Coca-Cola keeps moving forward with global consolidation as it swallows up the remaining stake of a juice brand in Europe and launches two new brand platforms in the Middle East.

In Europe, Coca-Cola is moving to acquire almost all of the 40 percent of Innocent Drinks that it didn't already own after raising its stake in stages beginning in 2009. Innocent makes smoothies, juices and other healthy foods and has been a rising better-for-you brand in Europe, building its brand equity on corporate "innocence."

Will Innocent and Coke face a European-consumer backlash over the brand's now-complete dependence on a well-known multinational company that some say isn't quite so innocent? After all, it's recently come under new criticism by Oxfam over allegely unethical practices.Continue reading...

Lancôme has signed its first Muslim model — the 22-year-old gamine-cropped Tunisian, Hanaa Ben Abdesslem — as a global face. The brand features Hanaa, who debuted as a model in Vivienne Westwood's spring 2011 runway show and broke out a few months later after cropping her hair for Givenchy, in the short film above; check out her first campaign work for the makeup brand below.Continue reading...

With over 400 million active users, the world’s most popular social networking site has set its sights on the Middle East in an attempt to capture more of the Arab market.

In what they described as a “massive” opportunity, Facebook has announced its partnership with the Middle East digital advertising firm, Connect Ads, to launch acquisition campaigns similar to what they did in Europe and Asia. This time though, the socially conservative Arab market will dictate more of their strategy as Facebook looks to expand on its existing Arab customer base of 10 million users.

Acknowledging that they need to be culturally sensitive where strict government controls typically block websites and communication around political, religious, and moral issues, Facebook’s strategy head for Europe and the Middle East, Trevor Johnson, told the Associated Press, "It's whether or not we can continue to deliver on the local market experience people expect, but within the rules and regulations. That's one of the biggest challenges, is building that side of things."Continue reading...