Author Archive
Coca-Cola revealed: a recipe for success
Breaking news: the secret Coke recipe has been found! On closer examination, it appears that this story is not new at all. In fact, it’s exactly the same story that featured on page 2 of the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 1979. That story broke after a local journalist took a photo of John Pemberton’s notebook, [...]
In: Brand communications, Food and Drink, Viewpoints · Tags: Coca Cola, Soft drinks
What effect would mind reading have on brands?
News that telepathy and mind reading are one step closer to reality in last week’s Telegraph got me thinking. How will our ever improving ability to understand what really goes on in people’s brains transform the way that brands are created, marketed and even consumed? If our progress in mapping – and manipulating – the [...]
In: Brand Experience, Technology, Viewpoints · Tags: Human brain, Research, Telepathy
Do we need Starbucks’ single estate coffee?
‘We mustn’t waste the opportunity of this crisis’. That was Barack Obama’s message to Americans in 2008. Some people thought that global belt tightening brought on by the recession would change consumer behaviour – for the better. We would be shocked into a more sustainable way of living. So what are we to make of [...]
In: Food and Drink, Luxury, Viewpoints · Tags: Coffee, Premium, Recession, Starbucks
Gone too far with a bar?
The latest offering from Marmite is being launched – or is it trialled – across London with a blaze of innovative and perfectly on-brand activity. The product is a Marmite Cereal Bar and the big idea is that the people from Marmite really are not sure if their new product is going to fly or [...]
In: Advertising, Food and Drink, Innovation · Tags: Brand stretch, Breakfast, Campaigns, Marmite
With great power comes great responsibility
There is a great article in today’s Times titled “Now Google is Goliath it really must grow up” focussing on the issue of trust which goes right to the heart of Google’s brand. As soon as there is any doubt about the fairness of Google’s searches and the incorrputibility of their privacy standards, the empire [...]
In: Corporate Identity, Viewpoints · Tags: Google, Trust
Conflicted Consumer: The Eco-quarreller
There is a great article in yesterday’s Times 2 about the emergence of ‘eco-quarrelers’ – couples, families and friends whose relationships are negatively affected by differing attitudes towards the environment and appropriate ecologically friendly behaviour. The article suggests that conflict arises because ‘adhering to green principles gives people a sense of moral purpose’, so when [...]
In: Sustainability, Viewpoints · Tags: Eco, Environment
Paw Ridge World
Cold weather plus new year resolutions equals an urgent search for a hot but healthy breakfast. This week, I found the answer in the most unlikely of places – Paw Ridge, a mountainous forestscape inhabited by a gang of friendly, fluffy characters called Marv, Derek and Chuckles. No, I have not lost my marbles, Paw [...]
In: Food and Drink · Tags: Breakfast, Kids
