Coke continues to explore sustainability: The company recently upgraded their Times Square billboard, now powered by wind energy. And though they aren’t the first-- Ricoh did it in July 2008-- Coca-Cola’s influence prompted 30 surrounding billboards to make the switch as well.
Coke's been in Time Square since 1932, so it is only fitting that they should be a change agent for this intersection of lights.
But Coke didn’t stop with their iconic billboard. Coke used this keystone event to officially launch its Live Positively campaign here in the US. Check out the website to learn more: http://www.livepositively.com/
New communications have also launched to help support and drive traffic to the site.
I'm excited to see this campaign (successfully done by Ogilvy in many parts of the world) roll out over the next few weeks and months. Live Positively is a robust “green” branding effort and is very authentic to the brand. Keep it going, Coke. There's much more to do.
And the cola wars are far from over: Pepsi launched a massive new re-branding effort this month as well, (Refresh Everything), capitalizing on the Obama-driven mindset of Change. So it's "change" versus "green." Kinda the same thing. Let's see which does better at capturing the taste of America.
Recently, we've looked at some of the world's biggest brands and what they've been doing with the world's biggest stage—The Olympics. And it occurred to us that one brand with a big sustainability story has been awfully quiet on the subject—Coca-Cola.
We love the Yao vs. LeBron spot (shout out to our old The Greenery pal Jackie Jantos, now with Coke) and Bird's Nest truly brings a Coke and a smile. The world's top brand certainly knows how to drive for the hoop.
But what we'd have loved to see even more is Coke talk about sustainability. After all, there's plenty to talk about:
Coke will spend $20 million over the next years to help the WWF preserve seven of the world's major rivers. This is smart for business, since it takes 2.5 liters of water to produce just one liter of Coke product. According to a Time Magazine article, "In 2006 Coca-Cola and its bottlers used 80 billion gallons (290 billion liters) of water to produce its beverages. That about one-fifth of the daily water usage of the U.S!"
Could be a big problem, if the pundits are right and water is the next oil. And nobody wants that to be the new Real Thing.
We did like what we saw with its recent "what's not in the drink" executions (kind of like "what's not in the bloodstream of Jamacian sprinters").
While its messaging is not quite on the topic of sustainability, starting with transparency of the product is something we can all get behind.
Because, while individual changes can make a big difference, the corporation is the dominant institution of the 21st Century. And more than most, Coca-Cola has the opportunity (and ultimately the responsibility) to use their products, reach and influence to help make this world a better a place.
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