Fizzy Fits

We love a David vs Goliath battle here at the pr shop, especially when one of our clients (Sodastream) takes the role of David to champion the environment against the mighty global giant Coca-Cola. In case you haven’t been following the story; Sodastream has been running a global marketing campaign called ‘The Cage’ whereby giant cages full of plastic bottles and cans are put on display in public places around the world to draw attention to the environmental waste resulting from the packaged soft drinks industry. The Cage displayed at the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa angered Coca-Cola so much that they fired off a legal letter to SodaStream. The letter demanded that any used bottles with Coca-Cola branding are the property of Coca-Cola and should therefore be removed. Big mistake. Huge. SodaStream refused to back down, arguing very publicly, that if Coke does indeed own its garbage, it should be taking responsibility for it and cleaning it up, rather than letting billions of plastic bottles and cans go to landfill. The media (and the public) backed Sodastream – well who wouldn’t! Briefed by our client to communicate the Kiwi angle to media about the ‘battle of the bubbles’ we learnt a new marketing term in the process: ‘asymmetrical warfare’. According to an article in Forbes magazine, this is a marketing tactic that Sodastream deployed strongly to the detriment of Coca-Cola. We don’t care what you call it – it’s the fact that Sodastream has been declared victorious that counts. Amanda Politzer on behalf of the pr shop