[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Mutella #5

[jeffrey fisher <jfisher@igc.org>]

per this particular bit (below), note in the same vein megamonster 
mcdonald's's (??) acquisition of chipotle mexican grill. you only know 
it's mcdonald's because you read somewhere that it was ought by 
mcdonald's. you won't see any mcdonald's branding anywhere in that 
store's premises or its merchandising (t-shirts, etc.).

is everyone finally learning the lesson of beatrice from the 88 olympics 
(was it '88?)? "we're beatrice" scared millions of americans and drove 
beatrice to end the campaign immediately after it was first rolled out 
for those olympics. not exactly the same thing, but the recognition that 
(the perception of) ubiquity can be a bad thing runs through all of 
these stories.

j

On Friday, July 6, 2001, at 08:16 AM, Quim Gil wrote:

> Coke goes mobile...
>
> In a move of truly worldwide significance, Coca-Cola is changing its
> advertising strategy. The original monolithic brand, whose identity has
> always been micromanaged from global HQ at Atlanta is, for the first
> time, decentralising. The new sales push, reported in Media Guardian as
> worth £30m in the UK alone (that's £82,000 a DAY kids) is an increase of
> 45% on last year's ad spend and for the first time sees ads (for Fanta,
> Dr Pepper and Diet Coke too) made by local agencies. No more generic US
> teens. No more cryptic 'enjoy!' message. Instead quirky local dv-shot
> edgy yadda yadda UK stuff from McCann Ericsson.
>
> Coke has always controlled all aspects of its business centrally, and in
> the last few years this has been causing it to lose ground. The new
> chief exec. Doug Daft (!) is decentralising all Coke decision making to
> regional offices. Coke's new 'act local' policy must surely be seen in
> the context of the new unease about global homogeneity which is
> filtering even into the heart of corporate America. The localisation of
> Coke is a pluralisation, a multiplication which inaugurates a new era of
> fluidity and hypermobility. Since Coke's whole branding strategy has
> always been based on global universality, this is a watershed,
> potentially opening a new era where global brands play down their
> omnipresence - where multinationals retreat into invisibility, only
> breaking the surface as pseudo-local brands.
>
> In another interesting UK move, Coke has been marketing a drink called
> 'Burn', conceived as a competitor to Red Bull WITHOUT any coke branding
> on the packaging. No Logo Coke? The death of universal branding as a
> positive thing? Welcome to a new era of corporate dematerialisation.
>
> (Coca-Cola, the patron saint of fizzy drinks hath spoken. Verily, it
> sayeth unto us: "No matter how big or complex our business becomes, we
> must always demonstrate complete respect for each other. As the world
> becomes more interconnected, yet more firmly rooted in local pride,
> recognition of our interdependence with our stakeholders [err, anybody
> else?] becomes even more essential.")
>
> W--: WebHQ http://www2.coca-cola.com/about/whatwedo/beliefs.html
>


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