Coca-Cola launches “Mother”

The energy drink market is one beverage segment Coca-Cola is yet to dominate. This year however Coke will again try to capture the hearts and minds of a new group of consumers with the launch of Mother. Coke will reportedly spend over $10 million dollars marketing Mother as an all-natural energy drink to young men (Sydney Morning Herald).

The campaign includes three 30 second executions (Lemur [above], Turtoad and Monkeydog) featuring animated ‘Amazonian’ creatures.

In response to this challenge by Coca-Cola, V has reportedly upped its marketing budget, released a new product, and created a new advertisement (shown below). Red Bull has also increased its marketing budget but hasn’t yet broken away from its Red Bull Gives you Wings advertising and no doubt will continue to place heavy importance on extreme sport sponsorships.

The energy drink segment is definately a lucrative segment. It is “worth $151 million and is growing by 47 per cent a year. Energy is the fastest-growing category in soft drinks and account for 22 per cent of total drink sales …” Sydney Morning Herald. However Coca-Cola has a task on its hands with Red Bull and V already accounting for 94 per cent of total energy sales in convenience stores. ” Sydney Morning Herald. So, can three brands share the energy drink market?

In my opinion: with Coca-Cola’s distribution network, Mother will have every chance of success. V has already been removed from the QUT (university in Brisbane) cafeteria and replaced with Mother (in a special branded fridge). I have also seen supermarkets and petrol stations with dedicated, branded Mother refridgerators and other branded material. Consumers will therefore be encouraged to at least trial the product when there are no other “energy/caffeine” options available. As for the V energy drink advertising: I have heard both positive and negative reviews. I think the advertisement shows a brand forced to join the race, rather than remind. I don’t like it - too sex-centric, not that cleaver.

tag: Red Bull, V, Mother, advertising, Coca-Cola, Frucor

Re: Evermore in Brisbane

Well the 'intimate concert series' was amazing. Nessled into my centrestage, Row B seat just five metres from Jon and Peter and Dann.

It sounds ridiculous but for the first few songs I felt cleansed and purified and vulnerable.

Then they played some of their new stuff and their old stuff. And I felt dazed and confused and amazed.

Evermore are captivating. Running; I've listened to it over and over.

Brisbane Sunset

Sunset originally uploaded by Jen 64.

I was walking home last Friday afternoon and there were a number of people on the Goodwill Bridge taking photos of the sunset. One person even rang home to tell them how lovely it was and to ask them if they could see it. Maybe walking home isn’t that bad after all.

Racism in Australia

I am doing a group project at the moment with two Chinese/Singaporean people who now live in Brisbane. During class they asked me why Australians are racist or at least why some Brisbane people are racist toward them. They said that they have been yelled at from cars driving by and have even had eggs thrown at them.

I felt so disappointed. They are literally the nicest people I have met and had been chatting away to me about Singapore and China and their trips between their countries.

Why the hell would we want to insult visitors to 'our' country, when in the grand scheme of things we (the big "owners" of the land; Caucasian people) have been here for maybe a few generations.

We could speculate, and say that these racists were just young and dumb, but really is that an excuse. 

We can't just keep making excuses for racism.