Diet Coke Reveals Designs from JW Anderson Collaboration

via The Drum

Coca-Cola has unveiled the designs for its Diet Coke/ JW Anderson collaboration, which were inspired by the designer's autumn/winter 2015 collection. 

Launched at an event in London last night (30 July) the collection includes two limited edition aluminium bottles in red and blue and pink and grey, which echo Anderson's 'Vesuvio' graphic. 

The bottles feature an imaginary Italian postcard scene incorporating pixelated shapes. Hyper-realistic photography gives a three dimensional effect mimicking Anderson’s signature knitwear. 

The collection also features two t-shirts, a tote bag and premium notebook.

Commenting on the designs Anderson said: "I'm constantly looking for new challenges and Diet Coke enabled me to raise the bar and bring a different approach to the design of its iconic bottle". 

The collection forms part of Diet Coke’s ‘Regret Nothing’ campaign, which aims to inspire
and empower people to embrace their impulsive side.

Honest Tea Tests Honesty in Miami

via Miami New Times 

The nation’s top-selling organic bottled tea company Honest Tea is at it again – using signature brews to test the honesty of cities across America. This year Miami will be the first city to kick off their 2015 National Honesty Index social experiment with a kiosk somewhere in the city on Friday.

The idea is simple – an unmanned booth will be set up in an undisclosed location selling tea for $1 on the honor system. Honest Tea will track the number of people who pay for and steal the tea to determine how honest citizens of Miami – and Americans across the country – really are.

Last year Honolulu was ranked the most honest city in the U.S., and overall women were found to be slightly more honest than men. For 2014’s survey, 95 percent of Americans were deemed honest, up from 92 percent the previous year. Miami ranked 28 with a 95 percent honesty rate, right on par with the national average. Once all the experiments for 2015 are completed, the honesty information will be released in its annual report.

The pop-up store will be open from 9:30 am until 5:30 pm. If you happen to spot the kiosk today, do the right thing – pay a dollar, indulge in a tasty thirst-quencher, and get our city in the news for finally doing some good.

Mountain Dew and Doritos Kick off "Fuel Up for Battle" Campaign

via BevNet

PURCHASE, N.Y., July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Mountain Dew^® and Doritos^®, the ultimate fuel for gamers, are once again teaming up with Activision Publishing, Inc. for the latest installment in Call of Duty^®, Black Ops III, which hits shelves worldwide on November 6. For the first time, the ‘Fuel Up for Battle’ program will offer fans exclusive Double XP in the highly-anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies mode, ‘Shadows of Evil.’

The Zombies mode in Black Ops III features its own XP progression system for fans – a first for the Call of Duty^® franchise – adding greater depth and more re-playability to the Zombies gameplay that players have come to expect. Starting in early October, fans in the U.S. can collect codes from specially marked packages of DEW^® and Doritos products to redeem points and earn up to 30 minutes of exclusive Zombies Double XP per day as well as the chance to win other great prizes.

“DEW and Doritos are excited to take the ‘Fuel Up for Battle’ program to a new level by giving gamers for the first time Double XP in Zombies mode,” said Greg Lyons, vice president of marketing, Mountain Dew. “Gaming is in our brand’s DNA, and partnering with Doritos to bring one-of-a kind gaming promotions and exclusive opportunities to our fans is something we are very proud of.”

“The DEW and Doritos ‘Fuel Up for Battle’ promotion is another example of PepsiCo’s strength in building integrated food and beverage marketing campaigns,” said Jeff Klein, vice president of marketing, Frito-Lay. “We are delighted to engage consumers with exclusive experiences through our unmatched brands in combination with blockbuster video games.”

Mountain Dew is bringing back tried and true gamer-favorite – Mtn Dew Game Fuel Citrus Cherry – and a new flavor – Mtn Dew Game Fuel Berry Lime – for a limited time only. Both products will hit shelves in the U.S., starting October 5 and will also be available via online retailers all year long.

Fans can also participate in the ‘Fuel Up for Battle’ promotion by purchasing any 3.125 oz. specially marked bag of Doritos Nacho Cheese, Doritos Cool Ranch, Doritos Spicy Nacho, Doritos Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings, Doritos Jacked 3D Jalapeno Pepperjack flavored chips, or 3.75 oz. Doritos Dinamita Chile Limon flavored chips, beginning October 5.

