Fabulous new photos just in
February 26, 2010 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Thanks to ColaLife supporter Tim Dench we have the first photos of the Mark III AidPod in situ in Tanzania. Tim runs TOAD in his spare time. Please take a look.
This first slideshow shows the AidPod in the hands of our client group. Children!
And these are the first photos of the Mark III AidPod in a Coca-Cola crate in aremote part of Tanzania. OK, it’s only a model AidPod but it’s a step in the right direction.
ColaLife brokers partnership with global NGO for Tanzanian field work
August 4, 2009 by Simon Berry · 13 Comments
Our first major achievement was to get Coca-Cola’s agreement to look at trialling our ideas on the ground in Africa. Now we can reveal our second major achievement: we have successfully found them the partner they needed. Three weeks ago, on 20th July 2009, after months of partnership development talks, AED (The Academy for Educational Development) started work on the ground in Tanzania with Coca-Cola and local bottler SABCO. Together, they will be looking at the viability of early field trials to develop the work of their MDCs: a ‘learning laboratory’. And we hope that the concepts and ideas Colalife has put forward will form a successful part of those trials.
Over a year ago, in June 2008, when I travelled to Brussels to meet with Salvatore Gabola, Coca-Cola’s Global Head of Stakeholder Relations, he set me a challenge. He liked the idea. He said that the time could be right. BUT:
“Coca-Cola couldn’t do this [colalife] by itself even it wanted to. Distribution of medicines is not our business, not our area of expertise. We would need to partner with an international NGO.”
Not one to turn down a challenge, I started approaching all the big names in the UK. It’s a great idea - surely some big organisation with the expertise we needed would take it forward? What’s to lose? People could only say ‘No’…. Yep, they said No. Six months and a great many polite put-downs later: still no luck. Then I got a message from a member of the Facebook Group, Magdelena Serpa. She works for AED in the States and was really excited by the Colalife idea. She arranged a telephone conference with her colleague, Peter Johnson, a member of AED’s Senior Management Group. We followed this initial call with another involving all the relevant AED experts in Washington and New York and I was able to persuade them that the idea had potential. I undertook to try and set up a telephone conference call with Euan Wilmshurst and Adrian Ristow of Coca-Cola. That was in early December 2008.
The Coca-Cola/AED telephone conference took a while to arrange but finally we all got around the virtual meeting table on 20 January. After a couple more telephone conferences it was clear that this partnership was going to be fruitful. But there was still a lot of work to do to build the relationship; it would not have helped to reveal that negotiations were underway at that time, so I put my blogpost on the back burner and waited.
This week, my contacts at Coca-Cola told me that the work is underway, though any major announcements will have to wait until the findings start to emerge. This exploratory phase will assess the viability of social product distribution and social messaging, for trials in the last quarter of this year.
This is a big day for ColaLife: a truly significant milestone for the ColaLife campaign and the culmination of months of work behind the scenes. Thank goodness I don’t have to keep this to myself any longer!
Onwards and upwards.
Introducing Trans Tanz
June 26, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Meet the people of the Trans Tanz Project. And a big thank you to them for helping the ColaLife Campaign by taking these photos and sending them in.
Trans Tanz is a charitable organisation that works in the Bagamoyo district of Tanzania with a local community based organisation called UKUN. Together they provide free transport for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in rural areas to access antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. These drugs are available without charge, but many poor Tanzanians living with HIV/AIDS are unable to afford the cost of public transport to access them. Our project will help keep hundreds of PLWHA alive.
Seeing these pictures, thinking and talking about the Trans Tanz project makes you think. “What about personalised aidpods”, my partner cried! An aidpod with your name on it and the drugs inside it that you need.
Help to raise the profile of ColaLife on our Birthday
May 18, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Would you like to do something really significant on the birthday of ColaLife’s Facebook Group? If yes, then please comment on these two independent articles: click on the links below and add a comment, mentioning ColaLife, to the article you see. This will really help raise our profile. Thanks.
Business Week
Coke: On Doing Well by Doing Go
Your comment won’t appear immediately as comments are moderated
Onwards and upwards!
Coca-Cola confirm their commitment to ColaLife trials . . on BBC Radio 4
April 25, 2009 by Simon Berry · 3 Comments
This is a great confirmation of Coca-Cola’s commitment to trials of the ColaLife idea this year in Tanzania. Listen again to the interview here:
Thanks are due to Euan of Coca-Cola and the iPM team who can do magic with audio. This feature includes audio from the flip video I took on the frontline in Dar Es Salam in November 2008. Nice mash-up guys!
You can listen again here.
Why we still need Google’s support
April 23, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Animation produced by Facebook members to support our Project 10^100 entry
There is a danger, now that Coca-Cola have said yes (probably) to trials of our idea in Tanzania, the people at Google will think ‘job done’ and decide we don’t need their help. However, the truth is that we need their help now more than ever. Up until the Coca-Cola statement on Tuesday (21/4/09) all we had was an idea, a pretty amazing idea, but just an idea. Now we have a job to do. It’s not a case of ‘job done’, more the case of a huge ‘job to do’.
