Here is some just-released B roll of new Pepsi packaging coming off the line. Have you seen the it by you? If so, let us know.
- Josh Karpf
from Bookmarklet
Anyone know when these new-look cans are hitting the UK?
- Tyson Key
Anyone know when these new-look cans are hitting the UK?
- Tyson Key
@Tyson Key Thanks for the note Tyson. Rollout is in North America right now but will ask Bart if he can comment on UK. Thanks
- Josh Karpf
Bought a 12 pack earlier this week. Old packaging on the outside, new cans on the inside. Nice surprise. The Diet Pepsi design looks way cool, and better in person than in photos. Bravo!
- Mark Edwards
@Tyson -- as a global brand, we are working to eventually roll out a consistent brand identity around the world, but exact details and timing for the UK are TBD.
- Bart Casabona
Apologies for the double post back then. Thanks for the update, Bart.
- Tyson Key
For the 2nd time in the last 3 months, I came home from the Grocery store and viola, the Pepsi 12-Pack Packaging rips right at the built-in handle. The box falls to the floor and a couple cans come flying out! The first time this happened was in my parking garage in front of my very pretty neighbor and while she was nice enough to help me pick up the cans, she got sprayed in the face pretty good by a can that was punctured when it fell out of the box. That was embarrassing and she has not talked to me since
- JCANCU
For the 2nd time in the last 3 months, I came home from the Grocery store and viola, the Pepsi 12-Pack Packaging rips right at the built-in handle. The box falls to the floor and a couple cans come flying out! The first time this happened was in my parking garage in front of my very pretty neighbor and while she was nice enough to help me pick up the cans, she got sprayed in the face pretty good by a can that was punctured when it fell out of the box. That was embarrassing and she has not talked to me since
- JCANCU
@JCANCU - Heh, classy. Could that be the Pepsi Plummet(TM)? ;)
- Tyson Key
There's not a thing wrong with these instructions. Beyond the cheesy "Right Management" HR program, there's no double speak. What's the problem here? Layoffs always suck, but at least Yahoo had the common sense to brief the poor bastards who have to fire the poor bastards being sent home.
- Chris Baskind
It is so impersonal and robotic. I am sure these instructions are designed very carefully, in order for Yahoo to avoid any serious legal consequences. However, it also shows how impersonal it is to work for a large corporation....
- Bindu Reddy
I agree with the impersonal part, and having spent years as a manger during the decline of Clear Channel, I've seen (and done) this sort of thing many times. Then it was my turn. Working in this sort of environment is a two-edged sword.
- Chris Baskind
This is better than a lot of companies where they have security escort you out as soon as they tell you.
- Gabe
ooof. that's a rough day at the office.
- Alex Gawley
Feeling sad for everyone who is going to do this, both sides.
- susan mernit
What does it mean "impersonal and robotic"? Can you please tell me a much better way to lay off 1500 people? At least, from Yahoo's HR department tried to figure out some kind of policy, not to leave the dirty job on everyone's manager shoulders (experience, judgement)
- Todor
I'm with Todor. As much as this *sucks* for everyone involved, having a script like this is essential to getting through it at all without total chaos, and the chaos would be even worse. My heart goes out to everyone who hears it today. : (
- DeWitt Clinton
If someone is managing staff and can't be trusted to handle this conversation without line-by-line coaching, that person is probably in the wrong job. That said. Getting laid-off sucks. So does laying people off.
- Reto Meier
from fftogo
I've met many of managers who needed this sort of guidance. A lot of managers have never had to layoff people before, and if they're any good, they wouldn't have to do too many layoffs in their life, so they wouldn't get a chance to practice. My only layoff in my career was handled quite badly, and the manager could have used this script.
- Piaw Na
I agree with Chris and the like. Firing people is not fun (though I have no personal experience with it). I'm sure that as managers get more experience, they drift away from the scripts, but it is nice to have something to start with.
