Tag Archives: AdAge

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.

Coke Is, or Isn’t It?

Consumerism, Economy, ,

Pepsi V Coke: Who’s Winning the Marketing War?

Pepsi may have just missed the marketing boat. On the marketing ladder, it just now dropped to the third run from its previous no. 2 position, having been hoisted out by Coke’s diet version. According to a recent article in AdAge, for the first time in 20 years, “PepsiCo ceded the soft-drink category’s two leading share positions to its legendary rival.”

Pepsi Still Pushing

But Pepsi won’t be taking this defeat lying down. As reported in another AdAge article, the company’s marketing executive picture is being shaken up a bit, with the addition of three positions and a replacement for its CMO-PepsiCo Beverages America position. But the question being asked is, is this the answer? Some suggest this restructuring is going to give Pepsi a more “global approach,” pumping up its worldwide market share. As well, it needs to work on its American market which, while it is there Pepsi has its biggest presence, it has “been losing ground.” Indeed just last year the beverage’s “share of the soft-drink market fell 0.4%, allowing Diet Coke to push past it as the second-biggest soft-drink brand in the U.S. Diet Pepsi saw its share tumble 0.3% last year, according to Beverage Digest.”

Coke and Pepsi: Tale of Two Tastes

This situation – the competition between Coke and PepsiCo – is not new. Both companies are up against the same marketing challenges and it was the former that realized the importance of brand-building as a long-term strategy. According to one executive close to PepsiCo, that company on the other hand, seems to have “gone into a tailspin, trying to reverse its fortunes overnight at any cost.” The consequence of this was the loss of its “best people, continuity, and ultimately, its direction.” Even though Coke has definitely also encountered its fair share of challenges too (in the 1980s it was the New Coke debacle; 1990s, Belgium contamination scare; and 2000s, big time layoffs and CEOs revolving cast), it seems that it’s ultimately Coke Was, Is and Always Will Be, It.