Masters Of Spin - Coke + Coffee , Border Protection and Ed Sherrin's EDCHUP
Saturday, July 6, 2019 at 7:23PM
Matthew Bywater

On this week's Masters of Spin we discuss Coke launching Coke + Coffee, Border Protection's Zero Chance ad and Ed Sherrins EDCHUP tomato sauce by Heinz.

You can watch the segment here

Transcript

Monique Wright: If at first you don't succeed, give it another crack. That's what Coca Cola is doing with one of its failed products.

Matt Doran: In 2006, Coke Blak went on sale. It's a coffee-flavored version of the real thing, but it flopped and was canceled two years later. Now, Blak is back. This time, with more coffee added, just in case we needed any more. Coke says, "We are now ready for it, thanks to our evolving palettes."

Monique Wright: Masters of Spin are here, advertising experts, Matthew Bywater and Adam Ferrier. Welcome to you both. Matt, why would we release it now?

Matthew Bywater: It's a interesting thing for Coke to do. This is part of their kind of test and learn strategy. You've seen it with their machines, their Freestyle machines they have where you can mix your own drinks, where you put raspberry in Coke or Sprite and Coke together. And they're using that to get the data to see what our taste palettes are actually evolving into. It's an interesting thing, particularly in light of the fact that their sugary drinks are really struggling at the moment. It's their no-calorie drinks that are moving a lot. Coke really hasn't done something big probably since Adam's Coke Zero movement campaign he did a number of years ago. So they've got to try something here.

Matt Doran: Adam, Australia was a test market for Coke Coffee. Now it's gone to 25 other countries by the end of the year and possibly the US even next year. Why put it in Australia first?

Adam Ferrier: Well, I think Australia pick up on trends very, very quickly. We had the launch of Coke Zero in Australia, which then it went globally, so they maybe just want to replicate the success of that particular product. There's also a sign that being early feels a lot like being wrong, and so I think they've pulled out just a little bit ahead of their time. Functional beverages have really taken off now, so when people have a drink, they don't just want to be refreshed, they want to be refreshed plus have some kind of bit of benefit. So hopefully the caffeine does that, and they put more caffeine in, which is probably a good idea. So I reckon this is going to work really well for them.

Monique Wright: Functional beverage. Is that like water quenching your thirst?

Adam Ferrier: No, it's water plus something else.

Matthew Bywater: Yes.

Monique Wright: Okay.

Adam Ferrier: It's marketing's [crosstalk 00:02:05]

Monique Wright: Water plus ice-

Matthew Bywater: Water plus marketing.

Monique Wright: ...so quenching your thirst-

Matt Doran: Plus a little extra.

Monique Wright: ... coldly, exactly.

Monique Wright: Okay, moving on. Australian Border Force force has just launched a new campaign across Asia. Now this coincides with the recent interception of asylum seeker boats from Sri Lanka.

Speaker 5: Following the recent Australian election, the Prime Minister directed me to stop all people's [inaudible 00:02:23] boats that try to travel to Australia illegally. I will do exactly that. If you attempt an illegal boat journey to Australia, you will be stopped and turned back. Our borders are as strong as ever. You have zero chance of success.

Monique Wright: Matt, what do you think? Are people smugglers watching that?

Matthew Bywater: Well, not yet. This ad just launched and without the views on depending on which language they're in, they're actually quite small. I mean, the Tamil language is the largest of about 5,000 or 6,000 views, so it's only just starting. But these are a hard one to do, because you could be very clear and concise in these type of commercials, because they are not meant for us. They are meant for people of different languages, where English is not their first or even might not even have English as a language. So it needs to be translated into other languages in a form that they can understand. So it has to be very clear, concise, short, and sharp.

Adam Ferrier: It's just not very good communication. This guy is meant to be tough, enforcing, scary. Stay out of here. And it's just not very good at communicating that. It's just not great talent for that particular role. So I don't know why they had to go with the leader of the ADF. Nobody'll necessarily know who he is overseas. So I think it should've just been cast a little bit more appropriately.

Matt Doran: Matt, all right, gentlemen. Let's get to the big one, what they're calling Edchup, Ed Sheeran ketchup. The Heinz company has released a tomato sauce named after the singing star, but big fans of Ed will know it's not such a bizarre fit, because Ed loves tomato sauce so much he even has it tattooed on his arm. Adam, correct me if I'm wrong, but Ed Sheeran's not hard up on cash. This would've cost Heinz, well, a fair bit.

Matthew Bywater: I think this should've cost Heinz between zero and a few million pounds, but there is a chance that Ed could've just done this to be a bit wacky and crazy. He's got a tattoo of a brand on his arm. He's loved it for years, and it's just a, could just be a cool, quirky kind of thing, that they'll accept a kind of nice value exchange. I'd like to think so. But he'll probably paid a couple of million pounds.

Monique Wright: Matt, what do you reckon? Yeah, he's not hard up for cash, though, is he?

Matthew Bywater: No, he's certainly not hard up for cash, but this is authentic, because he was a fan of Heinz, and quite a vocal one for many, many years, so whether he's getting paid for it or he's getting some sort of royalty, which I mentioned if his managers have anything to do with it, he probably is. Or just the fact that it's just an extension of him. People get to see another side of him. One of the things about Ed Sheeran is why he's so popular is this is a really real person. In the world of some celebrities these days of all the fakeness around it, he's such a genuine guy.

Monique Wright: Yep. Who doesn't like tomato sauce?

Matt Doran: Quite a condimental collaboration.

Monique Wright: There it is. Fourth bad joke of the morning.

Matt Doran: Was the third.

Monique Wright: Thank you Adam, thank you Matt. Don't go anywhere. Weekend Sunrise will be back in just a moment.

 

Article originally appeared on Matthew Bywater | Marketing Strategist & Media Commentator (http://matthewbywater.com/).
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