Coca Cola Content 2020

Jonathan Mildenhall, Vice-President, Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence at The Coca-Cola Company is the person responsible for leading global creative vision and strategy for the Company's portfolio of global brands. In this video he explains how Coke will leverage the opportunities in the new media landscape and transform one-way storytelling into dynamic storytelling hoping to add value and significance to peoples lives. Jonathan describes the challenge of content creation in an enlightening way, reminding us that "every contact point with a customer should tell an emotional story"
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Part One
Part Two

An Example of Lazy Marketing (from RetailWire)

Oatmeal Brand Pays to Become 'Choice of a New Generation'

By George Anderson

RetailWire

March 16, 2012

This is serious stuff, but I have to admit getting a giggle out of it. So, let me break it down as succinctly as possible.

1. Quaker Oats, a division of Pepsico, is the brand leader in the oatmeal category.
2. MOM Brands, formerly Malt-O-Meal, has rolled out a line of new instant oatmeal under the Better Oats brand. By various accounts, the line has somewhere between and one and four percent share of the category.
3. Better Oats, in a search of slogans to raise its profile (and sales) in the marketplace, found that it could purchase "Choice of a New Generation," a message made famous by Pepsi back in the 1980s.
4. Pepsico let its rights to the slogan lapse in 2006 and didn't take legal steps to prevent MOM Brands from using it when it made a bid in 2009.
5. A number of articles have been written about the irony in a rival to a Pepsico business using a Pepsi slogan to compete against it.

As a Pioneer Press article pointed out, Better Oats is making much different use of the slogan than Pepsi did back in the 1980s. Where Pepsi ran spots starring Michael Jackson singing and doing the moon walk, the Better Oats commercials include a man in pajamas doing his own "song-and-dance tribute" to the oatmeal line

"We're launching this campaign without a fancy ad agency, celebrity spokesperson, or big advertising budget. We're crowdsourcing video content and are placing it online and on YouTube. We're getting word-of-mouth exposure through social media," said Linda Fisher, corporate communications manager for MOM Brands, in a press release. "Our Better Oats brand is bringing new, younger and more affluent consumers to the instant oatmeal category, and that trend, coupled with our non-traditional campaign, is why 'Choice of a New Generation' tagline is such a good fit."

My comment on the above:

I think it's lazy.

MOM Brands has a good product with a good story. The product and brands have plenty of attributes and benefits to design a compelling position for it. Instead, they have relied on a gimmick and sophomoric approach.

Even worse, if you will use a gimmick, do it right. The production values are awful -- as one would expect from crowd-sourced material -- and they will denigrate the brand.

Aside from industry folks, I can't imagine the consumer tying the slogan to Pepsi's efforts, and even if they did, there is no benefit to MOM Brands.

I don't think it's the retailers responsibility to build a buzz around Better Oats. If I'm a retailer, I just place it as an inexpensive alternative to Quaker Oats.

It's really a shame though, this is a product with an abundance of merits whose only competition is Quaker and private label products, MOM Brands could do better ... there is still time and you don't need a "fancy ad agency" just a professional one.

Copyright 2012, Carlos Arámbula. All rights reserved.

RetailWire: McCormick's Flagship Spices Up Retail

I contribute to RetailWire regularly. Please find the February 13, 2012 discussion for your perusal.
I'm not surprised I disagreed with most of the panelist on this.
http://www.retailwire.com/blog-post/cea90f5e-8a05-45ed-afbd-7faecd262aff/mccormicks-flagship-spices-up-retail

McCormick's Flagship Spices Up Retail

By Tom Ryan

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

McCormick & Co., the spice and flavoring company, plans to open its first store, McCormick World of Flavors, this summer at the popular Harborplace tourist attraction in Baltimore.
The 3,800-plus square-foot store will include interactive and educational displays to engage families. Shoppers will be able to determine their personal flavor profile and chart the origins of spices, among other activities. In a cooking demonstration area, McCormick's internal chefs and celebrity chefs will demonstrate recipes featuring McCormick flavors.
In addition to selling McCormick brand products for cooking, baking and grilling, the store will sell other McCormick brands like Grill Mates, Lawry's, Zatarain's and Old Bay.
"What better way to communicate what we do than to allow visitors to experience it personally," said president, chairman and CEO Alan Wilson in a statement. "It will show visitors how McCormick brings great taste to their lives — every day. You can see how our business, rooted in the exploration of the New World, has its sights on the newest frontiers of flavor."
The store is steps away from the site of the historic McCormick Plant and Headquarters that stood at 414 Light Street from 1920 to 1989. The facility was known for spreading the aroma of spices throughout the harbor. The company is now based in Sparks, MD."There is a wonderful historic link for McCormick to return to the Inner Harbor, and Harborplace is a perfect setting because it is such a popular draw for tourists and local residents alike to see the best of Baltimore," said Lori Robinson, McCormick vice president of corporate branding and communications.  
Many apparel and footwear vendors operate their own retail stores and food brands such as Nathan's, Starbucks and Ben & Jerry's have a grocery shelf presence as well. But it's rare for a food brand to have a flagship location. The most notable example is M&M, which opened a 25,000-square foot store in New York's Times Square in 2006 that was followed last year by a second location in London.

My comment on the above:

I would like to see more CPG brands develop stronger marketing and brands before opening flagship retail locations.

Brands like M&M, Hershey and Ben & Jerry's have very well developed brand personalities and strong relationships with consumers. Retail locations are simply an extension which allows them to further engage consumers. I don't believe McCormick & Co has developed its brands to the level of the aforementioned companies.

A spice store is a good idea; Penzeys (penzeys.com) in Los Angeles's Southbay is a great concept and it does brisk business. But it's worth noting that when I speak to fellow foodies about Penzeys, all of them mentioned the higher quality of products and superior alternative to grocery brands like McCormick.

CPG brands should refrain from building brick and mortar locations and focus on brand development and building that consumer relationship -- the brand's role in the consumer's life. If they don't, they will have to worry about brick and mortar brands like Penzeys entering the grocery aisles and taking their SOM.