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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.”

Premium Hydration Overtakes Enhanced Water

via http://www.bevnet.com/

Amid rising consumer disdain for high-calorie beverages, a convergence in demand for simple refreshment and functionality is starting to give rise to a broad, catch-all category: premium hydration. At its core are products that are generally thought of as enhanced waters, but it has more room at the margins, including alkaline waters, electrolyte enhanced waters and beverages, naturally functional products like coffeefruit-based Bai or any number of coconut waters, mix-to-drink twist-cap bottles, even carbonated products like Sparkling Ice and its current raft of imitators.

In particular, coconut water products and electrolyte-infused waters, led by market leaders Vita Coco and Smartwater, respectively, have found success by promoting hydration as a key function of their beverages, particularly as a way to bridge the gap between health and refreshment.

“Hydration is a very contemporary opportunity that’s out there,” said Neil Kimberley, a longtime beverage consultant. “I think it probably comes back to the idea that it’s not so much about enhanced water as it is about some form of hydration. And then it’s about, ‘is this an updated form of modern hydration that is not for a sports occasion?’ Then I think you get into this kind of space.”

Consumers have been drinking more beverages in general, Kimberley noted, particularly as hydration becomes a more significant part of their daily needs, and a big part of that boost in consumption has come from bottled water. Moreover, as U.S. consumers increasingly shun carbonated soft drinks, research from Nestlé Waters North America and published by Zenith International, a consulting group focused on the food and beverage industries, found that 51 percent of consumers choose non-flavored bottled water in favor of CSDs, while 12 percent opt for sweetened or enhanced water.
At a cost that hovers around $3-6 for a 24-pack of brands like Poland Springs and Dasani, manufacturers have made it extremely easy to buy and consume commodity water. However, higher margins in single serve premium water and hydration beverages have made the products an attractive option for retailers. And in more and more instances, lines have been blurred to include a wider range of beverages.

“[The growth of] bottled water and the whole idea of premium hydration starting with Vitaminwater and then going through products like Smartwater and Sobe Lifewater and then into coconut water, and maybe even Body Armor is an example, is something that’s starting to get grouped together by retailers, and I think that’s becoming the decision set for the consumer,” Kimberley said. “It is taking away share from carbonated soft drinks, specifically diets, and, probably, there’s some trading going on inside the actual premium set itself when you look at the declines of Vitaminwater and the increases in Smartwater.”

The irony of Vitaminwater’s current position is that the brand was once touted as the better-for-you (and higher margin) alternative to highly sweetened carbonated soft drinks and artificially flavored sports drinks. Along with its first-to-market status, Vitaminwater’s fortified formulation and a lighter sweetness profile (than most CSDs, anyway) were significant pieces of the proposition. Moreover, the isotonic flavor, sans the salty aftertaste of Gatorade, gave the brand a solid following among female consumers, who have played a major role in the growth of the enhanced water category.
In recent years, however, the billion-dollar brand has faced a highly publicized torrent of criticism from public health advocates who claim that Vitaminwater’s positioning as a healthy beverage is not only flawed, but dangerous. A 2009 lawsuit filed by consumer advocacy group The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) alleges The Coca-Cola Co, Inc., which markets the cane sugar-sweetened drinks, has engaged in “deceptive and unsubstantiated claims” in the labeling and marketing of the products.

“Vitaminwater is Coke’s attempt to dress up soda in a physician’s white coat,” said CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner said in a statement about the lawsuit. “Underneath, it’s still sugar water, albeit sugar water that costs about ten bucks a gallon.”

Lawsuits aside, sales of Vitaminwater are in the midst of sustained slide, pointing to a consumer that wants something else. According to Symphony IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, the brand is down over 16 percent in dollar sales and over 20 percent in unit sales in all multi-outlets combined including C-Stores for the 52 week period ending on Aug. 11 2013. A significant part of that decline is likely rooted in cannibalization from Vitaminwater Zero, the brand’s zero-calorie line. That noted, Zero isn’t faring much better than its stable mate: the brand is down 10 percent and 17.25 percent in dollar and unit sales, respectively.

Coca-Cola Loses Top North America Marketer as Alison Lewis Departs

via http://adage.com

Alison Lewis, Coca-Cola's head marketer in North America, is leaving the company at the end of this month.

According to an internal announcement, Ms. Lewis, senior VP-strategic marketing at the Coca-Cola North America Group, has accepted a senior leadership role with another global organization. A Coca-Cola spokeswoman declined to name the company.
It is the second high-profile departure from the Coca-Cola North America Group marketing ranks. Pio Schunker, senior VP-integrated marketing communications, departed in August. His role remains open.