- Robert Felty
Pretty much the standard template that I've seen since I was "downsizing" in 2001 ... Not fun, but the first time around it was handy to have a script. At the end of the of the E@H debacle there was more humor than seriousness.
- david koblas
I like how one of the tips is to avoid making comments like 'Who knows how long I'll be here."
- Jess Lee
There's just no good way to layoff people. It's a serious failure on behalf of the company. It's traumatic for the people who are let go, and there are no words which will make that better. Swiftness and respect are the only recourse. I'm betting a lot of the people doing the firing today have never been called upon to manage a layoff. They'll need these guidelines, and they won't sleep well tonight.
- Chris Baskind
You mean they are setting up meetings where they are going to be fired by a human? Wow! So much more personal than a form letter tucked in with your paycheck.
- April Russo (app103)
Thank you, Paul, for reading these comments. I have some information regarding our organization that I want to tell you in person.
- Jim Norris
Study: Twitter users have a very small number of friends compared to the number of followers and followees they say - http://www.attentionmax.com/blog...
I think this proves the focus on numbers is the wrong focus. Quality over quantity wins again. For example - Twitter follow 20 people and interact, more influence then Twitter follow 80 people with little interaction.
- Christine Dattilo
The research report by MATHEMATICIAN for HP, blah blah blah (Thanks though Steve, seriously.)
- Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct
Not too impressed. The point of Twitter is that it vastly enhances the value of weak connections and small seemingly random facts. Twitter always appears underwhelming when analyzed, because it's the non-linear interaction among all these that provides the value, i.e. the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts.
- Gordon Vaughan
I've just cut and pasted Gordon's explanatory text. Now if my new iphone ever gets cut and paste.....
- Dan Sleezer
+10 @gordon for this: "...The point of Twitter is that it vastly enhances the value of weak connections and small seemingly random facts." Exactly!
- .LAG liked that
What sucks for me is just when I've decided to unfollow someone, they go and post something relevant to me for like 3 days in a row.
- Admiral Anika
I messed around with this a couple of evenings about, and put a widget on a web site. It seems to work ok, but I guess I need to integrate more widgets to get some benefit from it, as if you 'join' the site right now, you don't get any other functionality except your profile pic as a member within the widget.
- Ian May
detailed post means clear explanation... good site, hope to be user friendly too.
- Jack
Aren't they always planning a new attack on the U.S.? I thought that was sort of their raison d'etre...
- Kevin Pedraja
Yeah I assumed this was always their MO, sort of like saying "Wendy's is reportedly planning on making hamburgers at their restaurant tomorrow that will 'hopefully outdo yesterdays sales', a phony paper reports."
- Nicholas Kreidberg
ROFL, Nicholas. Yeah, you gotta wonder at this point if he might have died do to his diabetes or something.
- Alex Scoble
Dear Osama, FU. WE might seem fat, lazy and stupid but if you mess with one, you mess with the whole team. Don't piss off Americans!
- Patricia
Chapter one in the terrorist manual. It is more important to engender terror than to create violence.
- Phil Boiarski
I am working with Pepsi as part of my job with Edelman Digital. We are thrilled to be assisting with this endeavor. In the future, PR agencies will need to step from behind the scenes and openly participate in social media with clients when appropriate. How do you feel about that?
- Steve Rubel
from Bookmarklet
As a community marketing person (As well as a cola addict) it's inevitable, and fine as long as there is openess and transparency.
- Badger Gravling
Incidentally, how do we square away Pepsi wanting 2 way social conversation on Friendfeed with a big hyperlink in the intro to the Terms and Conditions for Pepsi's own site? Does this mean that this outpost on Friendfeed is Pepsi territory now they've invaded?
- Badger Gravling
Excellent move - will be very interested to see how this excercise develops.
