It’s not unusual to think of niche marketing in terms of small companies trying to make the most of limited advertising budgets. But this year, even the top companies in the industry are searching out small ways to make a big impact.

Pepsi-Cola Co., Purchase, N.Y., developed the new “Oneify” campaign for its relaunch of Pepsi One, which has been reformulated with Splenda. While the marketing effort contains a small amount of television advertising, its main components are print and outdoor ads.

“This is a bit different than a typical Pepsi campaign in that we’re not leading off the product introduction with a large TV campaign,” says company spokesman Dave DeCecco. Target consumers for Pepsi One, he says, include twentysomething males who can be leery of the word diet and traditional diet messages.

“Our goal was to come up with a campaign that plays into their interests and is a little different than you’d typically see out of a diet soft drink, and that’s this Oneify campaign,” DeCecco continues. “It pulls together trends in the youth market that might seem contradictory such as the fact that they want to be seen as individuals but they also identify collectively with their peers. You’ve got this combination of unification and coming together that also celebrates individualism as well.”

The company chose outdoor and print venues for its messages because it says that’s where younger consumers are spending the majority of their time. “They’re not necessarily watching as much TV as in the past,” DeCecco says. “We found that it can be pretty effective to aggressively put out an out-of-home campaign on billboards and bus stops and things like that as well as in magazines that younger consumers read. It’s probably one of the largest print and outdoor campaigns in our history.”

The campaign is complemented by an Internet effort at oneify.com, which features unique characters that are part of the campaign. About half of the advertising focuses on the product’s reformulation with Spenda as the sweetener. But an equal half doesn’t mention it at all, and DeCecco says that’s on par with the brand’s target.

“Half the campaign is about the characters and Oneify and a very subtle message, and the other half calls out the ingredient with Splenda,” he explains. “That’s more for the consumer who does pay attention to sweeteners, isn’t quite as concerned with the word diet, a more traditional consumer, perhaps an older consumer.”

The Coca-Cola Co., too, took a rather unique approach to its diet launch this summer. This month’s rollout of Coca-Cola Zero included a pre-launch promotion on eBay that allowed eager consumers to bid on a special Coca-Cola Zero sample pack. The sample pack featured six bottles of Coca-Cola Zero and limited-edition branded premiums such as a cooler and a t-shirt.

Like Pepsi, Coca-Cola is attempting to capture a younger audience of diet drinkers – one that is not necessarily interested in the word “diet.”

“Young people today do not want to compromise on flavor or calories and we think Coca-Cola Zero’s taste and personality will appeal to them,” said Dan Dillon, vice president, diet portfolio at Coca-Cola North America, in a statement about the launch.

The Coca-Cola Zero rollout will feature the traditional line-up of advertising elements, including television, radio, print, sampling and out-of-home advertising under the tagline “Everybody Chill.” But the online debut is something unique for the company and was intended to create buzz around the product. It marks the first time the company has offered a new product on eBay prior to launching it nationally, and hit the Internet in April, several months in advance of the launch.

“Coca-Cola Zero’s personality will be different than any of our other brands, and our marketing will reflect that with some fresh ideas we haven’t tried before,” says Christine Holland, director of marketing, Coca-Cola Zero.  

The company says it received 58 bids for the sample pack, with the final bid fetching $2,750. All proceeds from the auction are to be donated to the American Red Cross, with a matching donation from Coca-Cola.

Harold Leggett of Louisville, Ky., was the top bidder for the sample pack, and says, “I purchased the item because I am a collector of limited-edition items, supporter of American Red Cross and because The Coca-Cola Co. was matching this donation.” BI

Sidel announces a shift in the manufacturing of their highly successful Aidlin Cap Feeders to a new location in Bradenton, FL.  Originally planned to move to Reischstett, France, Sidel has decided to continue to manufacture Aidlin cap feeders in Florida.  Retaining experienced sales, engineering and service personnel, assures all assets of the business have been maintained and the customer will find no interruption in business practices.

will be moved to their central distribution center in Norcross, GA for better service.  With an install base of approximately active 800 cap feeding systems, Sidel's Aidlin Cap Feeder sales have averaged growth of ten to fifteen percent over the last ten years.

There have been several new technological developments making Aidlin Cap Feeders even more versatile.  The Cap Feeder Premiere: designed for a slow speed application for flat caps with speeds up to 550 cpm.  This machine features all stainless steel construction, 20 cubic foot hopper, patented speed bump, high level sensor, 110 electrical operation, and DC motor with a variable speed drive.  The Cap Feeder Premiere requires minimum maintenance and no compressed air for a cost of under $20,000.00. 

Developed to automatically reject a backwards cap to eliminate or minimize down time due to mis-oriented caps feeding into the capper.  It has an all stainless steelconstruction and can beintegrated with a new orexisting line.

You can now warm and control the temperature within our cap hopper.  This device allows us to warms closures that are not stored in a control environment.  The temperature can be controlled and adjusted via a thermostat on themachine.  This device can be adapted to any of our existing machines in the field.

Benefits of the Aidlin Cap Feeder   System:

• Provides three in one solution: combines the functions of bulk hopper, elevator and orientor into one machine

• Orients closures from 15mm to 130mm

• Speeds up to 3,000 cpm

• Large capacity hopper reduces materials handling and labor requirements for feeder replenishment

• Gentle handling: suitable for fragile or thin-walled closures

• Ergonomic: cap

replenishment at safe floor level

• Low maintenance

• Stainless-steel wash-down construction

• Suitable for remote placement from capper

• Requires less floor space

• Quick size changeover

• Improved machine availability as compared to traditional technology

• Modular design, easy to convert or retrofit

• 20 years of experience within the Cap Feeder Engineering Group