In the internal announcement, Katie Bayne, president-North America Brands, noted Ms. Lewis' replacement would be named shortly.

Ms. Lewis has been with the company for nearly 18 years. Prior to her current role she was the senior VP-general manager for Odwalla, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola. "Alison is a talented marketing leader and this new opportunity allows her to achieve her professional and personal goals," Ms. Bayne said.
As the top marketer in the Coca-Cola North America Group, Ms. Lewis has been front and center when it comes to determining how the beverage giant doles out more than $600 million in U.S. ad spending annually.

Marketers Wax Enthusiastic Over Bees and Honey

via  http://www.nytimes.com

COINCIDENCE or not, as the denizens of Madison Avenue seek to generate “buzz” — positive word of mouth — among consumers, they are increasingly turning to bees and honey as marketing tools.

Decades ago, young viewers of “Romper Room” were introduced to characters named Mr. Do-Bee and Mr. Don’t-Bee as shoppers were asked to buy Bit-O-Honey candy, Honey Maid grahams and Pine Brothers honey glycerin tablets. And a brand mascot named Buffalo Bee peddled “the most bee-licious cereals ever” with this jingle: “I’m Buffalo Bee, take my advice, get Nabisco Wheat Honeys, also Rice.” 

More recently, experts say, the “foodie” boom in exploring the provenance and improving the quality of what Americans eat and drink has generated a swarm of brands related to honey and bees. That success has crossed over into other consumer categories, including cosmetics, a fragrance named Honey Marc Jacobs and even a revival of the Dodge Super Bee muscle car, rebranded as the Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee. 

“When we look at how America is cooking, there’s an ever-growing interest in quality ingredients, artisanal ingredients,” said Maile Carpenter, editor in chief of Food Network Magazine, a joint venture of Hearst and Scripps Networks Interactive. “And honey is easy-access artisanal food.”

“It’s no longer just the requisite bear in the cupboard,” she said, referring to honey bottles in ursine shapes. “I was up at a cider mill in Connecticut over the weekend, and for the first time I saw a honey stand. There was a huge line; I thought it was for doughnuts. It was a guy selling local honey.”

Beekeeping has become a pursuit of stars who appear in Food Network Magazine and on the Food Network and Cooking Channel cable networks, Ms. Carpenter said, listing Ted Allen, Jose Garces, Jean-George Vongerichten and the Fabulous Beekman Boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge.

“It’s got a great cool factor,” she added. “It’s not as extreme as raising goats.” (Watch this space to see if goats turn into the next ad trend.) 

“Honey has risen” in the estimation of marketers “the same way that olive oil has and cheese has,” said Zeke Freeman, who owns Bee Raw Honey and sponsors a “Save the Bees” fund-raising effort in social media and online in response to a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder.

The centerpiece of the effort is a Web site for a fake company, Be A Bee Inc., with a home page that declares: “Bees all over the world are dying. Now is the time to invest in the human pollination market.” The effort was created for Bee Raw Honey by the New York office of CHI & Partners, part of WPP. 

Some brands point to roots that predate the current fascination with bees and honey.

“I like to say we were part of this trend even before it was a trend,” said Jon Schlesinger, vice president for marketing at Burt’s Bees in Durham, N.C., because the founders of Burt’s Bees, Roxanne Quimby and Burt Shavitz, “were selling honey out of the back of their truck 30 years ago.” The company became part of the Clorox Company in 2007. 

Mr. Schlesinger and Mariah Eckhardt, director for marketing at Burt’s Bees, said they were not worried that the category would become overcrowded. “I don’t see it as a danger,” he said. “Even as more people market bee-oriented products, that has a halo effect back on our products.” The primary creative agency for Burt’s Bees is Baldwin& in Raleigh, N.C. 

Sometimes, apparently, it may not matter whether a bee-related or honey-related product is a pioneer or a newbie. Although “we weren’t the first to introduce a honey or a flavored whiskey product,” said Casey Nelson, senior brand manager for the Jack Daniel’s flavor portfolio at Brown-Forman in Louisville, Ky., “consumers’ continued propensity” for such tastes meant “it was fitting that the world’s largest whiskey brand be a participant.” 

So Brown-Forman brought out Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey in April 2011. “Its flavor is honey,” one ad declared. “Its soul is Jack.” The product “continues to exceed our expectations,” Mr. Nelson said, remaining “one of the fastest-growing spirits brands in the industry.” Ads for Tennessee Honey, featuring characters known as the King Bee and his Swarm, are created by Arnold Worldwide in Boston, part of the Havas Creative division of Havas. 