Following the launch on October 5, fans can visit www.DewandDoritos.comfor complete details and rules of the ‘Fuel Up For Battle’ program.

Pepsi Max Ramps Up Music Strategy Ahead of Festival Season with YouTuber Stunt

via The Drum

Watch: One Hour Entourage at the EDC Music Festival | Pepsi Max | Genius. #LiveForNow

The first stage of the activity kicked off this month at EDC Festival where Pepsi Max and Jones alongside celebrity stylist Alexis Knox pulled off the One Hour Entourage stunt which saw the team offer a VIP 'entourage' experience to festival goers each hour. 

The Pepsi Max Entourage team gave revellers a full VIP style transformation and access onto a private viewing platform, as well as a butler, a party girl, security, a digital manager and a photographer– who all assisted in providing whatever festival goers requested.  

Commenting on the experience, Jones said: “Giving people fun and unexpected experiences is what I love doing, so it was great to be able to put some of my skills to the test in a different, festival environment with Pepsi Max.”

The drinks brand said it is taking a "bold new approach" to festivals and music for 2015, building on current music activations including the Pepsi Max music platform 'Out of the Blue' in the US which brings fans together to experience live music. 

Speaking at the launch in February Eric Fuller, director, Pepsi marketing called music "a critical element of Pepsi's DNA," and said 'Out of the Blue' will amplify its role in music culture.

Johnnie Walker Targets Newbie Whisky Drinkers With Technology

via Ad Week

From loopy virtual-reality experiments to prankvertising stunts, bars are the new hotspot for marketers to run tech-based initiatives.

Now, Johnnie Walker and agency Iris Singapore have built an interactive website and tablet app that doubles as in-bar entertainment. It's part of the whisky brand's "luxury mentoring" program that educates millennial consumers about the brand at high-end bars and tasting events.

The idea is that bartenders and sommelier-style staffers can better explain—with an iPad in hand—the Scotch whisky's ingredients and heritage to customers who can actually see and taste it. For example, people learn about Johnnie Walker Blue Label's five flavors—wood, malt, fruit, spice and peat—by clicking through a series of scenes.

The Scotland-based marketer is rolling out the experience globally this year, with events already planned in South Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. In Istanbul, the brand recently projected the website on LED walls to make it feel like people were inside a scene. And in August, it will light up a 360-degree dome in Malaysia.

Check out the video here to see how it works.

Coca-Cola and Jetblue Share A Campaign (And A Coke)

via Fast Company

In the latest Coca-Cola "Share a Coke" venture, generosity is rewarded with more than a warm feeling. The soft-drink maker partnered with JetBlue for a stunt at New York’s Penn Station, rewarding sharers with the gift of travel.

Watch Share a Coke with Humanity

The two brands set up a vending machine in the middle of the station and dished out two Coca-Colas to anyone who ordered one, while signs encouraged folks to give the second one away.

And those who did were captured on camera (including obligatory confused looks), until a JetBlue crew member approaches, telling them that for their act of generosity they would get two round-trip tickets. The machine itself dished out 150 transactions (or 300 bottles of Coke), and according to the company approximately 70% of people gave that second bottle to a stranger (presumably, at least some of the others who walked away with their Cokes also shared them out of sight of the agency's cameras).

It’s not the first time the soft-drink brand has partnered with an airliner to give away free trips. Last year, Coke paired with Canada’s WestJet, (also known for gifting unsuspecting people) encouraging passengers to create custom cans for friends and family. Those who did, got a free plane ticket, with the barcode printed on the side of the can.

Watch WestJet & Coca-COla: #shareacokecanada

Coca-Cola kicks off Rugby World Cup sponsorship with Coke Zero

via Marketing Magazine

Coca-Cola: kicks off Rugby World Cup sponsorship with campaign and ball giveaway

Coca-Cola has kicked off its sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup, which will see the soft drinks giant lead activity with Coke Zero, the first time it has ever led a sports deal with a no sugar drink.

In line with Coca-Cola's "one brand strategy", all cola variants will feature in the campaign but Coke Zero will be the 'heroed' product - the first time the company has put a no sugar variant in the forefront of a sports sponsorship campaign. 

The campaign will comprise TV, OOH, and on pack promotions that will see it give away up to one million Rugby World Cup 2015 Coca-Cola Gilbert replica rugby balls. 

The brand will roll out "hundreds" of free, rugby-inspired events across the country throughout the summer including touch, tag, rugby-fit and rugby-inspired dance classes. It has also partnered with charity StreetGames to put on pop up rugby sessions. 