- Jon Mulholland
Dear Pepsi, could you be more specific about your "comment moderation" policies? I would be tempted to invest my time/attention here but not sure where you place limits of the conversation. I am not talking about trolls or profanity, but rather your readiness to hand out brand definition to users. Far from being naively optimistic here, ... but surprise me if you can.
- Mindaugas Dagys
I would have agree with Steh Godin's take (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_b...) on Pepsis new logo. Namely: "So, when Pepsi and BestBuy start 'testing' logos, and proclaiming that a new logo might change their market share, I get nervous. You can't test a logo any more than you can test a first name. /.../ I guess the punchline is: take the time and...
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- Margus Palu
@Mindaugas Dagys -- our comment moderation will be limited to removing profanity or personal attacks. Also, we will monitor the room for common themes and try to address them as they pop up. .
- Bart Casabona
Nice to be able to have a conversation here about the new branding effort. Just got my nice Pepsi Cooler package and am posting photos up on Flickr. Really liked the retrospective look at previous brand images. I'm curious to know what you're hoping to get out of the influencer campaign, versus traditional media. Especially since I'm a devoted Diet Coke drinker!
- Charlene Li
Got my Pepsi Cooler package as well. Maybe I will use the iPhone for photos ;-) Steve Rubel - we have a discussion at Conversation Agent about PR agencies participating, as you probably know. Curious as well about the goal behind new logo...
- Valeria Maltoni
I'm a huge fan of FriendFeed and it community, so I'm glad it was chosen as Pepsi's first step towards engaging in Social Media. It's also nice to see Pepsi employees participating and exciting to feel like I'm part of the new branding campaign. :)
- Mona Nomura
Steve, why do "PR Agencies" need to participate? The value I see is when companies designate customer service reps to actively listen on friendfeed or twitter and step in and say, "I'm sorry you are having a problem with Brand X. We'd like to rectify that by giving you a replacement/refunding your money/improving our product." When PR gets involved it feels very false to me.
- Laura Norvig
they are clearly going after Obama's market. McCain supporters should stop drinking Pepsi.
- Morgan Warstler
@Valeria I will check out your post, thanks!
- Steve Rubel
@Laura PR works best when it's the eyes/ears of a company, not just the mouth. We have more work to do as an industry but we're coming along!
- Steve Rubel
Do I get some money for "Liking" this? No? Ahh, so what is in it for me to tell my friends about commercial rooms?
- Robert Scoble
@Scoble No money, but I believe that the relative speed and openness of this room is what Naked Conversations was all about, no? Consider this for a moment - you and I are conversing openly in my client's room. That's new, for PR.
- Steve Rubel
@Charlene Li - Hopefully we get a great story to tell about how we turned a devote Diet C--- drinker into a Diet Pepsi fan. Seriously, this is not a outreach campaign meant to drive placements or impressions but to engage in what we hope to be a continuing dialogue with influencers on how we should participate in this space.
- B. Bonin Bough
I'm still wondering how applicable terms and conditions from Pepsi's own site are to a conversation/room on Friendfeed? We're not in Kansas any more!
- Badger Gravling
@Cheryl Smithem Thanks to you and your son for commenting. We believe a big piece of this space is around transparency which is why we rolled this out the way we did. This is exactly the type of feedback we were hoping for.
- Josh Karpf
@Badger Gravling This is our first step into this space and how we approach terms and conditions will evolve. Please continue to point out key issues and better examples that we can use as reference moving forward.
- Josh Karpf
@Josh Karpf No problem - not only do I work in social media, but it's for a large company (Bauer Media), so I'm aware of the need to evolve from a sound starting point, legal or otherwise - a Terms and Conditions would be fine, assuming more is needed than any applicable to Friendfeed anyway, but perhaps one written and aimed at Friendfeed users, rather than one that appears as if Pepsi have come and claimed this corner as their own?
- Badger Gravling
I think you'd gain some credibility by linking to some of the negative reviews about the new branding that you've had over the last few days.
- Ben Rowe
@Ben Rowe Thanks Ben. Totally fair point. There certainly is no shortage of feedback.
