Though some musicians and singers may feel against putting out corporate jingles, nonetheless Coca Cola has secured their presence in the mass transit system to increase their brand awareness in a seemingly integrated way.  There will also be Coke-emblazoned logos on London Underground public transportation, as well as the carrying out of Coca Cola Great Britain’s two phased campaign.  The first phase, ‘anticipation’, starts the airing of the famous “Holidays Are Coming” T.V spot to let it be known that Coca Cola has started the Christmas countdown.  The second phase, ‘celebration’, adds the ‘Gift of Giving’ 30 second commercial two weeks before Christmas that brings about the message of generosity and traditional values to a modern-day audience.  Additionally, print ads reflecting a 1930’s holiday feel will be implemented to evoke the Christmas warmth in everyday contemporary settings.  Once again, the United States beverage giant is putting its foot down on the competition near end of the year to tell everyone just how much more Coca Cola is  the cola of choice.

“Coca-Cola has a rich history in festive advertising and for many, our iconic ‚ÄòHolidays are Coming’ campaign has become synonymous to the festive season. We’re really looking forward to again building anticipation and celebration with our through-the-line campaign during this wonderful time of year, whilst rewarding our consumers for their continued loyalty.”

– Cathryn Sleight, Marketing Director of Coca-Cola Great Britain

And some enticingly interesting creative from Coca Cola in France that employs velcro posters for promoting their Grip Bottle which surprisingly resulted in a 3.8% brand volume growth for 2008.

Their Reactions…

These ideas that people have unconsciously imprinted in their minds about concepts/objects are the result of culture, history and the national identity of a country. It is these very ideas that markets and advertisers use communicate to their target markets. However, many times they fail. Its because they don’t know the “code”.

An easy, entertaining breezy read, Clotaire does a great job of communicating to his audience. A psychologist by education, his insights into human behavior are captivating. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning about the close relationship between business and culture.

***** (5 Stars)

Sure, today’s 20-inch iMac uses 55 percent less material than its first-generation, and Apple says that they are able to ship 50 percent more boxes in each airline shipping container just by redesigning packaging. These are all great things for the environment, but what does it have to do with advertising or branding?

Be Green! Be environmentally conscious. That is the trend right now.

Other than the fashion industry, the advertising industry is next in line when it comes to being trendy. It would be like missing Black Friday sales for these corporations if they don’t take advantage of the hype to be friendly to Mother Nature.

As for Apple, not only did they make their environmental footprint completely public on their website, they also provided a lot of information behind why all these improvements matter and how they are beneficial. By doing so, they have managed to make this information play a larger role in how a consumer chooses between brands. Personally, this information has led me to think what impacts I am making on the environment even as I type this article and that is one of the goals of advertising: to completely change or improve the way a consumer views a product in hopes of influencing the choices a consumer makes.

For those that have already sworn loyalty to the Apple products, this step probably amplified their pride of being a Mac at least 500 percent. Mac users are some of the most passionate people about technology and gadgets out there. What better reason to up that passion a little more and further the spread of what I like to think of as the Appledemic?

I think I’m getting infected. Are you?

While in the Atlanta airport on this fateful night (2am pacific time), I happened upon a strange and unexpected sight. A Reebok store. It’s amazing that for most of us, we know what Reeboks are: we know what they look like, what their logo is, and how available they are, yet most of us don’t own a single pair. We probably haven’t owned Reeboks since our childhoods. Recently, however, Reebok has found the small strength that they have left in them and they went for a hail mary. In non-football terms, they saw that their competitors with solid, recognizable brand identities such as Nike (Just do it.), and Adidas (Impossible is Nothing), are winning on the home-front among consumers because they are constantly propagated in every outlet of media with consistent and powerful brand messaging. Not to say that Reebok doesn’t have a unique brand, but their message clearly wasn’t strong enough to compel consumers to buy their products over their competitors. However, with this new push from Reebok, and hopefully a stronger push of more stores throughout the nation’s upscale shopping malls, the ailing company will be able to rebuild their brand. If you aren’t already familiar with the brand messaging behind Reebok, look at their early 90s ads of “Reeboks let U.B.U.”. While they weren’t the best or most compelling ads, they established a certain feeling that Reeboks are custom to you. The message being that with a large variety of styles, individuals of all personalities can find shoes that match them.

Of course, all of this can be quickly discounted to say that Reeboks are much more popular on the East Coast, namely the New York area, where they even have a Reebok themed Sports Club/LA (the most upscale gym). What we Californians will see in the future is a strong push by Reebok into our daily lives, where they should hope to stay.