Coca-Cola announced today on Twitter (with the hashtag #newlook) that its limited-edition graphic can design for Diet Coke is now available at Target stores across America. Take a closer look below and let us know what you think.Continue reading...

When the New Jersey Nets move to Brooklyn at the start of the 2012 season, the team will have a new arena (the Barclays Center), a new name (Brooklyn Nets perhaps?), and a new soda. Their current arena serves Pepsi, but the one in Brooklyn will serve Coke.

According to the New York Post, Coca-Cola has made a deal with the arena to be the exclusive soft-drink provider there. This is actually the second beverage company to make such a deal with the arena, the Post notes: Back in 2007, a similar deal was made with Seattle-based Jones Soda. “Nets fans and Brooklynites lobbied for Coke products” after the seven-year, $1.7 million Jones deal was announced, so the arena broke that contract and came to a settlement with the company, the Post reports.

Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said that one of the reasons Coke was selected is “because of its longstanding historical ties to Brooklyn, where it once was the official soda of the Dodgers at Ebbets Field,” the Post reports. Continue reading...

Our most-read blog posts of the past week range from the Starbucks' "Black Guy" Receipt Scandal to Skype on Facebook:

#1 Starbucks Latest to Suffer "Black Guy" Receipt Scandal

#2 Transformers 3 Product Placement: If Tom Hanks Gets a Pass, Michael Bay Does Not

#3 BP Returns to TV

#4 Facebook Launches Video Calling With Skype

#5 Petite Lap Giraffe: A Tiny Viral Marketing Success

#6 Coke and WWF Green the Philippines with “Living Billboard”

#7 Target Aims Logo at Chicago Landmark

#8 Duane Reade Opens Premium Drugstore 'Experience' on Wall Street

#9 How Moleskine Converts Fans (and Retailers) to Brand Ambassadors

#10 Colgate Puts Teeth Into Social Marketing

Our most-read blog posts of the past week range from the Cannes Lions Winners to the Twitter Founders and more:

#1 Pepsi Parties With "Coke's" Santa for First Campaign in Three Years

#2 Cannes Lions a Global Brandstand (Updated)

#3 Google+ = "Google + You"

#4 Banana Republic Goes Mad for Mad Men Again

#5 Petite Lap Giraffe: A Tiny Viral Marketing Success

#6 Viral Video Watch: Greenpeace Casts VW to the Dark Side

#7 Twitter Founders Take Obvious Next Step

#8 Stakes Rising for PepsiCo’s Nooyi

#9 Viral Video Watch: Seagull Steals GoPro - for Hire?

#10 Is Cars 2 Product Placement Really 'Product Placement'?

Pepsi tonight unveiled its new summer campaign, with the tagline "Summer Time is Pepsi Time" and a none-too-subtle tweak at its chief rival in the cola wars. Yes, Virginia — that's Santa Claus, the iconic Coca-Cola brand mascot.

Saint Nick is shown boogying on summer vacation (with assorted elves in tow) to the Pepsi beat — and rejecting a bartender's offer of Coke. Watch it below and tell us what you think.Continue reading...

Pepsi NEXT (not to be confused with the Pepsi Nex soft drink brand in Japan and South Korea) is launching in the US next month — but only as a trial run.

The reduced-sugar cola brand will be tested in two markets in Iowa and Wisconsin, according to PepsiCo's press release today, which adds:

"Pepsi NEXT was created for consumers who seek the rich taste of full-calorie cola but have decreased their consumption in order to reduce the sugar in their diet. While sugar-reduction is a priority for this segment, they have not adopted the flavor profile of a zero calorie cola. Pepsi NEXT delivers in the sweet-spot for these consumers with its real cola flavor and 60 percent less sugar."

"As part of our continued commitment to innovate our carbonated soft-drinks portfolio, we developed Pepsi NEXT, a great tasting, full-flavor cola with 60 percent less sugar," stated Massimo d'Amore, CEO of PepsiCo Beverages America. "In thorough consumer research, Pepsi NEXT resonated very well with consumers who are seeking a new, reduced sugar alternative to their loved cola."

As The Consumerist notes, "both Coke and Pepsi have been down the mid-calorie road before with the short-lived C2 and Pepsi Edge, respectively."

Fortune magazine's annual ranking of the world's most admired companies is also a shorthand for most admired brands.

Its just-released 14th annual ranking, a collaboration between the Time Inc.-owned business title with research conducted by the Hay Group, is worth checking out to see who's up, who's down, and why.

As ever, this year's list is based on a survey of business executives and the criteria includes quality of management, social responsibility (community and environment), quality of products and services, allocation of corporate resources, recruitment and retention of talent.

This year's top ten:Continue reading...

Coca-Cola and Heinz announced a landmark partnership today, one that will replace 120 million bottles of Heinz ketchup in the US with Coca-Cola's eco-friendly PlantBottle packaging in 2011, starting with the brand's 20 oz. size in June.

Consumers will be able to identify the new Heinz bottles by a so-called talking label that asks, "Guess What My Bottle is Made Of?"

Coca-Cola's's award-winning PlantBottle — which will be used in five billion units of the beverage-maker's various brands and products this year alone — looks, feels and functions just like traditional PET plastic, and is fully recyclable. The only difference is that up to 30% of the material is made from plants.

It's a big vote of confidence for its green packaging, which Coca-Cola hopes to sell to other brands beyond Heinz.Continue reading...