- Josh Karpf
I think transparency is always a good thing - it's brave, it's honest and it wins loyalty whereas "wizard behind the curtain" PR tactics always feel vaguely manipulative at best (speaking as a PR flak myself). I'm curious to see how this evolves. Thanks for stepping out into this and inviting us along!
- Katie Adams
@Steve - but why do *you* need to be here? if they are engaging us directly, what exactly is your role?
- Jeremy Toeman
@Jeremy As a strategist on the Pepsi account, I would be here regardless - reading, moderating, advising, etc. So rather than be clandestine about it, Pepsi thought we should be open. Now that I am here, though, what role do you think I should play?
- Steve Rubel
@Jeremy I have to say Steve was very cautious at first, for good reason, but we were very clear that all of our agency partners will be identified and participatory.
- B. Bonin Bough
@Steve honestly, without a clear understanding of what Pepsi actually wants to get out of this, I can't answer that.. all i can say is having "the PR guy" around and actively participating makes me feel like this is just a "we paid our way into social media" effort. pls note - while i know we've disagreed on things before, this has nothing to do with you personally..
- Jeremy Toeman
@Jeremy we want this kind of feedback (and I recognize it's not personal). I will let Pepsi speak for themselves on their goals. I am really here as an observer and to facilitate.
- Steve Rubel
@Jeremy I don't think it's really function specifc; PR/Marketing/Sales. It is shared space. He is our partner on this and while it's a little different from how other companies are approaching..we are thrilled to have him front and center.
- Josh Karpf
@Jeremey Our objective is to open a place where we can have dialogue around social media strategies. In addition to participating in other spaces we are dedicated to making this place have meaning to the FriendFeed community.
- B. Bonin Bough
@B. Bonin Bough “...how we turned a devote Diet C--- drinker into a Diet Pepsi fan.” As someone who lives this brand, a new logo/package design won’t do that. Never has. I’ve been drinking Pepsi for nearly four decades and for one reason only—taste. Everything from that point forward starts from there. Not that it’s always a requirement, but how many people tapped ahead of time were...
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- mtlb
(FriendFeed character limits doesn’t really facilitate conversation that well.) Anyway, Google “Pepsi’ and ‘social media’ or ‘new logo’ and gauge the responses. (While it’s easy to be mislead by the number of mentions, really listen to what’s being said. The classic PR mantra “Well, at least people are talking about it” only flies if you’re Paris Hilton.)
- mtlb
Surprised this isn't tied into a Twitter account. The ability to see and push shorter comments to Twitter would bring more people into this room. Friendfeed conversations don't get noticed too easily from outside.
- Brian Carter
I would love to see this on Twitter! I love the new look and I would love to see one up close and personal and to share this with my readers - I am the Editor in Chief of Kitten Lounge http://kittenlounge.onsugar.com and although this is a great site to post this, I agree with others that you're really going to have to use various Social Networks to get the word out as many people don't know about this and don't use FriendFeed. This should be on Twitter without a doubt!
- Kimmie
Posting some photos on Flickr of new product designs. We have seen tons creative expressions of the new designs. Would love your thoughts on who else we should be getting this out there.
- Josh Karpf
Great! I've already put some info, video and pictures in our blog: http://www.novavizia.com/3390... and have a question - why Pepsi is underperforming so badly against Coca-Cola in Bulgaria?
- Todor
I get the point... you have to filter the content and choose custom-made examples to show to certain people in order to convince them... But I don't agree with this segmentation of what people see, expect or recognize in Youtube. Youtube is not just about having the chance to witness great speakers - in fact, a video with a dog and a duck can portray a certain reality with more accuracy...
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- Pedro Rocha
Hi everyone! Today Pepsi launched a room on Friendfeed designed to foster stronger relationships with influencers like you and to foster collaboration. I will be there participating as their agency partner and I invite you to join us.