Although we are right to expect Coca-Cola to invest in the ColaLife idea, we shouldn’t expect them to ‘own’ it - and indeed they have no aspiration to. Coca-Cola will be one of a number of crucial partners that will be required to make ColaLife a successful, replicable reality. If ColaLife aidpods are going to be part of the trials this year we are going to need several thousand of them. We are going to need talented designers to build and test prototypes. Then we’ll need them made - preferably in Africa. Everything so far has been voluntary - but to do this properly we’re going to need funding. While the trials are underway in Tanzania we’ll need to be learning and understanding the key success factors. We’ll need to be working with local people in other developing countries to understand local conditions and the enablers and barriers to replication of the idea. And so the list goes on.
So, Google, if you’re listening. We need you now more than ever.
The text of our Project 10^100 entry are here.
Please register to vote for ColaLife here.
If you work for Google . . . when are you going to announce the top 100 ideas? (well, if you don’t ask?).
Coca-Cola say ‘Yes’ (probably) to trials this year
April 22, 2009 by Simon Berry · 16 Comments
Image credit: Alison Pearson. Thanks to the children of the N’gombe Compound in Lusaka, Zambia.
A handful of ColaLife supporters attended the public Business Fights Poverty event at the Commonwealth Club last night to hear Euan Wilmshurst, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, The Coca-Cola Company, give a qualified YES to trials of the ColaLife idea before the end of the year in Tanzania. Euan did give himself a fair bit of ‘wriggle room’ but this is highly significant development for our camapign. This is the first time Coca-Cola have mentioned ColaLife in public. 350 people registered for the event and most of them came. The auditorium was completely full and 70 people watched the event live over the internet.
Coca-Cola’s response to the Business Call To Action has always been tighly focussed on growing Coca-Cola’s core business in Africa but doing this is a way that maximises impact in terms of the alleviation of poverty (see a fuller explanation here). However, last night, Euan made a specific reference to ColaLife and stated that they wanted to go beyond their original intention and look at the opportunities for social marketing and the distribution of ’social products’. This is a big step for Coca-Cola and the campaign and in the right direction.
Delegates were invited to ask questions and my question went something like this:
My name is Simon Berry and in my spare time I run the ColaLife Campaign which Euan generously referred to in his presentation.
ColaLife wants Coca-Cola to open up its distribution system to take social products like Oral Rehydration Salts, Mosquito Nets, Vitamin A Tablets and so on. We have suggested that they do this using pods like this [waves aidpod in the air for people to see] that fit between the necks of Coca-Cola bottles in the crates.
There are more than 8,500 people around the world on a Facebook Group who want to see this happen. They range from logistics professionals to people working on the frontline in public health projects in developing countries.
Usually, the word ‘campaign’ is followed by the word ‘AGAINST’. But the ColaLife campaign is not AGAINST Coca-Cola. We want to make it easier for Coca-Cola to step a little outside their comfort zone and do something innovatory, something extraordinary, to help save lives, particularly children’s lives, in low income countries.
My question to Euan is: Will we see trials of the ColaLife idea in Tanzania before the end of the year? [laughs from the delegates!]
Euan’s response went something like this (hopefully you will be able to see precisely want he said when the video of the event is available).
The response to Simon’s question is easy. Yes, we are planning to run trails of the ColaLife idea before the end of the year. I think I have allowed myself enough wriggle room there. [he then went on the expand on the 'social' elements of the planned trials but re-stated that it was crucial that this element did not undermine the success of the core business - something that we would agree with]
This is an amazing achievement for us and a big step forward for the campaign. But we can’t just sit still and wait. If trials are going to happen before the end of the year, there is work to be done right now. We are going to need thousands of aidpods that have been prototyped and produced by then. So that’s our next task - to ensure that when Coca-Cola are ready to start the trial, there are thousands of Aidpods avaiable in Tanzania for our idea to be trialled properly. Google! Where are you?
Onwards and upwards!
Addendum
Since this post, Coca-Cola have re-affirmed their commitment in a Radio 4 interview. You can listen again here.
Moo Cards just work!
January 29, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Today my mobile buzzed announcing the arrival of a text . . . from Tanzania! It read:
Hi simon! i hope ur fine,
I am grace mdc from
kinondon area since u
come u r 2 quiet why?
nothing is going on
from grace mdc tanzania
Frontline SMS! That is Grace in the pictures. She owns and runs one the Coca-Cola MDCs (Manual Distribution Centres) in Dar Es Salaam. I had the pleasure of visiting and talking to Grace during my trip to Tanzania in November. I explained what I was doing and gave her a ColaLife Moo Card. She was delighted (but then so is everyone I give a Moo card to - they are just lovely).
