Pepsi wants to be upbeat, wants to sell optimism along with its soft drink and is going all out to induce happiness with its happy slogans, tweaked smiley, new wordplay game and much more in the New Year too. There is nothing wrong in being happy and optimistic. But the mood of ad campaign is not in tune with the recession and financial crisis hitting people hard all over the globe.

The public mood this New Year was unfortunately not upbeat due to many a crisis such as recession and inflation. But Pepsi still went ahead with joyous celebration at Times square and elsewhere and is now planning to spread joy and happiness through its ads. The above ad is no doubt cheerful. And of course some may say best time for optimism is when everyone is feeling low.

Pepsi wants to reach out young and trendy who almost never like to lie low. For young depression (even economical) becomes boring after a while. Sunshine, smile and new games can lift the gloom. Pepsi may be playing its cards right by targeting lower age-groups and their moods. Also recession doesn’t seem to affect soft drinks giants. For once selling soft drinks is much profitable and trendier than selling automobiles or expensive accessories!!

Via Brandweek

New Year resolution of Coke is to ‘green’ in more than one way. First of all the famous Coke billboard at Times Square is opting for ‘green’ energy. This will be followed the Coke’s new ‘green’ ad campaign which talks about recycling. They are planning to have awareness drives about recycling and controlling carbon emission and hence global warming.

The billboard at Times Square will switch to power from wind energy and therefore prevent emission of 1,866 metric tons of carbon every year! They also plan to recycle their cans and bottles. Thus they are going for both renewable energy and materials for cans and bottles that can be re-cycled. This will reduce non recyclable waste as well.

Coca-cola has a wider reach through-out the world than most other brands and thus if it adopts a ‘green’ and ‘positive’ philosophy and also inspires others to follow through its campaign, it’ll definitely set a new trend among young and old. Inspired by Coke, 30 other billboards at Times square are switching to green power too. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be more of such actions than mere preachy social campaigns. 

Via Brandweek

It is no surprise that one of the biggest and probably the most prized billboard spot in the world is going now to a company that is willing to go green with its power supply to light up the ad space and of course is willing to pay around $200,000 each month for the prized spot. Ricoh is all ready to put up its new eco-friendly and carbon neutral billboard that will exclusively run on nothing but wind and solar energy. If they both are unavailable, then Ricoh is ready to go dark, but not use conventional power to light up this coveted spot! (Talk about commitment)

The $3 million billboard weighs in at 35,000 pounds. It will be 55 feet off the ground at 3 Times Square, wrapping around the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. The billboard will be powered by 16 cylindrical wind turbines which are efficient in energy production both in low and high winds. It will also use the 64 solar panels that cover its surface to gain additional power on a day with calmer weather. Apart from being great for the planet, the sign could save as much as $12,000 to $15,000 per month, according to Ricoh, which estimated that the sign would prevent 18 tons of carbon from being spewed into the air yearly.

The sign will use conventional lighting instead of LED lights and while it is great news for the planet in a small yet important way, it is more important that people see this as a trend and it catches on. Just imagine the amount of energy one could save and also the carbon emissions that could be cut out.

Via: NYTimes

The Japanese clothing brand, Uniqlo have arrived ast a new strategy to promote their new heat Tech Inner wear. They decided to take the less traveled path by adopting the notion of a “giant human vending machine” to distribute a few thousand outfits absolutely for free on the 18th of November at Times Square in New York.

You might be wondering the purpose of this human vending machine. Well, this will be operated with the help of two mimes; a male and a female, which will be placed inside the machine and they could be seen through the glass. Uniqlo representatives, both men and women dressed in silver bodysuits will be seen around the Square holding a thermograph scanner. The device identifies cold spots in your body. After this, you just have to push a button on the vending machine and the mimes will do a synchronized and choreographed routine. After which, your outfit comes out automatically.

The catch is, only one size that fits an average body type will be distributed. If you wish to grab your share, make sure you are at the right time at the right place.

Via: Psfk\Uniqlo\Nymag