It has also released an "inspirational film" featuring two Rugby World Cup winners; 2003 England player Jason Robinson and Natasha Hunt, part of the 2014 England Women’s Rugby World Cup side.

"We want to use our sponsorship to help take the sport of rugby to an even wider audience, hopefully inspiring people to get involved in the Tournament and have some fun," said Paul Dwan, general manager of Coca-Cola’s Rugby World Cup 2015 team. 

In March, the business announced a major shake up of its marketing approachtowards a "one brand" strategy. Since May all Coca-Cola variants - including Coke Life, Diet Coke and Coke Zero as well as the original brand have been advertised together. The move was designed to lend "brand equity" to the lower and no sugar variants, and, Coca-Cola claimed at the time, effectively doubled marketing spend for these brands.

Pepsi Celebrates World Emoji Day With More Emoji

via Fast Company

Sometimes when communicating non-verbally, like over text, the right words to express your true emotions fail you. There are times when only a smiling little pile of poo will do. Thankfully, there are emoji, those colorful little symbols that, in a single image, express everything from delight to fear to disgust to dizzying love—not to mention whatever mischievous emotion prompts people to include a little poop in their message.

 Watch "Proposal" here

With roots in Japan, emoji have tipped over into the mainstream and have become an important, and amusing, part of the digital lexicon. Studies have looked at emoji preferences around the world (Canada tops the world in poop usage, which sets my patriotic flames alight), brands have created campaigns using the characters, and even the White House is down with using tiny pictures to convey its message. Emoji have become so popular July 17 has been declared World Emoji Day.

Not one to miss out on a cultural moment, Pepsi has created an entire program around emoji, which will be released globally on World Emoji Day. The brand is releasing a 35-character emoji keyboard, which is designed to evoke the Pepsi logo as well as fill gaps in the emoji lexicon; a short film, which tells an endearing and universal story with images to show how emoji can exist outside of the digital space; and is calling on fans to suggest new emoji by tweeting their ideas at #PepsiMoji.

"Over time emoji have become the universally understood language of emotion," says Brad Jakeman, President, PepsiCo Global Beverage Group. "The unique thing we’re doing with emojis is taking them out of the digital world and grounding them in the physical world and allowing consumers to have the kinds of conversations they’d have with emojis when they’re actually together."

While "Proposal" demonstrates the physical use of digital icons, the PepsiMoji have been literally translated to the real world in Canada where they can be seen on cans and bottles as part of Pepsi’s #SayItWithPepsi promotion.

Jakeman says when taken at face value #Sayitwithpepsi is a celebration of emojis, which ties into what World Emoji Day is all about. But launching this program in Canada has other strategic benefits. Aside from having a high penetration of mobile usage, he cites statistics that suggest Canadians are also emoji-crazy: nearly 71% of Canadian consumers use emojis every day and 45% of Canadian consumers have installed an emoji keyboard on their phones, says Jakeman. Plus, Canada is multilingual.

"As we think about how to scale this program, Canada is one of the few nations where it has more that one official language so this is a place we can really test the global appeal of emojis as an universal language of emotions that transcends linguistic barriers," Jakeman says.

This campaign is not Pepsi’s first emoji-based initiative. In March, the brand enlisted artist Yung Jake to create portraits of its Pepsi ambassadors—such as Usher, Serena Williams and Usain Bolt—out of emoji. But Jakeman says this global day dedicated to the icons was the right time to put a Pepsi spin on the visual language.

"Emojis have been around for quite some time and we spent a lot of time talking about "why now?" Jakeman says. "One of the things that Pepsi has been historically adept at, is figuring out when something is right at the appropriate moment in the consumer zeitgeist. The fact that World Emoji Day is for the first time becoming this broad phenomenon that it’s expected to be just shows you how we believe we got the timing right."

Jonathan Anderson To Design Diet Coke Bottle

via Fashion Times

Designer Jonathan Anderson has partnered with Diet Coke to design a range of bottles inspired by the knitwear from his fall 2015 collection. The bottles are part of the diet soft drink's new Regret Nothing Campaign and will be revealed in July.  

"I view Diet Coke as a pop-culture icon so I was excited to have the opportunity to put my stamp on Regret Nothing," Anderson, the designer for Loewe and namesake brand JW Anderson, told British Vogue on Wednesday. "You can expect something completely different with lots of cool surprises."