Another bee, named Buzz, is the brand mascot for Honey Nut Cheerios, sold by General Mills since 1979. It is the best-selling cereal in the country, the company said, outselling even its forebear, Cheerios. 

The honey-flavored segment of the cereal market is expanding rapidly, however. For instance, Post Honey Bunches of Oats, introduced in 1989, now has 13 varieties, and both types of new Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cereal are honey-flavored: Golden Nut Honey and Roasted Nut and Honey O’s.

So General Mills decided it would “be interesting and fun if Buzz came out of the hive and into pop culture,” said Scott Lee, associate marketing director for Honey Nut Cheerios in Golden Valley, Minn. The character got its own Twitter account, which now has more than 26,800 followers, and appears in a series of commercials with the rapper Nelly that transformed the line “Must be the money” from Nelly’s “Ride Wit Me” to “Must be the honey.” 

Not every bee or honey marketing effort is received sweetly. A blogger on The Huffington Post criticized the commercials, by the Saatchi & Saatchi division of the Publicis Groupe, in a post with the headline “Nelly and Honey Nut Cheerios Bee Cruelly Suck the Life Out of Your Millennial Childhood.”

Mountain Dew Is Running Vine-Based TV Ads for the Nascar Race This Weekend

via http://www.adweek.com

Following in the footsteps of Dunkin' Donuts, Virgin Mobile and Trident, Mountain Dew is testing a couple Vine-based TV spots. As in Dunkin's effort, the soda is utilizing television's emerging five-second billboards—or "snackable" animated ads—to playfully employ the six-second social video platform, which is owned by Twitter.

The first brief spot appeared over the weekend on NBC Sports, while the second is scheduled to run on Sunday via ESPN. The commercial this weekend will highlight Mountain Dew's Dale Earnhardt Jr. sponsorship during the broadcast of NASCAR's Talladega Superspeedway race in Alabama.

"The Vine medium [contextually] translates to the animated billboards on TV so well," Todd Kaplan, director, brand marketing for Mountain Dew, told Adweek. "Right now, we are really excited about the platform and how Vine speaks for millennial male consumers. We are going to continue to experiment in this space with Dew on Vine and see where it goes."

Mountain Dew has shown a predilection for marketing adventurism this year, most notably with the controversial "Goat" online spot it pulled due to outrage in May. The PepsiCo-owned brand probably expects more buzz and fewer boos for its latest effort.

Check out its new Vine spots, created by VaynerMedia.

Coke Exec: Diet Coke Under 'Pressure' Over Its Ingredients

via http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Diet Coke, the country's No. 2 soda, may be losing some of its pop.

During a conference call with analysts Tuesday, a Coca-Cola executive noted that Diet Coke is "under a bit of pressure" because of people's concerns over its ingredients, alluding to the growing wariness of artificial sweeteners in recent years.

Steve Cahillane, who heads Coca-Cola's North American and Latin American business, noted that the issue wasn't specific to Diet Coke, but that many diet foods and drinks in the U.S. are facing the same concerns.

"We believe very strongly in the future of Diet Coke," Cahillane stressed, noting that the drink is still the No. 2 soda in the U.S, after knocking Pepsi from that perch in 2010. The company said it still sells twice as much regular Coke as Diet Coke.

Cahillane also noted that the company is investing in boosting Diet Coke's performance, pointing to recent promotions with singer Taylor Swift as an example.

Soda has been under fire from health advocates for several years now, and Americans have been cutting back on sugary fizz for some time. But in a somewhat newer development, diet sodas are falling at a faster rate than regular sodas, according to Beverage Digest, an industry tracker.
Last year, for example, sales volume for Coke fell 1 percent, while Diet Coke fell 3 percent. Pepsi fell 3.4 percent, while Diet Pepsi fell 6.2 percent.

Those figures aren't going unnoticed in Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters. This summer, the company launched its first ad addressing the safety of aspartame, the artificial sweetener more commonly known under the NutraSweet brand name, to ease concerns people might have about its use in diet sodas. It has also distributed fact sheets on the topic to its bottlers and retailers who sell Coke products.

The Food and Drug Administration says aspartame may be safely used in foods as a sweetener, and the American Cancer Society has said that most studies using people have found that aspartame is not linked to an increased risk of cancer.

Still, some fear that there could be adverse health effects from consuming artificial sweeteners over the course of many years that haven't been detected in studies. The broader trend in the U.S. has also been toward foods and drinks people feel are natural or organic. And Coca-Cola is clearly aware of the shift; the company is working on producing sodas made with natural, low-calorie sweeteners. It also launched a version of its namesake drink sweetened with stevia in Argentina this summer. Stevia comes from a plant of the same name.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Co. said that sales volume for regular, full-calorie Coke rose 2 percent in North America in its latest quarterly results reported on Tuesday. Coke Zero, which is made with artificial sweeteners and targeted more toward men, rose 5 percent.