Anyway she must have kept the card and today she made contact. I called Grace and she says she has access to email so we are going to continue communicating that way. I hope she’ll be able to get to an internet connection to watch the video I took at the Freeman MDC.
Moo are ColaLife supporters.
Tanzania trip - summary of progress
December 2, 2008 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
For those of you without the time to plough through all the material generated during the Tanzania trip, here’s a summary with some quick links:
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ColaLife Pods - what the frontline thinks A discussion about the ColaLife pods outside a Manual Cistribution Centre (MDC) in Dar Es Salaam. This includes a ‘must see’ video! . |
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Discussions with an international NGO with a long-term and significant presence in Tanzania Before we can move to piloting the ColaLife idea we need to identify a local NGO who can lead on the initiative. I met with PSI, Tanzania on my last day and they may consider taking up the idea although there is no formal agreement in place yet. |
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Summary of information gained by talking with people who run MDCs There was a consensus on the logistics of including ’social products’ within Coca-Cola crates. . |
Summary of information gained from visits to MDCs on 27/11/08 and 28/11/08
November 30, 2008 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
On 27/11/08 I was lucky enough to be able to accompany Benito Xaverly, one of Coca-Cola Kwanza’s Area Sales Managers as he visited 7 of the 17 MDCs he looks after. The main purpose of the visits was to agree the month’s sales targets and discuss any issues the MDCs may have.
However, I took along the ‘ColaLife Pods’, the tube and the wedge, to test reactions to the overall concept of putting ‘social products’ into Coca-Cola crates and get opinions on the different ways of doing it.
Here’s a summary of what we found. There is an insightful video of the conversation at Freeman MDC here. Click on the images to see them in more detail on Flickr.
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1 Mwenge South |
2 Freeman |
3 Kisimi* |
| On the tube “Ah, no.” “But what happens to the [spare] bottle?” |
On the tube “People would think we are reducing their profit margin” . |
No discussion (lorry waiting to be unloaded) . . |
| On the wedge “That is beautiful . . . colalife.” “We would find space” [to store the wedges for insertion at the MDC] |
On the wedge “We would find space” [to store the wedges for insertion at the MDC] . |
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| Other Please see the video of the conversation here. “It would need to be waterproof” “It’s a good idea” “Coca-Cola is distributed aggressively and gets everywhere but medicines don’t” “It’s social responsibility” “It would be good we would be doing something to help with people’s health” |
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| – | – | – |
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4 DD Shop |
5 Asma* |
6 Grace* |
| On the tube “But now there are only 23″ [bottles - disapproval] . . . . . |
Discussion in 100% Swahili and a truck was being unloaded while we were there. Again the wedge was the preferred option with insertion of the wedge at the MDC the suggestion. I have a poor quality video of the conversation. . . |
On the tube “Ah, no!” . . . . . |
| On the wedge “I have the space [to store the wedges] just give me the instructions” |
On the wedge “It’s a good idea” . . |
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| Other “Is it free?” . . |
Other Insertion of the wedges at the MDC was thought to be best. See text below also. |
* owned by women
Everyone at the MDCs thought that the wedges were the best solution and everyone thought they should be put in at the MDC (not at the bottling plant). Although space at all of the MDCs seemed to be at a premium, everyone said that they would find space to store the wedges.
Payment for insertion of the wedges was not talked about at MDCs 1 to 5 but MDCs would incur costs in doing this (eg storage, handling and insertion) and a payment would seem to be justified. I did discuss the possibility of payment at the Grace MDC (MDC 6 above) and that was greeted with enthusiasm: “When would we get paid? The same day?”. I said that I thought that payment would come when there was proof of delivery to the outlets.
When I went to Grace MDC I was unaccompanied and made it clear that I did not work for Coca-Cola but was there at Coca-Cola’s invitation. This made the conversation much more cautious and the initial reaction to the idea was totally negative. “It’s a bad idea. The only thing that should go in the crates is Coca-Cola”. However, when I explained that this would be done with the sanction of Coca-Cola (or not at all) and that the wedges would arrive on the Coca-Cola lorry the attitude changed completely. “No, this is a good idea”. So although the wedges would not be branded ‘Coca-Cola’ it would appear that the sanction of Coca-Cola is absolutely essential.
Other background information
- Benito looks after 17 MDCs
- Six of these are owned by women
- Mwenge South (which was tiny and had crates filled high everywhere) was shifting 230 crates a day.
- Generally speaking an MDC takes a whole truck load of crates. I a minority of deliveries is the delivery shared between two or more MDCs.
- Truck capacities are: 390, 520, 780 or 910 crates.
- All the deliveries I saw were in the full-depth crates although I did see ‘Ian Bishop’ crates in the MDCs
Thanks to Coca-Cola Kwanza for allowing me to accompany Benito and to Benito for being such great company.
What others are saying about ColaLife- ColaLife on Flickr
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