Happy Anniversary, Soda IS Good!!

Today marks yet another year that this blog has been kicking around in cyberspace.

Sure, it's quirky and niche'....but whenever I see a can of soda somewhere my first thought is "can I blog about this???"

I never told Mrs. Soda about this blog, and one day last year it sorta came out.
She said to me "Who ARE you?! You blog about SODA?!?! I never knew that!!!"
Yeah...it's a deep, dark secret.
I mean...Soda?!

 Here's the irony.
Here's the deepest, darkest secret:
I drink very little soda these days.

IT'S TRUE
I got back in the gym in March and it's been 80% Water, 10% Iced Tea and the remaining 10% is Soda.
Unless it's a Sunday when Football is on.
Then it's about the Beer!

But I love soda.
I love all the flavors and colors and styles and brands.
I love discovering a new brand I never heard of before.

I mean...Chocolate Mud Pie soda?!   Mmmmmmmmmmmm
And Chocloate BACON Soda??!!   #Weird
Or Blumer's 16 pack?!    #Awesome

Yeah, there is more than just Coke and Pepsi out there in the World.
And I keep finding it.

Maybe Soda is NOT so Good?

I know...in this day and age it's not an incredible new or earth shattering question.

But it TASTES so good!
And if you look at brands like Bacon Freak and Blumer's Premium you will see flavours you never heard of before, but probably want to TRY!!

That being said, this infographic from  a U.K. pharmacist named Niraj Naik has apparently gone viral, and that might leave some soda drinkers concerned.  Or curious.

I've blogged previously about healthy sodas...sodas that do not have such a high sugar content.
Zevia makes a pretty good Ginger Ale.   and a good Cream Soda, too!

What I think the info graphic is lacking, however, is the fact that this information is being given in a vacuum.. What if you ate a lot earlier?  What if you have a high tolerance for sugar spike?  What if you traditionally have a LOW blood sugar count?

Is this the results of one can of Coke "always"...or for folks who usually don't drink soda...or for folks who drink it daily??

Remember...anything in moderation is OK.

Except rudeness.   ;)

The Return of Stop Killer Coke

All the way back in 2008 I learned about a campaign called Stop Killer Coke.
I even blogged about it, although at the time I took it somewhat lightly. I didn't exactly blog an in-depth history of the campaign.

There does not seem to be a real plethora of press on the issue since, so while I feel I was slightly negligent, I dont think I missed out on (or misrepresented) a major news topic. Maybe a few articles from 2010 show up on Google.


But the Stop Killer Coke website IS still active.

And I noticed that after 2 years of inactivity, the Stop Killer Coke Twitter Account started rolling again in late June.
(the Twitter feed does not seem to be exclusive to the South American Murders, but rather to the negativity of Coke/soda in general)

Ironically, this past September Mexico was introduced to Coca Cola Life ...which is being positioned as a "healthy" soda given that it has half the calories of a 'regular' can of Coke.
 

Further ironic (is there an expression for THREE items all contradictory?) is that Mexico has since instituted a Soda Tax as a way to compensate for the effort to fight obesity in-country.

South South America has a push-pull relationship with Soda, in several directions!

I'll cover Mexico's love for soda and the corresponding soda tax in later blog posts, but I originally put these thoughts together as I looked back into whether the Stop Killer Coke campaign took on any global traction.

It appears, at least based on my quick research, it hasnt come to much here in the states.


 

Third Anniversary Coke vs. Pepsi Top 7 Stories

Happy Belated Birthday!

Coke vs. Pepsi turned '3' last week...and like any bad Father I completely missed it's birthday because I was preoccupied with other things.

But like any GOOD Father, I acknowledged it as soon as I noticed it, drank a cold glass of cola and sat down to research the Top 7 Coke Versus Pepsi stories.

The Top 7 Stories is based on the number of times each page has been visited.
I can confirm fro first-hand experience that a few spammers have found 2 specific blog entries that they like to comment more than others...but a win is a win. There must be a reason why they picked THOSE entries (I'd like to think it was the great writing, gripping stories, fascinating content and witty catch-phrases I use. But who knows...?)