The company didn't break out Diet Coke's performance, but overall soda volume for the region was flat.

Pepsi Next Partners With Airbnb for Promotion, Joins Instagram

via http://mashable.com

So what's next for Pepsi Next? Airbnb, Instagram, Flavorpill and Kamio.

The soft-drink company, which previously partnered with buzzy startup TaskRabbit, is using these other hot tech names to anchor Unbelievable Taste Escapes, another promotion that begins Tuesday.
Winners will get trips to Hawaii, Los Angeles or Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where they will stay at an Airbnb location. Then on Wednesday, Pepsi Next will launch its official Instagram page in partnership with Kamio, which will provide three branded photo filters: Unbelievable Escapes, Unbelievable Good Time and Unbelievable Glitz.

"We’ve historically engaged with our consumers online," said Esperanza Teasdale, senior director of Pepsi Next. "Our new partnerships go a step further, allowing consumers the opportunity to customize their Pepsi Next experience."

Launched in 2011, Pepsi Next is PepsiCo's latest attempt at a mid-calorie cola. Boasting 60% less sugar, Pepsi Next has 60 calories for a 12-ounce can, versus 150 calories for regular Pepsi. In addition to a "virtual taste test," (in which comedians impersonate viewers trying the cola), Pepsi has rolled out traditional marketing, including a television campaign.

Pepsi Next's embrace of Airbnb comes after New York's attorney general asked the accommodations company to hand over data on 15,000 New York City hosts as part of a probe into the city's illegal hotels.

Better Sodas Bubbling Up

via http://www.qsrmagazine.com


Handcrafted. Natural. Artisan. Signature. These foodie buzzwords may have once described decadent pizzas or burgers featuring grass-fed beef, but they’re increasingly featured on the beverage side of quick-serve menus, too.

Freshness and originality are becoming increasingly important buying factors for today’s restaurant-goers, and operators have begun bolstering their drink programs with premium craft-soda options, which offer customers a more enhanced beverage experience than traditional mass-market picks.
“Customers are looking for things that seem like specialties—new, innovative options you can’t get everywhere,” says Maeve Webster, director at food industry market research firm Datassential. “We’re also seeing consistent demand for offerings that are local, small-batch, rare. Custom-soda programs are helping restaurants address these niche demands, and can be a real differentiator for Millennial buyers, who have endless choices.”

This new breed of craft sodas, which some industry experts believe is an alcohol-free outgrowth of the popular craft-beer movement, has several distinct characteristics. The sodas are made with cane sugar and other natural ingredients and are typically brewed in small, locally sourced batches. Craft soda also has the attention of health-conscious consumers, since they’re positioned as a more natural option to traditional sodas.

“Custom-soda programs can be a real differentiator for Millennial buyers, who have endless choices.”

“Around 90 percent of restaurants currently have something on their menu categorized as ‘fresh,’ and it still resonates with customers,” Webster says. “The perception is that craft sodas are more exclusive and provide higher-quality experiences.”

For restaurants already emphasizing natural ingredients and original experiences, craft-soda programs are a natural fit. Take Live Basil, for example. The fast-casual pizza concept launched in Denver earlier this year with a focus on fresh options, and debuted with a Boylan craft-soda fountain to give customers a more diverse beverage selection. Products from Boylan Bottling Company, a small soda brand that was founded in 1891, are only available in 20 states, and the brand has a passionate grassroots following.

Despite having only been open for a few months, Live Basil has already seen excellent customer response for the Boylan fountain, and executives believe the sodas actively reaffirm the brand’s key messaging.

“Live Basil was conceived to meet the needs of the next generation of restaurant guests, with a focus on fresh, authentic food people can feel good about eating,” says Tom Ryan, Live Basil’s founder and chief concept officer. “Craft sodas really align with that message—they’re a premium offering with robust, natural flavors.”

Beverages are becoming an area of increasing importance for the fast-casual segment, Ryan adds, and should be leveraged as part of a concept’s overall branding efforts.

