You are here: Home / Archives for Meetings

ColaLife Pods – what the frontline thinks

27 November 2008 By 17 Comments

I have written so much about what has happened over the last two days but I have not quite finished or publshed anything yet (it will come). But the video below sums it all up. The context is as follows. Today I went out with Benito Xaverly, one of the Area Sales Manager for Dar Es Salaam. He’s a Business Administration graduate and until recently he worked for Pepsi. He had not heard of ColaLife before we got in the vehicle and started on our journey. We visited 7 of the 17 MDCs that he manages and I took the mock-up ColaLife Pods I made yesterday. Here they are in Coca-Cola crates. They fitted!

Here is the video. The first 1min 15secs is in Swahili as Benito explains the ColaLife idea to the people who work at the MDC. Then it breaks into English . . . . it’s very interesting what is said . . . .

:-)

Tomorrow I’m going to try and hook up with an NGO that operates locally that I think could help move this idea into a pilot phase: PSI Tanzania

Filed Under: Coca-Cola Campaign, colalife 101, Meetings, Tanzania, Tanzania Trip Nov 08, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , ,

ColaLife pods?

26 November 2008 By 5 Comments

Another great day with a bunch of really creative people but more on the meeting in the next blog post. When the meeting finished I was able to arrange to tag along with Adrian Ristow to see more MDCs tomorrow and then I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for that. And the image is the result!

I’ve mocked up a couple of inserts based on Jess’s designs: 1) one (the cylinder) is a coke bottle replacement and 2) is a ‘toblerone wedge’ that should fit between the bottles. I want to see how the Coke distributors react when I put these in the crates. I’ll try and capture this reaction on video.

Filed Under: Coca-Cola Campaign, design, Meetings, Tanzania, Tanzania Trip Nov 08 Tagged With: ,

Tanzania Diary – Day 1 – 25/11/08

25 November 2008 By 2 Comments

Children at Rene MDC, Dar Es Salaam >>more photos

Well, where do I start? I’ve learnt so much in such a short time. Here is a brief run-down of the day. It’s a bit ‘notey’ but I need to get some sleeeep!

The programme for the day was an introductory talk which I missed as I was still in the sky. Followed by a visit to the Kwanza Bottling Plant and three Manual Distribution Centres (MDCs). The ones we visited were run by women.

There are about 20 people here and they are all going to be great contacts for taking ColaLife forward. I think the best way forward is to try and engage some of these people, including people from Coca-Cola, in co-developing a business plan to trial. Otherwise we are going to have to put up something ourselves which there will be no commitment to and will be shot down. Anyway, that’s the tactic I’m going to try.

Key learning points:

  • I’m getting challenged by some of the ‘development professionals’ here but I was expecting that. But I think I’m responding OK but I’m not sure they are listening!
  • The Moo cards are BRILLIANT at getting people’s attention
  • 350 ml glass bottles account for 80% of sales – I’ll get some measurements before I leave
  • There are two sorts of crates that these go into:
  • A full height crate that is deeper that the bottles and is load-bearing
  • A ‘Ian Bishop’ crate which the bottles stick out of the top of (these are being phased out – which is good as it would be more difficult to carry stuff in these)
  • See the photos
  • The Manual Distribution Centres (MDCs) – we were taken to ones run by women – take a lorry load of crates at a time (ie the lorry doesn’t go on a circuit it leaves the bottling plant and goes to one MDC which takes the whole load (helpful when thinking at which point the ColaLife Pods could be inserted)

Tomorrow is the main meeting so I’ll report back on that and hjopefully provide more photos for you to see.

Sorry, but the Flickr photos are still uploading – I’ll put the link into these tomorrow.

Filed Under: Background Data, Coca-Cola Campaign, Meetings, Tanzania, Tanzania Trip Nov 08 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Notes of the first face to face with Salvatore Gabola

16 June 2008 By 11 Comments

Salvatore Gabola

Here is a summary of the face to face
meeting with Salvatore Gabola at Coca Cola’s European HQ in Brussels from 12-14:30 on 16/6/08

1 The unique and interesting elements of this campaign were
highlighted again:

  • it’s not about traditional Corporate
    Social Responsibility (CSR) but about the Commercial Sector working with other
    sectors (Gov and NGOs), with each working to its strengths, to achieve
    something that neither could achieve by themselves
  • Coca Cola support many projects in Africa aimed at getting community access to
    fresh water and sanitation but they are traditional CSR-type projects, so this
    idea is different.
  • the fact that it is a positive campaign
    based on practical action

There have been other attempts by Coca
Cola at distribution of non-Coca Cola products in the past but these have not
been successful for different reasons. The distribution of medication for
HIV/AIDS did not work because the medicines need special storage conditions,
needed to arrive in a predictable manner, needed specialist medical personnel
to prescribe them etc etc. The distribution of condoms did not have the same
problems but suffered from others, including the usual issues that arise around
the subject of birth control. The benefits of connecting to recycling
initiatives were also not evident, in countries mostly using refillable bottles
and where the rare cans are already picked up as valuable recyclables.

However, this idea, on the face of it,
would appear to be relatively free of controversy.  >>more

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Coca-Cola Campaign, Meetings Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Telephone conference with Coca Cola – 5/6/08

5 June 2008 By 12 Comments

Coca Cola in Soweto

Here is a summary of the telephone conference with Coca Cola.

Representatives from Coca Cola:
Euan Wilmshurst
Manager, Stakeholder Engagement
Coca-Cola Global Stakeholder Team

Salvatore Gabola
Global Director Stakeholder Relations

Representative from this group:
Simon Berry

Introductions (see annex 1)

I started by outlining the idea and how it had progressed to become a group of 1800 people. This is all here.

I made the point that we were not just interested in the distribution of the salts but also in the awareness raising and education process as well.

What we have achieved was described as ‘remarkable’ but there seemed to be a genuine delight that the campaign was a positive one, which Coca Cola could potentially engage with. I pointed out that this group offers a valuable middle ground – bridging the usual divide between ‘anti-’campaigners and the Coca Cola ‘publicity machine’. In this middle ground, the majority would be able to gather around a simple positive action and in the process learn from, and about, each other. I think this is accepted by Coca Cola. >>more

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Coca-Cola Campaign, Meetings Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
Newer Posts »