If You Love The Bubbles, Set Them Free

Now, I am not a huge soda drinker.  I do have the occasional Sprite when I’m out for dinner, or Coke when I’m feeling reminiscent of my time abroad in Latin America, but I really don’t drink it all that often.  Maybe it’s because I’m a college student on a pretty strict budget and don’t have room for both Nutella and Pepsi in my diet.  But one thing I did grow up with, and have become more of an active drinker of now that I am out on my own, is sparkling water.

Within the past two years or so make your own carbonated drink machines became a more desired product.  A recent commercial by SodaStream (the leading company in make-your-own-soda) brings into question the competitiveness of SodaStream verses Pepsi and Coke, the worlds leading soda companies.  The commercial below was not shown during the SuperBowl as CBS rejected it.  With Coke and Pepsi being two of the biggest advertisers during the game, perhaps CBS didn’t want to risk their support.  SodaStream now has posted on their website “watch the SodaStream commercial they wouldn’t let you see during the big game”.

The commercial starts with two delivery trucks pulling up in front of a grocery store, one for Pepsi and one for Coke.  The deliverymen load up their carts and race to get to the door first, but before they have the chance their bottles explode and with a cut to a handsome man in a dark room, as he pushes down on SodaStream a voice intones, “with SodaStream, we could’ve saved five hundred million bottles on game day alone”.

SodaStream seems to have a lot going for them.  They are targeting sustainability in their use of reusable containers, saving money by making your own soda at home, and in a day in age where many people are questioning the health factors related to sugar sweetened beverages carbonated water looks pretty good.  You can make your own soda with this machine with added sweetened packages, but according to one YouTube video I watched they contain half the amount of sugar per serving than a normal liter of Coke.  Many people are also buying the SodaStream just for carbonating water.

It is a pretty smart deal for SodaStream.  The consumer makes an initial investment on the machine (about $80), and then has to refill the proprietary air tanks and if you’re making soda the SodaMixes, both of which you can buy at Target and Crate & Barrel.  I don’t know if it’s totally worth the money, but I do think that they are going to give Coke and Pepsi a run for their money.

With both of these two companies running on persuasive advertising, not necessarily new inventive products, and expensive costs SodaStream might be the semi- affordable switch consumers are willing to try.  Being able to make your own soda at home takes away some of the mystery soda implies, and if you can make it at home why buy it ever again?

NP 4/30

Open Happiness

Coca Cola wants to make the world a little happier.  Their advertising campaign “open happiness” has been around for some time now, but it was not until recently did I become aware of their unique and seemingly very popular guerrilla marketing technique, the happiness machine.

A creative twist on the standard vending machine, Coke began their mission to “spread happiness” at St. John’s University in New York.  It not only dispensed free bottles of Coca Cola, it gave out flowers, pizza, and a six foot long sub generating one million views in the first week and more than five million views on YouTube today!

Want to get an idea of what this magical vending machine did to a seemingly normal day at St. Johns?  Watch the video below…

After St. Johns they continued to bring this magical machine to many other college campus’s across the U.S. as well as around the world stopping in Singapore, India, Buenos Aires, Indonesia, and London – just to name a few!

I can’t help but be pretty impressed by Coke’s ingenuity in this project, and am personally drawn to their advertisements supporting their creative machine.  However I do not think that they have totally sold the rest of my age group, who some have labeled “the millennial’s”.

Public Relations Society of America states that millennial’s ages 23-36 “place high value on social responsibility, sustainability, and local, organic, grass-fed and hormone-free dishes” and tend to go for “higher-quality products and lots of choices”.

With this definition, Coke may not be the millennial’s number one beverage choice.  Coke has a reputation of pushing heavy duty sugary drinks and there has been a lot of discussion about how sustainable they really are (lots of plastic within their bottles…).

On the other hand, millennial’s are very Internet and social media savvy.  Having grown up with the Internet we like our information to be fast freely flowing, and Coke has done a good job keeping up to speed with innovative technological promotions, such as their new idea to have two users see each other and touch hands virtually through one of their special vending machines.  I consider myself to be a millennial and one thing I value is being a citizen of the world. The idea of connecting people across the globe is pretty cool (and current), and relates to my personal values.

I have to say, I am normally very opposed to Coca Cola’s schemes, but the happiness machine did work for me.  I caught myself smiling while watching videos of people accepting their free gifts… and did kind of wish they had come to my college campus as well!