“Boylan sodas give Live Basil an added dimension. We make sure to mention them in our outreach and marketing materials, since that’s what customers are looking for,” he says. “We feel they give our brand more energy and new panache. I’ve actually sat in stores and watched customers taste each flavor.”
Perhaps most telling of the craft-soda trend’s staying power is the fact that Starbucks is now toying with the product. The coffee giant recently commissioned in-house research and development teams to create original recipes for its own proprietary line of sodas, which are now undergoing pilot testing at 150 stores in Atlanta and Austin, Texas. The sodas come in three retro flavors—a lemon ale, spiced root beer, and ginger ale—and are individually measured, mixed, and carbonated by baristas on the spot.
“Starbucks is known for custom beverages—our baristas make a variety of handcrafted, made-to-order coffee and tea drinks every day,” says Linda Mills, a spokeswoman for Starbucks. “Craft sodas seem like a natural extension for our refreshment platform, which inspired this concept testing. Our sodas are made with natural ingredients and are fairly low-calorie, so they’re something customers can feel good about drinking, too.”

While Mills says it’s still too early to tell when or if the Starbucks soda program will launch company-wide, initial response to the testing has been positive.

“Customers are really enjoying the sodas, and are even experimenting with carbonating some of our core beverages,” she says. “We’re very pleased with feedback to date and look forward to evaluating customer response as the test progresses.”

As more restaurants develop craft-soda options, experts say, the immediate industry implications are clear: Gone are the days when beverages simply play a supporting role at mealtime. Premium beverage options can stand on their own two feet and affect a restaurant’s overall strategy going forward.
“Craft sodas represent a huge opportunity for quick-serve operators right now, and especially with these customers,” Webster says. “You can take a familiar menu item, soda, and offer a heightened experience—yours is fresher, original, more flavorful—and you have something your competitors don’t.”

Manhattan Marketers Create Tea Cocktails

via http://www.bevnet.com

When Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield worked for Talent Resources, a celebrity marketing firm in New York City, they often hosted friends at their Midtown brownstone office building for tea cocktail parties. Yes, the parties were cute and therapeutic, but they also meant more than that.

Ripps had always been a dedicated tea drinker, but didn’t begin experimenting with mixing tea into cocktails until she found that the Mad Men era hadn’t ended for the marketing business, where socializing and drinking are part of the life. She liked cocktails, but she had to limit herself to just one drink to prevent a painful morning. She and Littlefield also weren’t impressed with the options; lots of cranberry juice and Vermouth.
“How many cranberry vodkas can you drink in a night?” Littlefield said.

These realizations influenced the July launch of Owl’s Brew, a tea made specifically for cocktails. Owl’s Brew was recently featured alongside other new beverages at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore, but even before the product’s launch, things had been moving fast for Ripps, the founder, and Littlefield, a partner.

At the Fancy Food Show in New York in June, the pair met a representative from BevMo!, a liquor and beverage store chain in California. He was putting together a Halloween card and he liked what he saw in Owl’s Brew: the black, chalkboard-esque bottle, the brand name, the innovation.Without a single bottle placed on a shelf, Owls Brew had already secured widespread distribution on the other side of the U.S.

“It was one of those things that you just wish will happen,” Littlefield said, “and it did.”
Littlefield said that their marketing background enabled them to approach the beverage industry backwards. Instead of formulating the product and then gauging interest from retailers, distributors and consumers, they first blogged recipes and tea tips and logged millions of social media impressions, Littlefield said. They already understood the brand’s identity, positioning and message. Now they wait to see the direction of Owl’s Brew; a product she said has no peers in the beverage industry because of its tea base. “There’s no preconceived notion,” she said.

They acknowledge the challenge in creating something unique with no section of its own in liquor stores. This could be challenging for consumers less willing to buy outside of their regular rotation. But Ripps and Littlefield also see these details as ways to intrigue consumers with something new and natural. Owl’s Brew is fresh-brewed with spices, fruits and herbs, contains no artificial flavors or concentrates, brewed with purified water and sweetened with natural agave. Flavors available online include Pink & Black, a tart Darjeeling, Coco-Lada, a a sweet and spicy coconut tea, and The Classic, a tart English Breakfast.

Ripps and Littlefield recognize that this kind of product will require an educational process. This recognition explains the chalkboard-esque bottle, which takes consumers back to school and clearly explains the product’s use and contents. Littlefield also said that the bottle’s look is both artisanal and cool. In New York, both traits are often vital, especially with a product as unknown as prepared tea cocktails.

“It’s always a risk to start a new category,” Littlefield said. “But I think the mixer category is just slowly starting to reinvent itself.”

Relaxation Drinks: The Opposite of Energy Drinks

via wsj.com

Can relaxation, a good night's sleep or happiness come from a lightly carbonated, berry-flavored beverage?

