The most recent ads for Las Vegas
The originals were brilliant. Adult. Sophisticated. Clever. Engaging. The ones they're doing now are awful. Silly and stupid. What went wrong? Are the same people still in charge? How does a great campaign go so bad so fast? Too bad!
Fast Company List of "The 100 Most Creative People in Business"
Two advertising agency people are listed. Has there ever been a more loud and clear warning signal for an entire industry? The agency model is in very serious trouble. This is not a business that you want your son or daughter to get into. Trust me.
FiOS TV
Just got it. Verizon has hounded me for weeks to sign up. I finally succumbed (shows you again how important it is to be persistent in your marketing). It was a good call. Beats regular cable and satellite by a mile. And it costs less! You need to check it out. Why didn't the cable companies do this first?
Star Trek Movie
OK. I'm a closet Trekkie. Have been since high school. But the PR and marketing build up to the movie's release was brilliant and then the movie lived up to the hype. Kudos to the marketing team. Of course, brilliant products are always the easiest to market. But it's also a huge danger to over promise and under deliver. They got it right with this movie.
Retro Pepsi
Real sugar instead of corn syrup. What if the world likes it better? Can they really go back to the modern version? This will be interesting to watch. Could be a brilliant move or could be a major marketing blunder. Time will tell.
Fiat and Chrysler
Did you ever think you'd see the day when Fiat ("Fix it again, Tony") would be the savior of one of America's major automobile manufacturers? Will Fiat save Chrysler or will Chrysler ruin Fiat? If Mercedes couldn't fix Chrysler, why do we think Fiat can?
Cheerios and Cholesterol
How many of you ever really believed that eating Cheerios in the morning would lower your cholesterol? I guess they forgot to tell us that it only works if you substitute the Cheerios for the cheese omelet with bacon and sausage and buttered toast that you were eating.
Microsoft and Apple
Why doesn't Microsoft make Apple versions of all their software? Do they really think this is going to hurt Apple? Microsoft is simply missing an opportunity. It's time this silly practice comes to an end.
Showing posts with label Pepsi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pepsi. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Coke's Brand Strategy for Colas - How Times Have Changed!
Here's an opening disclaimer: I used to be in charge of cola marketing at The Coca-Cola Company back in the late 80"s and early 90's. I helped make Diet Coke the success it was in the early 80's when I managed its advertising while at one of Interpublic's agencies. Therefore, I'm probably not completely objective about what Coke is doing these days, but I also know a lot more about their brands than the Average Joe.
Here are some of the things that puzzle me about what Coke is doing.
1. Coke Zero is directly positioned against brand Coke.
The Coke Zero ads feature two bogus brand managers who try to be funny while communicating the message that Coke Zero has stolen Coke's taste. The target of the advertising seems to be Coke drinkers who they are trying to switch to Coke Zero. Huh? Unless the brand economics make Coke Zero a lot more profitable than Coke, why would Coca-Cola want to introduce a brand with the apparent purpose of simply cannibalizing the mother lode? What happened to competing with Pepsi? I don't get it.
2. Diet Coke has become what Tab used to be.
Now that Coke Zero is on the scene, Diet Coke has ben re-positioned squarely and only against women. Diet Coke became a success by breaking the "Diet" stigma and convincing cola drinkers that it tasted good enough for everybody - men and women. It was launched "Just for the Taste of It" with advertising that was broadly targeted and definitely NOT diet focussed. Coke invested in that strategy for about 20 years. They must have spent a billion dollars on it, literally. In the last few years, it's "never mind." What a titanic waste of money! As someone who devoted years of their life to building the Diet Coke brand, I REALLY don't get it.
3. Coke's advertising is a mess.
Is it my imagination or does every single Coca-Cola ad now try to equate the brand with lofty things like "goodness"and the environment and education? The brand is taking itself so darn seriously now that it's no fun. It's become this pompous overblown brand that relies on high tech animation techniques and other whiz-bang effects because it is without a core brand idea that is fun and relevant. Every so often they stumble onto something that people like (remember the Polar Bears) but that's been more luck than strategic marketing acumen. Pepsi has finally got it right again, returning to the basic Pepsi Generation positioning that makes that brand young and fresh and fun and relevant. Coke's advertising is bloated, too self-important and increasingly irrelevant (and Coke Zero is helping this happen!).
Over the years, I've watched Coke be a revolving door for marketing people and advertising agencies and brands. The guys at the top find scape goats and they dodge the bullets and continue to blunder along. Coke is still one of America's great brands in spite of all the recent incompetence. Maybe, one of these days, they'll figure things out and get the brand back on track.
Here are some of the things that puzzle me about what Coke is doing.
1. Coke Zero is directly positioned against brand Coke.
The Coke Zero ads feature two bogus brand managers who try to be funny while communicating the message that Coke Zero has stolen Coke's taste. The target of the advertising seems to be Coke drinkers who they are trying to switch to Coke Zero. Huh? Unless the brand economics make Coke Zero a lot more profitable than Coke, why would Coca-Cola want to introduce a brand with the apparent purpose of simply cannibalizing the mother lode? What happened to competing with Pepsi? I don't get it.
2. Diet Coke has become what Tab used to be.
Now that Coke Zero is on the scene, Diet Coke has ben re-positioned squarely and only against women. Diet Coke became a success by breaking the "Diet" stigma and convincing cola drinkers that it tasted good enough for everybody - men and women. It was launched "Just for the Taste of It" with advertising that was broadly targeted and definitely NOT diet focussed. Coke invested in that strategy for about 20 years. They must have spent a billion dollars on it, literally. In the last few years, it's "never mind." What a titanic waste of money! As someone who devoted years of their life to building the Diet Coke brand, I REALLY don't get it.
3. Coke's advertising is a mess.
Is it my imagination or does every single Coca-Cola ad now try to equate the brand with lofty things like "goodness"and the environment and education? The brand is taking itself so darn seriously now that it's no fun. It's become this pompous overblown brand that relies on high tech animation techniques and other whiz-bang effects because it is without a core brand idea that is fun and relevant. Every so often they stumble onto something that people like (remember the Polar Bears) but that's been more luck than strategic marketing acumen. Pepsi has finally got it right again, returning to the basic Pepsi Generation positioning that makes that brand young and fresh and fun and relevant. Coke's advertising is bloated, too self-important and increasingly irrelevant (and Coke Zero is helping this happen!).
Over the years, I've watched Coke be a revolving door for marketing people and advertising agencies and brands. The guys at the top find scape goats and they dodge the bullets and continue to blunder along. Coke is still one of America's great brands in spite of all the recent incompetence. Maybe, one of these days, they'll figure things out and get the brand back on track.
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