- Steve Rubel
from Bookmarklet
not bad, looks like pepsi's been reading web 2.0 =)
- Adam Singer
Looks like they're trying to control the community with moderation on comments. :-( (Oh, I guess they admit as much at the top of the page. Still doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy.)
- Brent Logan
@Brent we're approving them quickly. Take a look,
- Steve Rubel
don't think you'll be able to do so 24/7/365 just not scalable
- Farhan Memon
Why, yes you are. As Farhan notes, that's going to be a full-time job.
- Brent Logan
@Farhan correct, it won't be 24/7/365. But we will be fast.
- Steve Rubel
Foster collaboration in what way precisely? Speaking entirely from a personal standpoint, why would you think that I would want to interact with a "brand" in quite this fashion? I'm not being snarky; I honestly can't fathom what mindset you think the consumer has, in this particular instance.
- Jill O'Neill
I think they want you to feel 'cold and fizzy', not 'warm and fuzz'y @blogan (groan)
- Todd Logan
from twhirl
Quote "Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. Original: A Guide to Choosing Colors for Your Brand, http://is.gd/3lCR" Thanks to http://www.basement.org/
- Evgeni Leshtanski
from Bookmarklet
step 1 after receiving application is to google the applicant; however, you have to use some decent ethical judgment to not disqualify a person because you may not like what they say/write.
- jerobins
I wore a tie last week on Thursday for ugly tie day at work (mine was bright yellow with orange horses.) We have themed Thursdays during the summer, this week is Hawaiian shirt day. Other than that it has been a couple of years.
- Mark Anderson
Last May for a wedding - and then a year ago today (literally - the job interview for my current job). Outside of weddings, I don't foresee myself wearing one anytime soon either. I do miss it though. Getting dressed up is nice - but I have no need for that here....
- George Smith
not sure, a while to say the least. The best part? the last time I wore a tie because I had to has even been longer. When you don't have to do it, doing it once a while is not bothering me at all.
- berkay
Every Sunday and when I got to important meetings.
- Jason Shultz
from twhirl
I've been to three weddings this month and was in two of them (performed one), so I've been wearing all sorts of ties lately.
- Mike Keliher
from twhirl
if I said it was end-of-1995, would it scare you? :)
- A.T.
last friday - though i do tend to wear them less - used to have to wear one mon-fri so to louis' point i stopped wearing them on sunday's decades ago - figured god would understand ;)
- mike "glemak" dunn
Went to a wedding a couple of years ago.
- Dave Winer
i like feeling like i've grown out of tie
- videopixil
from twhirl
Months and months ago - I cannot remember when
- Jim Duncan
Just weddings (Black Tie) and Job Interviews. In reality - so not needed day to day. Doesn't really improve male smartness, in fact tends to make guys look a bit like schoolboys
- Robert Davies
am I the joe blow on the block who wears a tie every day ? I dunna, its a habbit to wear one and always have a spare jacket /tie in the office..
- Peter Dawson
don't remember. Not on a regular basis in this century!
- Joe Buhler
Wedding, funerals and occasions where someone might call me "gent."
- Kawika Holbrook
July 4 at a wedding but I cannot recall the time prior.
- Bob Gannon
I get to wear one tomorrow for business dress day. Yeah!! :(
- David Cook
Whenever appropriate, 5 times a month ~, It looks like ties are still a part of work and social life based on the comments. When I put my mind to it, it feels good to get the garb on and head out.
- Vince Green
I wore one a couple years ago to a co-worker's wedding.
- Chrimmus Tad
9 years ago at a funeral... the ties belonged to the deceased and he wanted all of his friends to have one (male and female) so he gave them out just before he died of liver cancer... one week after his 50th birthday... I think of him every day when I walk in the closet & see it hanging on the wall.... or I hear a Dead song... 'cause it's a Garcia :-)!
- Nancy Babyak
from twhirl
Long time since I don't like how those things feel.
- Daniel Schildt