Amid booming sales of energy drinks spiked with caffeine and other stimulating ingredients, some people are heading to the soda aisle for drinks that promise the opposite effect. With names like Neuro Bliss, Marley's Mellow Mood (as in Bob), and Just Chill, the products aren't marketed as medicine, but as a way to relax without turning to more traditional, if sometimes imperfect, measures like taking prescription drugs or having a few beers.

Consumers are warming up to drinks that could fill the chasm between taking medication for anxiety or sleep problems and doing nothing, says Paul Nadel, president of Neuro Drinks, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that sells a line of six drinks including Neuro Bliss, Neuro Sleep and Neuro Sonic, an energy drink. He says the "overmedicated culture we live in" has primed consumers for the concept of a relaxation drink.

Small studies show that some of the ingredients in relaxation drinks, like melatonin, valerian root and L-theanine, appear to help fight sleeplessness or to create a sensation of relaxation in isolated situations.

The ingredients appear reasonably safe for most adults, but users should check with a doctor or research how they might mix with other medications or pre-existing illnesses, says Catherine Ulbricht, co-founder of Natural Standard Research Collaboration, a Somerville, Mass., group that evaluates natural therapies.

Often the drinks are marketed as dietary supplements, a classification under Food and Drug Administration standards that means at least one ingredient isn't considered conventional food. The FDA doesn't review the efficacy, safety or quantity of active ingredients in dietary supplements.She notes that this class of beverages with multiple active ingredients hasn't been well-studied: "I don't mean to sound scary, but it's not water."

Big beverage companies are pitching coconut water, energy drinks and fruit smoothies, but so far haven't dipped their toe into the relaxation business.More consumers say they want a drink that feels healthier than soda—hence the raft of new, lower-calorie beverages. Some have only natural ingredients, while other so-called "functional" products claim some benefit like energy, sleep or cold-fighting properties.

It's not clear the relaxation drink concept will stick. In 2012 relaxation drinks (which includes sleep drinks) accounted for about $32 million in U.S. wholesale sales, a slight increase from previous years, but a tiny amount compared with the $6 billion generated by U.S. energy drinks the same year, says Gary Hemphill, managing director of research for Beverage Marketing Corp. "Some people say, 'If I want to relax I'm going to have a martini," Mr. Hemphill says.

Sold in three beach-themed fruit flavors in a slim can, the drink contains L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea that the label says "promotes a Chill Mentality."Already a fan of sipping morning coffee to wake up and downing a happy-hour drink to unwind, Patrick O'Brien, a 31-year-old aerospace project manager in Los Angeles, recently added two cans of Just Chill to his Monday afternoon routine.

"It's kind of a Xanax in a can," he says. After a weekend of late nights, the drink helps him feel less anxious confronting a Monday-sized pile of work, he says.

A first round of relaxation drinks came onto the market several years ago. They often were linked explicitly to recreational drug use with names like Purple Stuff and Drank, both slang for the practice of mixing prescription-strength codeine with soda or juice. The drinks now gaining popularity are marketed as mainstream products for busy moms, stressed professionals or those with sleep problems.

Typical consumers "have too much caffeine, then they grab Just Chill," to calm down in the afternoon or evening, says Max Baumann, founder and chief executive of the Venice, Calif.-based Chill Group Inc. "It's not about knocking you out," says Mr. Baumann. The L-theanine in the drink is meant to focus and relax people before "anything where there might be a fight-or-flight response," like a stressful meeting, he says. The company has sponsored yoga and surfing events to cultivate its image, he says.

Some drinks are pitching "more of a lifestyle thing," says Lee Brody, global marketing director for Marley Beverage Co., which is owned by Viva Beverages, a Southfield, Mich., company. Members of the Marley family hold an ownership stake.

Three years ago Viva introduced Marley's Mellow Mood drinks, a line of relaxation juices and decaffeinated teas with Bob Marley's image on every bottle. Originally Marley family members came to Viva with the idea of a Bob Marley-themed energy drink, says Mr. Brody. But the "more authentic proposition for a beverage named after Bob Marley was not energy, but relaxation," he says.

The company markets the drinks at music festivals like the recent Gathering of the Vibes, in Bridgeport, Conn., a music, arts and camping festival. "I get asked on a weekly basis, 'Does this drink have ganja in it?' " says Mr. Brody. (It doesn't.) The drink's appeal is Bob Marley's brand, an association with reggae music and "hey, take time for you," in a world of busy schedules, he says. It contains camomile flower and valerian root extracts.

Drinking a sleep beverage "has to be better than Ambien," reasons Julie Duffy, an elementary school reading specialist from Clark, N.J., who drinks Neuro Sleep most nights to fall asleep by 10 p.m., instead of past midnight.