So, Happy Birthday Coke vs. Pepsi!
The Top 7 Stories this blog hosts are:


#7) Coke or Pepsi? Smart or Silly? (5/3/08) - this quick entry talked up 2 other websites that debate the Coke versus Pepsi preference we all have...but we found to be somewhat 'girlie'. I was quite pleased to receive a comment from the site's publisher explaining WHY It was girlie.

#6) History of Coca Cola and Pepsi...and Google! (8/21/07) - this article quantifies and explains the differences of 'Coca Cola' information and 'Pepsi' information when making searches on Google.

#5) Coca Cola Prices Going Up. Pepsi Next? (7/18/08) - and the heels of a price increase, we discuss the options and the consequences of a Cola pricing increase.

#4) 7 Most Relevant Coke vs. Pepsi Stories of the Last Year? (8/20/08) - The debut of our 'Top Stories' list. (yeah, I remembered our FIRST Birthday...every Good Father does!).

#3) Andy Warhol Coca Cola (9/12/08) - Would-be SPAMmers love this entry, which makes me happy and sad. I'd happy that whatever content I shared here gets enough public visibility that SPAMmers think it's worth commenting on. But I was hoping for a higher-brow audience.

#2) Pepsi and Coca Cola Sales Drop Drastically (4/08/09) - There seems to be a correlation between Cola blog traffic and articles about Cola Pricing. Which would speak to the higher-brow audience I alluded to in the above comment.

And the #1 most Relevant Coke vs. Pepsi blog entry as of this writing is.....

#1) The History of Coca Cola Prices (9/29/08) - High-brow audience wins again!!! Glad to see the most visited blog entry was something that didn't have the word 'MILF' or 'Dude' in the title!

I always enjoy compiling this list each year and looking back on how much traffic this blog gets.
Sure, it would have been nice for some '2010' posts to get on the list, but it's been a busy year and perhaps I just need to put more thought into future posts this year.

Next post should be titled "The History of Coca Cola Pricing Increases and the Google Searches about Pepsi Sales Decreasing that are equally Relevant"

...or something...!

Soda's ode to Seth Godin

When I was more involved with Marketing, I was a HYOOGE fan of Seth Godin.


I still am a huge fan, but I read him less often because my current position of work has a slightly different scope of work to it than when I was more actively pursuing his (marketing) ideas.





(By the way, I recently joined the gym so I wouldn't REALLY be huge. Well, hang on. I guess if I work really, really hard I COULD be a huge fan...Ok, we'll address that later.)





Anyway, today I was listening to an interview Seth gave, and it occur ed to me: I used to read Seth's blog all the time, I wonder if he's ever read mine?





And more importantly (because I don't cater to my own Self Importance): Does Seth like Soda? Does he think soda is good?

Jumped over to my friend Google and looked into Seth Godin's ideas about Soda:

Seth Godin Mistakes Custom Soda for a Hybrid Car - an author's critique of Seth comparing Jones Soda's marketing to Toyota's marketing of their hybrid vehicle.





Everyone is Clueless - Seth is impressed with how the owner of Galco's Soda Pop Stop actually TURNED DOWN Pepsi as a vendor. Actually, I'm pretty impressed myself...!





By the way, here is the You Tube video that showcases Galco's.
Even though the typed text around the 'screen' is not in English, the commentary absolutely is.

Our sister blog, Coke vs Pepsi, is shown on a platform called Squidoo. (as opposed to Blogger. Follow?) You cannot find much about Seth at Coke vs. Pepsi...but he IS the person who first conceived the idea of the 'Squidoo' platform that CvP is on, and assembled a team that brought it to life!

Seth Godin is one of the most insightful and thought provoking marketer I've ever read. I highly encourage you to pour yourself a tall glass of Cola and read the first book of his you can find!