According to the publication, Anderson has also designed two T-shirts and a notebook as part of the launch of Diet Coke's new campaign. A limited-edition collector's box set of Anderson's Diet Coke bottles will be available £ 24.95 (or about $39 at current exchange) from Harvey Nichols stores in the U.K. beginning August 17. Single bottles will be sold for £1.95, or $3, WWD reported.

The Diet Coke x JW Anderson collection will mark the first time that Diet Coke has used photography on its bottles.

"Jonathan Anderson's regret-nothing attitude helped him achieve outstanding success, so we feel very excited to be working with him," Bobby Brittain, GB marketing strategy and activation director for Coca-Cola, told British Vogue. "This collaboration is unlike any of Diet Coke's previous designer partnerships so we can't wait to unveil what will truly be an inspiring fashion-forward collection."

Previously, designers Jean Paul Gaultier, Patricia Field, Marc Jacobs, Matthew Williamson and Karl Lagerfeld have collaborated with Diet Coke. 

Anderson and Diet Coke launched a one-minute video in anticipation of the collection. "What I like and what inspires me is the idea of using photography," Anderson says in the short film. The designer also said he wanted to make the bottles "something that you wanted to touch. It's the perfect form." 

You can watch the short Diet Coke x JW Anderson video here

Mountain Dew Green Label Films and Brain Farm Announce the World Premiere of "We Are Blood"

via Transworld Business

    

View the official Trailer for "We Are Blood" here  

PURCHASE, N.Y., July 14, 2015 – Mountain Dew^® Green Label Films in association with Brain Farmannounced today that WE ARE BLOOD – the highly anticipated film about skateboarding – will premiere onAugust 13, 2015 in Los Angeles in conjunction with the start of the Dew Tour L.A. stop.

The world premiere of WE ARE BLOOD will be held at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.  One encore screening will also be featured at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on Saturday, August 15. Tickets will be available at the Ace Hotel box office.
Directed by Ty Evans, the feature length film stars professional street skateboarder and DEW^® athlete Paul Rodriguez as he and other top skateboarders travel the world, pushing the limits of what’s possible on a skateboard and celebrating the unconditional bond created by the simple act of skateboarding. With staggering cinematography, state-of-the-art cameras and unique perspectives that lend to a cutting-edge, progressive skateboarding experience, WE ARE BLOOD takes viewers through Spain, Brazil, China and Dubai, thanks to the support of film sponsor XDubai, as well as on a classic road trip across the United States.

Vince Staples Discusses Leadership In Sprite "Obey Your Thirst" Documentary

via Hip Hop DX

The Long Beach, California rapper says why it's important to have a voice.

Vince Staples is featured in Sprite's "Obey Your Thirst" documentary series with Fader. The Long Beach, California rapper talks about being his own leader.

"It gets kinda cluttered when everybody's trying to follow the leader," Staples says, "and the leader doesn't even know where they're going. None of us know where we're going. All you can do is follow that gut feeling."

Staples also discusses his upbringing.

"Nothing's harder than what I had to do growing up," he says. "It's important to have a voice speaking for where I come from because I never had one. Without that voice, all of this is for nothing."

Watch Episode 3 of "Obey Your Thirst" here.

Send a Tweet to Coke's Digital Billboard, and It'll Tell You Fun Facts About Your Name

via AdWeek

Following up its clever drinkable billboard for Coke Zero, Coca-Cola has launched another eye-catching outdoor idea, this time in Times Square.

The new billboard continues to build off Coke's name-obsessed "Share a Coke" campaign by showing fun facts about the names of people who tweet to the sign.

At the heart of the display is a microsite that Coke and Google created together to pull in facts about the 1,000 names the soda company has printed on its cans and bottles this summer.

For example, people named Ben learn that the name has starred in 1,618 movies since 1986. Also, 2 percent of the world's Katies write stories for a living, according to Google's data. (And one of them works here.)

After a name is typed in, a handful of digital facts about the person's name flow across the screen out of an animated bottle of Coke for a few minutes.

To bring that same experience to its outdoor billboard in Times Square, Coke enlisted Clear Channel Outdoor to build a campaign that is activated through Twitter. Fans who tweet with their name and the hashtag #Cokemyname are populating the billboard in real-time.

Per Clear Channel Outdoor, once someone fires off a tagged tweet, it is displayed on the big screen within two minutes.