At about $2.40 a bottle, the bright orange bottles filled with melatonin and other ingredients are more expensive than the melatonin powders she tried, but it "tastes great," like "those orange drinks at McDonald's," she says.

Lionel Messi Stars in New "Live For Now" Pepsi Spot

Telekinetic Girl Terrifies People Before Their Morning Coffee in Stunt for 'Carrie' Remake

via http://creativity-online.com/

Telekinesis. It's cool when Professor X performs it. But it's terrifying in the hands of Carrie -- Stephen King's classic horror heroine.

Viral marketing agency Thinkmodo decided to scare the pants off unwitting consumers as part of its latest stunt, to promote Sony/Screen Gem's remake of the classic 1976 film. It turned 'sNice Coffee Shop in New York's West VIllage into a prank set, decked out with a fake wall, remote controlled chairs and tables, and a group of actors, who duped unassuming coffeebuyers into thinking a female customer's sudden fit of anger could defy the laws of nature.

Witnesses were taken aback by her reaction. Some filmed, some retreated, some stood frozen in place. And nearly 4 million people have experienced the event vicariously on YouTube since the video went live yesterday. The film, starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, comes out October 18.

Pepsi releases Orlando Magic 25th-anniversary soda can

 via http://www.orlandosentinel.com

Pepsi has released a limited-edition soda can that commemorates the Orlando Magic’s 25th-anniversary season.

The 12-ounce cans recently arrived in retail stores in Central Florida, and the cans feature the team’s 25th-anniversary logo.

The logo will be prominently featured in and around Amway Center this season. Players will wear the logo on a patch sewn onto the fronts of their jerseys.

PepsiCo is the Magic's soft-drink and salty-snack sponsor.

How Coke Teaches the World to Sing

via http://adage.com

It was back in the 1970s that Coca-Cola first announced it would "Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony)." That campaign launched an association with global music that has remained high on the beverage giant's marketing agenda ever since.

With two huge sporting events lined up for 2014 -- the Winter Olympics in Sochi and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil -- Coca-Cola is combining global marketing goals with local efforts, by working with artists from the country where the events are taking place. It will then reinterpret the songs to make them relevant to individual countries.

For example, for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Coca-Cola is using talent with local connections for its new song, "The World is Ours." X Factor finalist David Correy, who re-connected with his Brazilian mother on the show, teamed up with producer Mario Caldato to record the song.

Joe Belliotti, global music director for Coca-Cola, said the "five-note melody," the tell-tale "happy sound" that first appeared in the "Open Happiness" campaign in 2009, is the starting point for all of Coke's musical work. The brand, he said, also looks for artists that embody an "optimistic" sound.
For the FIFA World Cup, he looked around and found that there wasn't a lot of Brazilian sound in popular music. And since the event is happening in Brazil, it was an "opportunity for Coke to bring that to the world, and bring the world closer to Brazil." He began with Rio percussion group Monoblanco, and then convinced the Brazilian-born Mr. Caldato to "translate" the sound for international markets. The ensuing rhythm is an amalgamation of sound, from samba, to ballet funk, to techno brega.

The FIFA World Cup trophy is touring 95 destinations in 86 countries, and Mr. Correy will be performing in "quite a few" of those countries, as well as appearing on local media, in an effort to connect with young audiences.

Coca-Cola's is planning on a global rollout of "The World is Ours," creating versions in different languages, often using talent with whom the beverage giant already has a relationship.
Mr. Belliotti said, "Football is a very emotional sport. People are passionate about it and about music. The soundtrack helps the marketing connect with the audience and brings people to the event who might not be as passionate about football. We will also be leveraging our Spotify partnership at different moments, although Spotify is not in all the countries."

Coca-Cola has also signed up local Russian talent to create an anthem for the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia, with a message encouraging people to come together for the event. The two artists -- rapper Levan "L'One" Gorozia and pop singer Vika Kotorova -- are not known outside the host country and are still working to create the final version of the song.

Joshua Burke, VP-global account director at Music Dealers, an international music licensing agency that works with Coca-Cola, said, "The artists will perform on the torch relay at Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. The campaign is focused on Russia, and it's all about togetherness -- Sochi is such a small place, we wanted to build the campaign and get everyone in Russia excited. We are also looking at bringing in more outside collaboration and maybe bringing in a consumer remix to bring people together on a more emotional level."

Eric Sheinkop, CEO and co-founder of Music Dealers, said, "The focus is to get it right in Russia and then to get it right in the rest of the world. We usually keep the emotional relevance by bringing in local artists that consumers have a connection with, not a global pop star. It's a song that's built to travel and get you moving."