WP 4/19

Jeff Gordan Test Driving It To The Max, Or Is He?

As an avid YouTube watcher I try to stay up to speed on all of the hilarious new videos gone viral.  This week I was surprised to see NASCAR driver Jeff Gordan promoting Pepsi Max in disguise running a prank on an unsuspecting car salesman, taking him for the ride of his life.  Gordan gets into a 2009 Chevy Camaro with a “can cam” (aka a camera disguised as a Pepsi can), and zooms off educing panic on the car salesman.  After taking the car for a few ridiculously fast spins, they return to the lot and the salesman storms off threatening to call the cops, but not before Gordan reveals the truth about who he really is.

A hilarious video, yet to my surprise it just came out that it’s not a true prank!  Gordan apparently did not drive the car, and the salesman was an actor.  That may be because it was a commercial.

Though it was well disguised as another prank video (hello punk’d), the video is indeed an advertisement for Pepsi Max.

Many are blowing the roof off of the video with detective like images and phone calls to the supposed salesman.  Jalopnik goes on a detailed look into the “truth” behind the video.  It has been discovered that the producers behind it all come from Gifted Youth, a division of Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die Company.  The company even wrote last spring in the New York Times that they “will create videos that are purely advertising, which marketers could run online, on television or in movie theaters. Those videos are more likely to be in the standard commercial lengths of 30 to 60 seconds”.  Though some may see this as deception, I can’t help but think of one thing.  Oh yea, all press is good press.

No matter if it is a true prank or not (or a true commercial or not), Pepsi Max get’s their product across in a creative and pretty hilarious way.  And as of today the video has been viewed over 30 million times!  If this isn’t good advertising, I don’t know what is!

NP 4/16

I Don’t Think You’re Ready For This Jelly

Beyonce is back! In a new commercial for Pepsi Beyonce gives us a preview of her new song “Grown Woman” while revisiting some of her previous music video persona’s through the mirrors of her dance studio.

As much as I obsess over Beyonce (yes I do have a Crazy In Love poster in my room and am having a Beyonce themed birthday party) having her be the spokesperson for Pepsi (after signing a $50 million dollar deal) makes me a little upset!  As a strong, powerful woman, and the role model to many girls, Beyonce has the power to persuade many people across the globe.  And for some time she was using her power for good as a spokesperson for the first lady’s health campaign “Let’s Move”.

In this music video, which has been shown in elementary and middle schools across the country, Beyonce revamps her classic “Get Me Bodied” and leads a cafeteria of students in a heart-pumping workout.  She looks great, and embodies a healthy and athletic persona, which may be close to the true Beyonce!  She even takes a bite out of an apple at the end of the scene, obviously making apples the desire of every little Beyonce fan in the world (including me).

However in this new commercial, after she breaks it down in typical Queen Bey form, she takes a long sip of REGULAR (not even diet!) Pepsi.  I’m sure that Beyonce drank a ton of soda after having a baby and still managing to look like this….

According to a press release from PepsiCo the new commercial will be appear in more than 70 countries worldwide and be scene by over 1 billion people worldwide.  With such a massive global impact I had hoped Beyonce would not sell out and would think of how her promotional activities directly influence her fans.  The Harvard School of Public Health has stated “a typical 20-ounce soda contains 15-18 teaspoons of sugar and upwards of 240 calories” and “people who consume sugary drinks regularly – 1 to 2 cans a day or more- have a 26% change of developing type 2 diabetes than people who rarely have such drinks”.

I am deeply disappointed in Queen Bey, and hope that the millions of young people who love her so are aware of the dangers of the consumption of sugary drinks.  What do you think, did Beyonce sell out?

NP 4/9

Canada Dry – Soda From The Earth?

Who knew that soda grows in the ground?  I sure didn’t.   But in a recent Canada Dry advertisement showcasing their signature Ginger Ale, a little girl running a farm stand straight up pulls a bottle ginger ale out of the earth!  Seeing that her farm stand is getting popular she takes to bigger measures and ends up pulling an entire truck filled with bottled ginger ale out as well and feeds her happy customers with soil grown soda.

Now though this advertisement does enhance their slogan of “Real Ginger, Real Taste” it is quite misleading when it comes to how much ginger really is included in their soft drink.

Real ginger does grow under ground like carrots, and grows a nice long stalk and can produce very pretty red flowers.  Though traditionally ginger drinks contain a lot of ginger, Canada Dry’s version doesn’t even list ginger on the ingredient panel.