Then, a webcam set up across the street automatically snaps a picture of the person's name. Coke's social media team then tweets back the photo to the person within one hour. The idea is that someone doesn't need to be in Times Square to take part in the campaign.

"That potentially then seeds more social sharing amongst your Twitter followers [and] social impressions," said Sean McCaffrey, Clear Channel Outdoor's svp of national client strategy and partnerships. "It's the interesting convergence of the mobile, digital and physical worlds."

The activation has been live for two weeks so far and has served up roughly 200 custom messages per day, with the billboard itself being the only media promoting the campaign.

Last year, the soda giant's campaign included a simpler experiential component, where people could text in their names to light up a board. But with more out-of-home advertising moving towards digital, Clear Channel Outdoor says this year's campaign is different since it stems from an online concept.

"[It's] a really interesting use case for us that we've been trying to show advertisers for the last several years on how to create and use this platform that we're building," McCaffrey said.

You can buy EDC 7 UP Cans and More on eBay

via Review Journal

One of our favorite bands, Sunny Day Real Estate, is named after this opportunistic notion that if someone could figure out a way to make a profit from peddling cloudless days, they would. Well, clearly, that hasn’t happened yet, but everything else seems to be for sale – and with healthy markups at that.

Witness the trio of colorful cans of 7up pictured above. We picked ‘em up this morning at Cardenas. As you’ll notice, the green container is a commemorative EDC can emblazoned with Insomniac’s owl, while the other two star a pair of EDM stars, the red one featuring elder statesman Tiesto and the yellow one depicting the emerging talent known as Martin Garrix. Cost us less than five bucks. Here in Las Vegas, these bad boys can be had at pretty much any grocery store. (By the way, nice work there, 7 UP, for being all, “We’ll see your Obey Your Verse, Sprite, and raise you a Tiesto and Garrix.” Double props for the selfie contest.) On eBay right now, meanwhile, there are a half dozen listings touting these cans, the cheapest one we found offers four cans and a 2-liter bottle for $1.25, and the most expensive so far offers three cans (including a green version of the Garrix can) for $15.95 plus shipping.

At that same supermarket here in town, where you pick up a couple commemorative cans, you can also – or you could last week, rather – snag copies of the EDC-themed editions of the Las Vegas Weekly and Seven Magazine. If you haven’t seen them, both magazines were nicely put together and had great covers and content. They were also free. Somebody is now trying to sell those for $14.99 and $1.99, respectively.

We haven’t had the time yet to go through the listings more thoroughly to see what else could be had, but we did happen to notice that a foldable, complimentary EDC map from the festival is also listed for $9.95.

We’ll keep on these and let you know if they happen to actually sell (one listing has four people “watching” the auction). In the meantime, we’ve got some dust left that we can extract from our sneakers, which contain trace amounts of the actual soil from the speedway where EDC is held if you’re interested. How’s ten bucks sound?

Coke Has Removed the Logos from its Packaging in the Middle East to Encourage People Not to Judge Each Other

Via Business Insider

Coca-Cola Middle EastCoke cans in the Middle East will carry no logos during the month of Ramadan.

Coca-Cola is removing its logo from its cans of soda in the Middle East to encourage people not to judge one another.

The no-label cans will run throughout Ramadan. One side is blank, other than the brand's iconic coloring. The other side reads: "Labels are for cans, not for people." We first spotted the cans on Campaign India.

Coca-Cola Middle EastCoke wants to encourage people not to judge one another based on their appearance.

The campaign, created by FP7 and Memac Ogilvy, launches with a film (watch it below) that depicts a group of strangers who have been invited to a dinner party in the dark. The men chat about various subjects and what they have in common. When the lights come up, it reveals a diverse group: A guy with facial tattoos, two men in Arab dress, a man in a wheelchair, and another man in smart business dress.

The group members are then asked to reach under their chairs, where they pull out the Coke cans and their "Labels for cans" messaging.

Coca-Cola Middle East

In a statement, Coca-Cola explains the thinking behind the campaign: "In a time when equality and abolishing prejudices is a hot topic for discussion around the world, how does one of the leading brands like Coca-Cola join in the conversation? In the Middle East, during the month of Ramadan, one of the world's most well-known labels has removed its own label, off its cans, in an effort to promote a world without labels and prejudices."

The Middle East campaign ties in with Coke's global "Let's take an extra second" push, which encourages people to forget stereotypes and take the time to get to know people better.