Archive for October, 2009

Fewer calories, smaller can

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Old soft drink signs
Photo by Photocapy

Photo by Photocapy

Photo by Photocapy
This is an innovative move on Coca-Cola’s part. By introducing its well-known carbonated drink in a smaller size, the soft drink giant is ensuring it resonates with consumers who are watching what they eat and how many calories they’re consuming.

The 7.5-fluid-oz can is red with a white image of a Coke bottle, and will be available in eight packs. Other brands will be available in 90-calorie cans, including Sprite, Fanta Orange, Cherry Coca-Cola, and Barq’s Root Beer.

The new can will roll out in Washington, D.C. and New York City in December and is expected to launch throughout the rest of the country by March 2010.

But Coca-Cola isn’t alone in marrying portion-control with a package overahaul. According to Mintel’s Packaging Trends in Food and Drink – U.S.- March 2009 report, some brands are taking a holistic approach to health and completely overhauling their packaging to better convey the product’s health qualities.

  • Kraft’s Crystal Light brand has introduced environmentally friendly beverage packaging that features a new 1-quart packet size in the 8-quart canister. The new design helps consumers control how much they want to drink. A window on the front of the canister also shows when packets are running low.

In addition to introducing the 90-calorie mini can, Coca-Cola has announced plans to display calorie information on the front of most of its beverage packages, including Sprite, Powerade, and Full Throttle. This tactic will resonate well with soda drinkers, as they will be able to see how many calories are in their favorite drink so they can adjust their diet accordingly.

Coca-Cola is giving consumers who have moved away from traditional CSDs a reason to come back: portion control. But the interesting – it’s cute! – packaging is also giving its brand fans something new – both to talk about and to consume.

Our portfolio

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

It’s hard to compress fifteen years of work into five minutes but I think my little Sunday afternoon project turned out well. Sorry to all my clients I didn’t include. Perhaps there will be a video #2. Enjoy and be sure to check out our new YouTube channel.

“Dynamic…Inspiring…Not for the faint of heart”

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

CATAPULT-COVER_tammy-210x300Here’s what Lewis Miller of Office Source observes about my new book:

I don’t know about you, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to ignore a pattern in the stream of business advice out there these days – namely, that now is a wonderful time to set yourself apart from the competition by making a really bold commitment to being the best!

I saw it again recently in a dynamic little book by Robert L. Butt entitled The Catapult Effect: Using Short-Term Crisis to Catapult Long Term Success. In this inspiring book Butt urges all of us to tap the entrepreneurial spirit within, rally the troops and “pull out all the stops” to blast holes in the fortress that’s keeping us from our goals.

It’s not advice for the faint hearted, that’s for sure. But my own observations confirm that, during the last twelve to eighteen months, some customers have abandoned their usual suppliers due to cuts in service, and a “stripped down” approach that seems to reduce value. Are you and I among the companies getting new customers as a result – or are we among those seeing declines?

What are your observations? How are you taking advantage of the current climate? And how can we help each other “load up” our catapults? Your comments are welcome below.

And Robert Butt’s book is available as a free download from his website: www.marketingperformance.net Enjoy!

You can find Lewis’ blog here

A quick word about the competitive environment

Monday, October 12th, 2009

icearrow“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”– or at least they did Karen Carpenter as I grew up hearing her sing the song.    Today is Monday and it’s pouring rain.  I’m actually writing this blog article to waylay my having to go out and get wet delivering some printing jobs to clients.  In my mailbox this morning I found a short email about competition.  It conveyed some simple thoughts.  See what you think about them.

  • “How good am I?” is the second question that every business owner must answer. “How good are my competitors?” is the first.
  • Like it or not, your competitors set the height of the bar you must jump.
  • It’s a weary old saying, but true, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

And as venture capitalist I knew once told me, “We learned quickly that the most important predictor of success is determination. At first we thought it might be intelligence. Everyone likes to believe that’s what makes startups succeed. It makes a better story that a company ‘won’ because its founders were so smart.  But while it certainly helps to be smart, it’s not the deciding factor. There are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who achieve nothing.”

So, essentially making money is easy:

  1. Sell what people want to buy
  2. Offer it at an attractive price
  3. Occupy a high-visibility location
  4. Wave your arms and draw a crowd

Maybe you can’t have all of those, but I have never seen the combination fail.  Need some help?  We’re here.