dubious value.) Then, you must respond positively to this pretend display of affection (bribe) to get the reward that you previously got for free. The transaction has changed—it's backwards. You agree to be made happy by something false in order to have the chance to be made happy by something true. (You might get punched in the nose, actually, if you tried this in New York City.)

That distinction may sound like B.S., but you can sense the difference. It's why Coke's security-camera spot was so good—it captured moments that couldn't have been more genuine. And it's why the "Smile Back" video (and the earlier huggable vending machine from Singapore, which had similar problems involving misplaced affection) feels more manufactured. For all the happiness on display here—and yes, not all of it is bogus—the spot lacks the purity of concept that makes the best Coke work sing.

Happiness is infectious, but this stunt might not leave everyone smiling.


Friday, July 19, 2013

Coke Bottles and Cans Serve as Instruments in Promotional Music Video

via http://www.adweek.com

Think Coca-Cola is just a soda? Well, you're right. But the beverage's bottles and cans also double as musical instruments in a new video to promote Coke.

The clip is one installment in Coke's "Ahh Effect" campaign, and it features YouTube artist Kurt Hugo Schneider on various auxiliary percussion and Kevin Olusola simultaneously beatboxing and playing cello as they cover Of Monsters and Men's "Little Talks."

So far there are 60 distinct sites on the campaign's landing page, with this video taking the position of No. 21. Fittingly, it's hosted at www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com—that's 21 "h's" in all. Schneider is part of Alloy Digital's network, which will also promote the video.

The recording obviously has some studio bells and whistles layered on it, but Adweek was assured that Schneider is truly playing the Coke "instruments."

Check it out:

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Penn and Dasani Team Up On Limited Edition Tennis Ball Packs

via http://www.10sballs.com



Penn and DASANI have partnered up and have created a limited edition tennis ball pack just in time for the summer. The pack includes six containers of Penn’s America’s #1 Selling Championship tennis balls and a co-branded DASANI/Penn cooler made of recycled materials, perfect for holding DASANI water bottles while on the tennis court.

The tennis ball pack also includes discount coupons for DASANI water and DASANI DROPS flavor enhancers. Penn and DASANI teamed up after finding they attracted similar consumers and shared similar sustainability initiatives. DASANI uses PlantBottle® packaging made from up to 30% plant-based material, which replaces some of the non-renewable petroleum or fossil-based resources used in conventional PET plastic. PlantBottle® packaging, which is 100% recyclable, helps conserve our world’s precious resources. DASANI also encourages people to recycle and when doing so, twist their bottles down to half of their size to help reduce overflowing recycling bins.

When people “Twist, Recycle, Repeat,” recycled PET plastic bottles can be repurposed to produce products like T-shirts, coolers and even new bottles. Penn’s “Keep It In Play” green initiative has led the way in the tennis industry for recyclable tennis ball containers (tubes). Penn’s PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) tubes are made from 80% recycled materials, with 40% being post-consumer. They also use less material than their competitors at only 23 grams for the finished tube (18% lighter than the nearest competitor).

Along with the tube itself, Penn also prides itself with using 35% recycled materials in their lids, 20% recycled materials in their master cartons and 10% materials in their rubber cores of the tennis balls. Penn consumers are encouraged to “Keep It In Play” by recycling their tennis ball tubes.