Maybe it's an opportunity to vent after answering her critics with improved performance for the flagship Pepsi brand lately. Or perhaps PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi just wanted to remind an important audience that she isn't finished with her transformative strategy for one of the world's largest purveyors of nutritionally dubious foods and beverages.

In any event, Nooyi made what BeverageDaily.com called "surprisingly candid remarks" during an address at a Sanford Bernstein conference in New York this week, touching on why everyone's all concerned about cola, why she has made such a strong play to develop new natural sweeteners and why highly touted stevia might not be the right thing for the cola market, and why the company's new "hybrid" pricing strategy is important.Continue reading...

BC has looked at how brands are projecting on buildings to grab attention. Here's how BMW "uses some Profoto flashes to (temp) burn their logo into the eyes of unsuspecting people," as photographer Joel Bischoff tweets it.

Is retinal marketing the new viral marketing? YouTube comments on the above after-image test, which BMW conducted in Germany, are divided, with comments ranging from "disturbing" to "cool!" [via PSFK]

Hot on the heels of its Big Apple lovefest, JetBlue’s newest campaign features the tagline: "You Above All." 

A series of videos called "Ground Rules" poke fun at everyday air travel annoyances, spoofing the airline industry's shortcomings by transferring them to everyday settings.

Set in New York, the hidden camera-style series show people in frustrating scenarios to reinforce the message: "You wouldn't take it on the ground, don't take it in the air."

The one above features an needlessly long elevator ride (a stand-in for non-non-stop flights). Check out more of the campaign after the jump.Continue reading...

Brands beware – you are now subject to consumer rankings on performance and values.

Launched in March, Brandkarma.com is the brainchild of Craig Davis, Publicis Mojo Australia chief creative officer and co-chairman. At the heart of the site is the Brandkarma flower, with five petals emblematic of how a brand treats its customers, employees, investors, suppliers and the planet.

More than 300 brands are included so far, including Starbucks, Disney, the BBC, The Huffington Post, Whole Foods, Google, Apple, Tesco, Toyota, Nokia, McDonald’s and Nestle.

The brands are rated by consumers with comments and color grades, from red (bad) to green (good). Each has its own ‘karma flower’ which is color-hued according to the number and ranking of responses. The site also includes rss news feeds and a ‘hot or not’ style voting tool.Continue reading...

Fast-feeder KFC created an unprecedented sensation for its brand with the introduction of grilled chicken last year. Remember the coupon giveaway by Oprah and how KFC restaurants across the U.S. couldn’t keep up with resulting demand?

Well, a year later, the genius of KFC’s management of its exciting new sub-brand—which was to be the key to the chain’s turnaround—is up for debate.

Is Kentucky Grilled Chicken the company’s “nonfried salvation,” as purported this week in a story by QSR magazine? Or, as Advertising Age puts it, has grilled chicken “failed in its primary objective: staving off additional share loss?”

As it turns out: Both.Continue reading...