When I looked into this I found some of Canada Dry’s frequently asked questions.

Q:  Why is “Made from Real Ginger” stated on Canada Dry Ginger Ale packages?

A:  Consumers told us that they wanted a carbonated soft drink made with natural ingredients, like real ginger while still delivering Canada Dry’s great ginger ale taste. Canada Dry has always been made with high quality, natural flavors— we are highlighting what consumers want to know.

“Consumers told us”.  By directing the question onto the consumer Canada Dry is reframing the blame of how much real ginger (cough none cough) is in their product.

Q: Why isn’t real ginger listed on the ingredient panel?

A: Real ginger is part of the natural flavors in the ingredient list.  Flavors are grouped together in the ingredient line under the umbrella of “Natural Flavors” to protect Canada Dry’s proprietary formula.

How interesting.  You’d think that a company that shows their soda coming straight out of the earth would have ginger featured on their ingredient labeling!  Another question…

Q: How much real ginger is in Canada Dry Ginger Ale?

A: That information is part of our proprietary formula and is not divulged.

If Canada Dry refuses to tell their consumers how much real ginger is in their product, who is actually going to believe that there is ANY ginger going in?

NP 3/26

The Real Bears

The iconic Coca- Cola bears aren’t too happy in this video.  “The Real Bears” is a slightly shocking animated film about soda from the point of view of a group of polar bears whose health decline with their increased intake of sugar sweetened beverages.

The film, which goes along to Jason Mraz’s song “Sugar”, was created by the Center for Science and Public Interest and is an entertaining way to go about attacking our nations obsession with sugary beverages.

With the bears drinking more and more soda, they start to deteriorate.  One even has to get a leg amputated…

The Center for Science and Public Interest breaks up the film with short facts stating the “truth” about sugary drinks.  Some facts such as “drinking one or two sugary drinks per day increases your risk for type 2 diabetes by 25%” and following with “diabetes can lead to erectile dysfunction” are disturbing and cut right to the cord of how harmful soda can be.   These logical inserts add a powerful educational and influential spin on this highly publicized topic.

The use of these facts intermingled in the comedic, yet haunting film, is an effective way to attack the problem.  The bears keep you entertained, yet truly are influential as they get diabetes, loose their sex drive, as well as their limbs all because of soda.

Every move in the film is well calculated and relevant to today’s discussion of sugar-sweetened beverages.  With New York City’s ban on super sized sugary drinks to the proposed sugar sweetened beverage tax, this film is yet another way of attacking what some think is a huge problem and one of the major causes of the obesity epidemic in America.

What do you think?  Are these bears helping fuel the fire or are they going to just be passed over by the millions of dollars that go into sugar sweetened beverage advertising?

NP 3/12

The Beyonce Bowl

On Sunday evening my house had friends over for the Beyonce bowl, I mean Super Bowl….

I do watch the Super Bowl every year but to be honest, I’m never really that interested in the actual football.  My attention is directed mainly towards the snacks, drinks, and watching the commercials about other snacks and drinks, and this year Beyonce!  I’m a pretty dedicated follower of Queen Bey, and knew about her performance a few months before the game.  However, I was surprised to see a lot of the attention she gained before the event in relation to her new collaboration with Pepsi.

Leading up to game day, Pepsi ran many advertisements featuring Beyonce’s lips painted as the Pepsi logo and promoted her halftime performance with a contest run out of Pepsi.com.

The first part of her performance was made up by contest entries sent into Pepsi.com by her fans making a collage titled “Frame By Frame”.  A very unique way to include fans within the performance, but the collaboration between Beyonce and Pepsi has many observers questioning what is really going on.  Many of Pepsi’s commercials have included famous artists (we will rock you with Pink, Britney, and Beyonce anyone?)

Now stated in a Times article, Pepsi has decided to partner with Beyonce to support her as a creative artist.  The partnership will not only include commercial advertising, but also a multimillion-dollar fund to support the singers chosen creative projects.  This shift in advertising seems to be following current trends and interests, as well as promoting their company as a supporter of independent musicians.  Their slogan “Live For Now” vibes along with the use of a current artist, who has been popular for many years and has a strong fan following, they are not only tapping into her fan base, but also into a generation that is highly influenced by current media.  An interesting relationship, but it seems like both sides will benefit!  What do you think about it?

MLW 2/5