Beverage brands in the social media space

via http://www.bevindustry.com

As social media continues its prominence across the globe, companies are investing more effort in connecting with fans through this resource. According to McKinsey & Co., 70 percent of all companies around the world use social technologies, with 90 percent of these companies reporting some business benefit from them — and the beverage industry is no exception. Although experts note that social media can be a vehicle for promoting product sales, brands also use the platform to cultivate a relationship with their fans in these online communities.

According to New York-based Unmetric, efforts to increase beverage brands’ social media reach are paying off. The social media benchmarking company reported that Nestlé’s Nescafé brand, The Coca-Cola Co.’s Coca-Cola brand, and Monster Beverage Corp.’s Monster Energy brand each gained approximately 4.7 million, 2.3 million and 1.5 million Facebook fans, respectively, in March 2013.

Once connected with fans on Facebook or other social media channels, brands use varying techniques to keep consumers participating. Below are some examples of how beverage brands have kept the conversation flowing in social media channels.

Get in on the action

In February, the video, dance and music craze known as the “Harlem Shake” hit the Web. By the end of the month, more than 500,000 individual “Harlem Shake” videos were posted online, together amassing more than 200 million views, according to Chicago-based Cision. Brands that moved fast enough to create their own “Harlem Shake” videos earned a piece of the social media attention.

With the help of brand ambassador and NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, PepsiCo garnered more than 6.7 million YouTube views as of May 28 as well as Unmetric’s distinction of top “Harlem Shake” video by a big brand with its “Harlem Shake (Jeff Gordon Edition)” video, which launched Feb. 14 on YouTube. The video features a dancer in a racecar driver helmet dancing in an auto body shop later joined by a full dancing pit crew and a Pepsi Max-branded car. 

Red Bull USA also joined the action with its “Harlem Shake (Skydive Edition) — The End” video. Posted on Feb. 19, the video features a team of skydivers dancing in a plane and in the air to the techno tune. Unmetric named Red Bull’s version the second most popular “Harlem Shake” video produced by a big brand. The video garnered more than 6.2 million views as of May 28.

Start a conversation

Harnessing the power of social conversation, some wine brands hosted Twitter chats surrounding celebrations of National Moscato Day on May 9 and National Chardonnay Day on May 23.

Gallo Family Vineyards (@GalloFamily) hosted an hour-long national Twitter party to connect Moscato drinkers across the country. From 9 to 10 p.m. EDT on May 9, participants gathered and shared hosting tips, food pairing suggestions, wine facts and simple messages about enjoying the wine varietal by joining the conversation using the hashtag #MoscatoDay. 

Wente Vineyards, which positions itself as the “First Family of Chardonnay,” connected with fans and wine consumers across the country in a month-long celebration of the Chardonnay varietal. Beginning a month before National Chardonnay day, Wente Vineyard’s Twitter handle (@Wente) updated its profile picture to a themed image for the occasion and tweeted facts about the varietal. On May 22, the brand’s fifth-generation winemaker Karl Wente (@KarlWente) hosted a “#SommChat” on Twitter with Keeper Collection (@KeeperColl), a group dedicated to cultivating interactive, online dialogue from leading wine personalities. The Chardonnay celebration culminated with a live toast at 4 p.m. PST on May 23, connecting fans around the globe on ToutSuite Social Club, a live video streaming site.  

New Gatorade Spot - One More

Pepsi Signs All Star Robinson Cano

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via bloomberg.com

Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees signed an endorsement contract with PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), his first sponsorship deal since joining the athlete representation firm started by entertainer Shawn “Jay Z” Carter.

Terms of the accord weren’t disclosed by Roc Nation Sports spokesman Ron Berkowitz. PepsiCo, the world’s largest snack food maker, is an official sponsor of Major League Baseball and Pepsi has been MLB’s official soda since 1997.

Cano, a free agent after the 2013 season, fired agent Scott Boras in April and is now co-represented by Roc Nation Sports and Creative Artists Agency. The All-Star second baseman leads the Yankees at the All-Star break with a .302 batting average, 21 home runs and 65 runs batted in.

Jay Z’s wife, Beyonce, appears in Pepsi commercials. He was certified last month by the National Basketball Association and the MLB players’ unions to negotiate contracts.

Honest Tea tries experiment in honesty

via  http://www.wtop.com



Crates of chilled tea sit unguarded in a public space. It's another muggy summer afternoon.

Refreshment beckons, but what's the catch?

No one is collecting payments. 

But people out of view are making note of the upright and the cheapskate. This tea is entirely on the honor system. A see-through box sits atop a pedestal. The sign below reads: "PAY HERE $1 EACH." The Honest Tea company takes this informal experiment to 50 states and 62 cities. The intent is to highlight the most-and least-honest cities. This week the tea showed up in Bethesda and in D.C.'s Dupont Circle.

"It's actually a lighthearted social experiment where we put the honor system to the test," says Patrick Jammet, director of field marketing for Honest Tea.

"We have people hidden around the area," he says, pointing to young people with tablet computers on park benches. "They're tracking not only whether people are buying or stealing but certain attributes about them."

The observers are marking things like gender, facial hair, sunglasses and hats. In past year, Jammet says 90-92 percent of people picking up a bottle of tea paid the $1. At Dupont Circle, that trend seemed to be holding true.

"I think a lot of the good things people do are out of some sense of guilt or 'I might get caught if I don't do something nice,'" said a woman who just put a dollar in the box.

One figured she was being watched by a camera. Another worried about Karma. The "Honesty Index" for the Washington area will be out later this month.