Watch: Big Boi, Future And B.o.B Close Out Vitaminwater's #Uncapped Music Series

via http://www.vibe.com



Last night, Atlanta was in the building full force for the final installment of FADER and Vitaminwater's #uncapped concert series. B.o.B took the stage at The General Society Library with a performance of "Strange Clouds." Then, to the crowd's surprise, he was joined by fellow ATLien Big Boi during his performance of "Nothing On You" and "Shoes For Running." Then, Future added to the stream of surprises by hitting the stage to perform "Ready," "Bugatti" and "Honest." Watch the memorable performance above.

PepsiCo Launches Aquafina Enhanced Water Brand Just for Teens

via http://www.brandchannel.com

It was probably inevitable that a bottled-water brand eventually would be aimed squarely at the teenage cohort that is becoming more and more enamored of the segment as they supplant the Pepsi Generation. And now PepsiCo's own Aquafina brand has been first to jump on the idea.

PepsiCo has unveiled an expanded, revamped lineup for its Aquafina FlavorSplash brand with an eye toward attracting 13- to 19-year-olds to the billion-dollar product line, the company toldAdvertising Age.

"We haven't done an awful lot with the trademark, aside from pure water," Simon Lowden, CMO for Pepsi Beverages North America, told the publication. "This is a space that's really interesting, and one that's set for future growth."

As is the case with their use of smartphones and digital technology, fashion, and in so many other areas, American teenagers are finding their own groove in their beverage preferences as well. Soft drinks are nearly passe. And while sipping Starbucks still lends a patina of adulthood and energy drinks fuel many occasions, simplicity and healthfulness have become the watchwords for many teen beverage purchasers.

Mixed in with fun, that is. So Aquafina FlavorSplash are candy-colored sparkling beverages accented by similarly colored labels with oversize, casual fonts calling out the flavors' names, the magazine said. Kiwi-strawberry, for instance, is "Color Me Kiwi," while "Peelin' Good" is an orange-citrus flavor. The sparkling flavored water contains B vitamins and zero calories, and the line also extends to liquid drink enhancers, ala Kraft's MiO, which are also calorie-free. 

Lowden wants the products to appeal to teens while also having the nutritious halo that will get their mothers to buy the product for them. And of course, in one form or another, FlavorSplash's customers will keep on trying to repeat that pattern—especially the second part of it—until it just doesn't work anymore.

Coke Brings Green to Gray Office Park World With New Surprise Stunt

via http://creativity-online.com




Remember that scene in "Pretty Woman," in which Richard Gere's character seeks clarity by walking around the park barefoot? Well, kicking off your shoes can be a nice little break in the day -- at least Coca-Cola and Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam seem to think so. In the latest installment of its "Where Will Happiness Strike Next?" campaign, they've brought a little of that green to the boring, gray office park world with "Roll Out Happiness." The effort brings insta-park to the suit and tie set, unravelling a familiarly-shaped lawn for passersby to relax on. Along with the grass, there are also (surprise!) vending machines dispensing the soda, but in order to get the Coke, people will have to kick off their shoes.

This isn't about world peace or even sharing, per se, but it is about bringing people together for a break. And breaks are important.

Verve energy drink turning college students into sales force

via http://nypost.com

School is back in session and dorm room refrigerators are once again stocked with energy drink favorites like Red Bull and Monster.

But in recent years, a third brand, Verve, is trying to elbow its way into student life.
The brainchild of Benson K. Boreyko, the founder and CEO of Vemma, a nine-year old multilevel marketing company, Verve is two years into a marketing plan that focuses on young people selling the caffeine-rich drinks.

While Vemma is far from the first company in the $30 billion direct-selling industry to enlist college students to hawk their product, its marketing strategy of trashing college as a pathway to success may be.

Boreyko also uses fancy cars like BMWs and Mercedes to lure students. He has top salesmen arrive at recruitment meetings in the flashy wheels and the message is clear: in just a short period of time, you, too, can be driving this car.

“College doesn’t guarantee anything but students loans,” 23-year-old Alex Morton, one of two salesmen who launched the college drive about two years ago, told a Las Vegas recruiting session last spring.

“You can be driving a new BMW within 90 days,” Boreyko boasts in a YouTube video. Vemma gives its top distributors, which it calls brand partners,” a bonus of $400 towards a monthly payment on BMW, Mercedes or a mini-Cooper.

Boreyko told The Post the college-focused marketing campaign amounts a young people’s revolution of those unhappy with this “crappy economy” who are willing to try a new approach to making a living.

He declined to give the total number of participants, but said 745 people have earned the car bonus.