After spending 10 days in the Bay area I was really struck by the number of 20-somethings (or younger) carrying reusable water bottles in a personal act of going green. Wherever I looked — on the streets of the city, on the slopes in Tahoe, or at the field of a local lacrosse game — colorful refillable bottles were everywhere.  The city of Portland is making a huge commitment to this initiative by offering access to tap water in 52 locations. Clearly this is a trend that shows no signs of abating on the west coast and who knows how far it will travel. Good news for manufacturers of the bottles but not so much for companies like Coca-Cola who manufactures Dasani (plant based bottle or not). Still, I am not certain reusable bottles will translate well throughout the country — especially in a city like Atlanta that has really awful tasting tap water. (more…)

”Costco is committed to carrying name brand merchandise at the best possible prices. At this time, Coca-Cola has not provided Costco with competitive pricing so that we may pass along the value our members deserve,” said a message on the company’s Web site labeled ”Price Alert!” Ouch. Playing hardball with a beloved brand that is readily available to your customers at competitive pricing is a bold move. Who will win? Don’t bet against that famous logo. ”This is not going to bully Coke into changing its pricing strategy,” said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest. ”I think Coke is going to basically be focused on the right price and right market for its products, no matter what.”I love my Costco but I think they have finally have lost their way.  (more…)

This little story explains alot.  A few years ago, the then-director of research and development for Starbucks, Lawrence Wu Jr., participated in a food-industry conference, where he gave a presentation on the coffee company’s method for determining what new products could be included under the Starbucks brand. It was “important to understand what product is at the core of your consumer’s mind,” he said; for Starbucks, the bull’s-eye on the target was barista-made espresso and fresh, brewed coffee. On the first ring out from the bull’s-eye were all the fancy “personalized beverages,” such as a venti-half-caf-no-foam-skinny-latte. Further from the core were the Frappuccinos and other blender drinks, and further still were the “out of store” products, such as coffee liqueur and ice cream. But finally, Mr. Wu said, you get so far from the core of the business that you’re simply “off the target” altogether, with “products that do not build the value or equity of the brand.” So destructive of the brand were these products that they would only be explored if the revenues from them were “necessary for the survival of the company.” What product did he point to as the canary in the coffee mine? Instant coffee. Mr. Wu called it “a product of last resort.”  (more…)

When Diet Coke says “just for the taste of it,” apparently they mean business. The new Diet Coke Kitchen is something to behold. Even as a hard core Diet Coke user, I thought it might be a bit of a stretch. Still, trying to elevate Diet Coke beyond a beverage to a life style is a an interesting strategy and one that feels in tune with consumers.  Guess I’ll go tool around in the kitchen.  (Diet Coke Kitchen)

The July Fourth holiday is when the fireworks go off for beer marketers, but this year it proved a distinctly damp squib. Despite a flurry of new and improved ad pushes for the country’s leading brews, the days leading up to Independence Day, usually the biggest-selling period of the year for the category, led to gruesome sales declines vs. the same period last year. The trends appear to be driven by suds guzzlers trading down. Subpremium beers such as Busch, Natural Light and Keystone posted substantial gains.  (more…)