Today's thoughts

sigh.

business

1. Coca-Cola paying almost 12x revenue for "Energy Brands." Energy Brands is the maker of Vitaminwater. KO payed $4.1 BN for the company, about $1 BN more than what most analysts expected KO to shell out. For the UCLA Advertising and Marketing Team (AdTeam) this year we worked on a campaign for Coke. Our primary research reflected the fact that the company continues to lose market share to noncarbonated beverages. Coke wanted us to come up with a comprehensive marketing and advertising campaign for their "Classic Coke" brand. The marketing report they attached to our campaign objectives basically spelled out their decline in popularity due to brands like Vitaminwater. Andrew Ross Sorkin of NYTimes' Deal Journal reports that Coke's current market share in noncarbonated drinks is 23% versus Pepsi-Co's 50%. This deal fills that void in Coke's product portfolio. Glaceu's founder+CEO claims "triple-digit" growth this year in volume. WSJ touches on the fact that Coke's growth in volume was 3.9% last year. As long as healthy stays sexy, Energy Brands should be a strong addition to Coke's portfolio.
   
   travel
   
2. Matt and I were chatting earlier today about heading to Utah for a couple days in January 2008 for the Sundance Film Festival. It's 700 miles each way. It could be fun if we get a couple people together for a mini-roadtrip to catch some indie and foreign flicks. The Festival goes from about January 18th to January 28th. Anyone interested?
   
   current affairs
   
3. BBC News reports that Bush is set to make a speech tomorrow morning in regards to toughening sanctions on Sudan. I hope the President carries through here. The US and its partner, Britain, want to take an attempt at "punishing Khartoum over the ongoing violence, singling out President Omar al-Bashir." The two nations want to do it through the UN SC. You can almost hear the veto of China ringing in, before the resolution is even brought forward to the council. China buys over half of Sudan's oil, and supplies Sudan with arms. To see what you can do --> www.savedarfur.org
   

ps. Vicky points out that the noteworthy word of the day is "bon vivant" - (noun) a person with refined and sociable tastes.