Benjamin Bloom

I've written a new post in my "Human Marketing" series about how Kraft's way out of a PR and ingredient quality crisis is by reinforcing the trust relationships we used to take for granetd, and now question.  Let me know what you think.

In Duane Reade this afternoon, I stopped in for some batteries.  After that bewlildering purchase, (Buy 16 get 2+2 free? I think all these packages were designed to get you to use a calculator which...you guessed it, eventually needs more batteries) I was wondering what ultra low price Coke products were going for.  I purchased a few 12packs of Coke Zero myself when they were 2 for $7 last year (that's right, 24 cans, $7).

Now what?  Well, look at these cute little cans of coke! 8 ounces!  AWWWWW.  Except eight, 8oz cans is 4.59 and the 12pks below are $3.99!  Did you know that this little genius of a gimmick increases the price per ounce by 158%????

It's only 100 calories worth of Coke- I get this phenomenon but find it to be wasteful, an admission that we are unable to make healthy and wholesome decisions about food.

But it's far worse than that. The cans themselves are like little bits of wasted ingenuity.  What else could we have done with those resources?  With the energy to manufacture, distribute, ring up. label, formulate, and market this product?  Would we be closer to housing the homeless?  Empowering community entrepreurs?  Powering the country with wind or solar power?  Coming to a consensus about health care reform?  Understanding the causes of cancer?  Understanding each other?

Wasted effort.  The free market, in its obsession with immediate gratification, trades short term incentives for a slower, sustainable vision.  Easy credit, fragile products, unaccountable corporations victimize the global economy.

We all have choices - I'm searching for long term value creation and seeking to consume in a sustainable way.

I'll write in the future about this from the corprate strategy perspective.