Blog Bits - Week of April 24th

One of Coke’s newer products is Coke BlaK, a coffee infused cola.  John Moore of Brand Autopsy comments on this product as well as leads us to an interesting post by Paul Williams (of the Idea Sandbox).   Williams shares his impressions of this drink and also offers a story on his tasting the failed Starbucks' coffee infused cola – Mazagran.  Yes, you read it right – Starbucks' FAILED coffee infused cola.   

Being intrigued by Williams’ post and the product, Moore bought a 4 pack of Coke BlaK – his overall impressions are that the coffee/cola tastes like a “low-grade, lightly roasted artificially flavored coffee.”  He also compares it to “Tab with a slight hint of bad, flavored coffee.” Ouch. 

Some comments on Moore’s post are: 

• “I doubt that I could have ever brought myself to even taste the stuff, let alone pay money for it”
• “It sounds so disgusting that I haven’t even had the urge to try it”
• “Maybe I’m the only one who like this… but not enough to spend over $1 per bottle on it.” 

Will Coke BlaK succeed?

One of the comments pretty much sums it up “I’m sure that Coke BlaK will generate initial sales in the States based upon the initial curiosity factor but I doubt repeat sales will follow because the product lacks taste appeal.” 

Another way to advertise… Coming Soon:  Ads on iTunes.  Marketing Vox reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs supports the idea of ad supported podcasts.  To ease users into the concept, the ads will be placed in the lower left hand corner of the iTunes library.  TV networks have already found a way to profit from this.  Currently, networks charge iTunes’ users $1.99 per download of an episode that is “ad-free.”  ABC plans to offer free versions of these episodes (which they normally charges a fee) if it is downloaded on an ad supported site.  NBC and AOL are also planning to do something similar. 

John Cass, of PR Communications, points to an interesting post which talks about color preferences based on age, gender, and associations.  Here are a few of the findings:

• Green is very popular with the under 18 set and decreases in popularity as we age.
• Purple gets more popular as we grow older.
• Everyone's least favorite colors: orange and brown. Then grey for women and yellow for men.