Coca-Cola's anti-obesity advert comes to the UK

Tonight on Channel 4 Coca-Cola is launching it's 'Coming Together' campaign advert in the UK. The advert aims to highlight Coke's lower calorie options and the importance of a healthy lifestyle. The TV advert will be accompanied by a marketing campaign in newspapers and magazines.

The advert is very similar to the anti-obesity video that Coke have already launched in the USA with the same soundtrack and imagery, except there is no dialogue in the UK version.

In the USA, the ad received mixed reactions, with some people claiming it was brilliant that Coke were finally admitting that they have played some part in the current obesity crisis and see it as the start of an apology. However, much of the responses have been negative:

"The ad is an astonishing act of chutzpah, explainable only as an act of desperation to do something about the company’s declining sales in the U.S.," says nutritionist and food industry expert Marion Nestle on her blog, Food Politics.

To whit, Coca-Cola says that the ad is part of their “ongoing commitment to deliver more beverage choices … clearly communicate the calorie content of its products.”
In other words -- an ad in the truest sense, meant to publicise certain products.


In the video Coca-Cola make the statement that  "All calories count, no matter where they come from, including Coca-Cola." This quote has caused controversy as studies have shown that the calories from drinking high calorie drinks like Coke actually have a greater effect on weight gain and obesity compared to other calories.

This controversy explains why Coco-Cola have decided to scrap the dialogue in the UK version of their advert. Through the use of imagery and music they are making a point about the issue of an unhealthy lifestyle and diet without actually making any claims - making it more difficult to criticise their message.

I think it's a step forward for all communications when a company begins to be honest about their products and bad health effects they may have. Coke's ad will hopefully pave the way for more transparent marketing and PR campaigns in the future. But unfortunately, this advert does not fill me up with a fuzzy warm feeling about the brand.

Read more about the new advert on Marketing Week.

Bodyform responds

Pretty late on the bandwagon here but I love this video by Bodyform - it shows how having a bit of fun with people's tweets can be really successful.

Another example of this is when O2 found themselves in a twitstorm crisis after their mobile network went down. O2 took a humorous approach to some of their responses which took everyone by surprise and resulted in thousands of retweets in favour of O2...

It's important for companies to take a friendly and human tone on Twitter where appropriate - everyone likes a funny guy.

Best and worst times to post on Facebook

According to these figures the best time to post on Facebook to get the most reads is at 10pm on a Saturday night and the worst is at 4am on a Tuesday morning.

Wesker & Son Human Butchers

A new pop-up butchers has opened in Smithfield Market London selling fake but extra gory human body parts that is set to shock many. The butchers has been opened to help publicise the release of the new Resident Evil game and I'm sure it will be successful at causing a stir - I will definitely be going there to take a look. This is a really creative PR stunt and I'm sure this will pick up tons of coverage.

The London Riots: should brands carry the blame?

A recent independent report into the riots last summer has claimed that 'aggressive and excessive' advertising by brands is one of the underlying reasons for disorder. The report included a survey that found 85% of people asked felt that advertising puts pressure on young people to own the latest brands. Young people define themselves through brands and that half of the offences during the riots were through greed claimed the report.

I agree that younger generations are becoming more and more materialistic and a lot of the unrest was caused simply by opportunist looting. However, to claim that brands have played a part in the cause of the riots is ridiculous.

The report recommends that brands do more to help a repeat of the riots in the future by incorporating community support schemes into their CSR policies. Regardless of the riots I think this is something that brands should take the initiative to do anyway. The problem is, many of the brands that are so highly valued within youth culture are luxury American brands that will have no interest in associating themselves with could-be rioters. At a time where the government are encouraging spending our way out of the economic crisis - I don't believe this report will have an affect on the way brands advertise to young people but I hope it does encourage organisations to do more to benefit local communities.

After all, it's personal.

Starbucks is the largest coffee house company in the world with 19,435 stores in 58 countries. Due to Starbucks mass-scale success they have often been the subject of negative PR. During Starbucks rapid growth in the early 2000s, they were criticised for driving out smaller coffee firms with fierce tactics. Starbucks have suffered from many controversies since they started business which is why they now know the importance of PR as a strategic business function.

Starbucks latest strategy is to ‘listen’ to their customers and then coincide this with a marketing campaign. Through customer feedback Starbucks found that UK coffee drinkers liked their lattes stronger and decided to put an extra shot of coffee in every latte. This move has gone hand-in-hand with in store promotions claiming ‘it’s personal.’ Starbucks now write every customers name on their cup and promise to make the drink perfect, if it isn’t they will make it again until it is.

Listening is an important aspect of business and making customers feel special will make them come back again and again instead of going to one of Starbuck’s competitors. This strategic move will no doubt add to Starbucks continuing success as the world’s largest coffee shop.

Game Over

The struggling high-street shop GAME has announced that it intends to go into administration.

The gaming industry has had a tough 12 months, with no new console releases and no reason for gamers to hit the stores, what has been described by GAME as a "cyclical low point in the industry." After buying out 'Gamestation' in 2006, the company have 1,275 stores worldwide, including 600 in the UK. GAME was reaping the benefits of new game and console releases, with fans queueing over night to buy 'Call Of Duty' and other block busters until the market came to a halt. It is now predicting an underlying pre-tax loss of about £18m for the year to the end of January.

The latest big-selling game release was 'Mass Effect 3' yet GAME were unable to stock it as supplier Electronic Arts would no longer do business with them. The company have admitted that buying into Game Station may have been an over expansion in hindsight.

It's not just GAME that have been struggling on the high-street, many other shops are being threatened by online websites such as Amazon and Play.com and supermarkets pose a real threat with their discount prices. Gamers are opting to download games instead of owning a physical copy, following the footsteps of the music-industry. The gaming industry will need to look for a solution where they can embrace the digital world and use it to their advantage.