Category Archives: Consumerism

McDonald’s Makes Modifications

Consumerism,

It seems like McDonald’s has finally caved in to pressure.  The word on the street throughout the western world has changed from enjoying every morsel one eats no matter how unhealthy it is, to fighting obesity with every bone in our bodies.  McDonald’s has pretty much had no choice but to chime in and has done so in a very dignified way with its new Happy Meal, due out this coming September.

The portion of French fries will be significantly smaller, but will be supplemented by a quarter cup of apple slices. The apple slice addition has sort of been offered recently.  But it was called Apple Dippers as it came alongside a caramel dip.  The dip will be discarded in the new meal. Still in the Happy Meal will be the choice of cheeseburger, Chicken McNuggets or hamburger but the new meal beverage choice will include fat-free chocolate milk and 1 percent low-fat milk.

By the first quarter of 2012, McDonald’s hopes these happy meals will be available in all its 14,000 restaurants around America.  There are more goals ahead.  According to an article in AdAge, in the next nine years, McDonalds is going to be putting in significantly less sugar, fat and calories via “varied portion sizes and what the company called reformulations.”  Indeed, already the foods offered made from chicken have undergone a 10 percent decrease in sodium and by 2015, the company hopes its sodium in general goes down by 15 percent.

On average, these changes will result in a 20 percent calorie reduction of the chain’s “most popular” Happy Meals.  This is a huge change since Happy Meals comprise 10 percent of all of the chain’s orders.

Coca-Cola Conquest

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Coca-Cola just reported a rise in profit of 18 percent, rendering their profit margin to $2.8bn in the second quarter, as compared to last year.  The demand from China for the beverage went up to 24 percent.  Sales of the carbonated beverage also escalated somewhat in Europe.

At the same time however, what might be a tad surprising (and disappointing) to Coca-Cola consumers, is the fact that according to a recent BBC news article, the company is planning on elevating prices on its drinks “to reflect higher costs” it has been incurring.  Fanta and Sprite will also be included in this price change that will result in a 3 to 4 percent addition.

Coca-Cola Growth Targets

More good news for Coca-Cola came in a statement from Muhtar Kent, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive.  He said that the company’s results were “well ahead of [its] long-term growth targets.”  He added that the company was “delivering these strong results at a time when global macroeconomic conditions are at best mixed.”  This is great news for the company.

US Slowdown

North American sales of Coca-Cola have dropped somewhat, possibly since the predictions for “US consumer demand remains uncertain amid a weak labor market.”  Further, volatility encountered in commodity markets has been seen as a possible reason for the continuation of increasing prices for both packaging and sweeteners.  Coca-Cola thus feels its own pricing must reflect this.

Coke-Changing Colors

Consumerism, ,

Get Ready Canada

In Canada, Coca-Cola is going through a change. It is getting being prepped for summer with its new colored cans.  According to a recent article in Marketing Mag this move began a couple of weeks ago and has the cans being sold with a cool “thermosensitive ink” which reacts when the temperature of the can is “cold enough to drink.”

According to the beverage’s Quebec brand’s marketing manager, Denis Fertlatte, the reason for this new marketing strategy is as follows:  “The summer season is very important for both the soft drink and beer industries. We need to stand out and innovate to grab consumers’ attention and interest. Moreover, summer, with its warm and sunny weather, is the time to focus on the refreshing aspect of our product. So we came up with this new can.”

Coca-Cola Copy Cat?

There has been however, some slight criticism about the move; that this strategy has been used by other beverages already. But Ferlatte argued that even though the same technique was indeed being used he insisted that Coca-Cola Canada was “neither in the same category or targeting the same clientele, so we’re not worried about the comparison.”

This cool idea is to be found on a 335 ml can of coke in which a “white class Coke bottle turns red when the liquid reaches 8 degrees Celsius.”  But get in there fast since these will only be for sale until Labour Day.

 

Search Engine Energy

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These days, it seems that search engines are the way to go. According to research undertaken by Pew Internet & American Life, on an average day, 60 million American adults are using search engines. These figures – from 2005 – are substantially more than the last figures the survey took, which was 2004 which was 30 percent. In real figures, according to a report detailed in Marketing Today this means that in 2004 there were around 38 million users and a year later, 59 million users (more than a 50 percent jump).

Understanding Internet Activity

What does this mean in terms of Internet activity? Search engine use is creeping up to email use (although the latter is still in the lead, since on a typical day, more than half of US Internet users are either sending or receiving emails). According to Pew Internet Project director Lee Rainie, “most people think of the internet as a vast library and they increasingly depend on search engines to help them find everything from information about the people who interest them, to transactions they want to conduct, organizations they need to deal with, and interesting factoids that help them settle bar bets and backyard arguments.”

Marketers and Web Tools

According to VP of comScore Networks, James Lamberti, “the evolution of search engines as everyday consumer Web tools has made them a vital resource for marketers.” He added that search engines are a primary way of accessing consumers “during the buy cycle.” But in addition to this, they present the opportunity for “consumer profiling, segmentation, and measurement of product demand.”

Potter Partnership Produces Pottermore

Consumerism, , ,

Rowling and Sony Bond

Sony has joined up with J.K. Rowling, the authoress made famous by the Harry Potter series. The two heavyweights have developed Pottermore, which is Harry Potter’s new online home. According to a recent article in the UK’s Marketing Week, the goal of Pottermore is “to keep the franchise alive beyond the release of the final film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 next month.”

Hurry to Harry’s Home

Pottermore website users will not incur any fees to enjoy a visit to Harry’s home, so those who are big fans, need not wait a moment longer before entering this exciting virtual adventure. Digital agency TH_NK was employed to design the online experience that’s aim was to “complement reading the series of seven Harry Potter books.” As well, for true Potter fans, they will have something else to enjoy since Rowling has now produced additional material about the books’ characters, places and objects that appear in all the stories. According to her, these are set to: “inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books.”

Get Shopping

For those looking for other ways to financially support the Potter industry and get as much as they can from Potter world, Pottermore is a great place to visit too as there will be a store on line for fans to “exclusively purchase the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks. The site is due for launching in a few months, in October and will begin with the following languages: English, French, Italian, German and Spanish – with more set to follow later on.