Pepsi Plans Additional Price Increases

Similar to Coke, PepsiCo plans on more price increases on its products this summer to balance the offset of rising commodity costs. Consumers are still recovering from the economy and budgeting their necessities versus their desires; such as soda and snacks. After PepsiCo received a new sales volume, there was a renewed price push due to rising sales in snacks and beverages in North America. Consumers should expect rising prices on PepsiCo products by summer.

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McDonalds has fun with Vancouver

To promote their new breakfast lifestyle, McDonald’s had a little fun in Vancouver, by launching a few installations like this street lamp.  They also offered free coffee for 2 weeks to guests who came in.

Diet Dew Supernova

The fans have spoken! The new permanent part of the Mountain Dew family will be Diet Dew Supernova, a Strawberry Melon flavor. Diet Dew Supernova won the brand’s Fan-Dew-Monium Diet Dew Challenge after consumers had the chance to try 8 new potential flavors. In the end there were two top flavors left, Diet Dew Supernova and Voltage. These drink went on sale for a limited time in early March. Supernova came out as the winner with 55% of the votes from an online poll.

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Special Report: 2011 Soft Drink Report

The carbonated soft drink (CSD) category has lowered in sales across the nation by 1.3% according to Nielson ratings. Despite this decline, specific brands have managed to increase profit during this lull. Coke Zero and Sprite are some of the brands to have been able to maintain a small percentage of positive growth. The Coca-Cola Brand has recently been garnering positive results. While their staple sodas, Coca-Cola and Diet Coke, have lowered in market, they have still been able to capture the top 2 positions in sales. Pepsi has dropped to the 3^rd position, however, their Pepsi Max brand has received positive growth. Dr Pepper Snapple Group brands are up in the market and have received growth throughout the year. Unfortunately, 7 UP, Sunkist, and A&W  declined while Crush and Canada Dry grew double digits for the year. Dr Pepper Ten is expected to spread across the nation soon and is anticipated to do well within the low-calorie category. New packaging inventions and health options are reformulating the industry to new paths of innovation. 

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Lipton launches new line of beverages with natural ingredients

Lipton Iced Tea, a PepsiCo partner, has recently launched the new 100% Natural Lipton Iced Tea. These Natural Lipton Iced Teas come with a new line of beverages with an all-natural ingredient list from the US. The line includes the four new flavors of Green Tea with Citrus and Iced Tea with Lemon, Iced Tea with Blueberry Pomegranate and Green Tea with Passionfruit Mango. Lipton currently has a line of teas called Pure Leaf which is an extension of the brand. This new line of ‘natural’ teas is an effort to appeal to ingredient focused health conscious consumers. Lipton will also be able to present a more brand focused image that will differentiate from the Pure Leaf line. Pepsi and Lipton also plan on expanding their diet portfolio with a new Diet Green Tea with Watermelon. 

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Coca-Cola Profit Rises 18%

Coca-Cola’s net income rose 18% during this year, however, the company is anticipating commodity costs could be as much as $300 million higher than expected. This estimate could potentially rise to over $400 million by the end of the year. Increased costs are due to high fuel costs and soaring prices for the plastic they use for bottling. With a lack of business in the East after Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, Coca-Cola is projecting a negative hit of three to five cents a share. In order to solve these looming threats to Coke’s business, they will be raising prices by 3% to 4% this year in large markets. They will attempt to sell more drinks in convenience stores which already present higher drink prices in comparison with supermarkets. A recent increase example is the 1.25 liter bottle of Coke selling for 99 cents in the supermarket, the same price a 2 liter bottle used to cost. 

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Life-Altering Vending Machine of the Day

PepsiCo is introducing their new Social Vending machine to the world. This machine creates an interactive experience for the consumer. A user friendly touch screen allows consumers to navigate through the drink options and either select a drink, gift a drink to a friend, or check out the Pepsi Refresh Project. One of the additional features on the Social Vending machine is the “Random Acts of Refreshment”, which allows consumers to give a free drink to a stranger in the city as encouragement.

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Privacy 2.0: We Are All Celebrities Now

Our culture encourages documenting virtually every aspect of our lives, yet our society still demands for increased privacy. Celebrities and politicians continually express the hardships of being in the public eye, yet it is this exposed public attention that is the essence of their livelihood. They choose the be public figures, and now with the tools that the technology has given us, so does everyone else. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and smart phones are all great tools for community building, however, they are also the media for exposing our lives to information-seeking companies and interested voyeurs. David Hector Montes, a former outreach director of the Pro Bono Research Group at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, states that social media's prevalence "has created a culture of over-sharing and blurred the lines between who is a public figure and who is not." Public figure categorization could potentially alter privacy laws since it is easy for everyone to proactively seek prominence. Simply put, the result of online sharing is a decrease in privacy. It is important for users to remain cautious of their actions to avoid negative repercussions from the public eye, however, infamy is just another method for achieving public figure status.

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Diet Pepsi - Beckham Tweet

Name of Company/Competitor: Diet Pepsi
Name of Campaign/Spot: Beach Treat
Date Launched: 4/11/2011
Description: While relaxing on a hot beach, Sophia Vergara decides she wants a cold Diet Pepsi, but the line is too long. She sends out a tweet claiming that she sees David Beckham at the pier. The crowd disperses. Vergara is able to freely order a Diet Pepsi and moves back to her seat. Suddenly David Beckham appears next to her questioning the commotion by the pier. She is speechless.
Media Details: TV

Review: Spurlock’s Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Morgan Spurlock, the documentary director of the acclaimed 'Supersize Me', has developed a new film entitled the Greatest Movie Ever Sold. The movie focuses on advertising and product placement within the film industry. While the documentary is entertaining, some critics offer little praise. At first, the movie seems to be a swipe at the advertising industry, however, it turns more into a commentary of how the entertainment culture is being controlled by brands. There is no direct point of view established and the film does little to address what needs to be changed.

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See Trailer Here