iPad creates a whole new reading experience

Reading to my daughters has always been part of our family evening go-to-bed ritual. Now that our daugthers are getting older, it's fascinating to see how they are enjoying a completely new reading experience with our iPad.

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As I help them download new books, it's interesting to see how some publishing houses and media groups are rapidly understanding that creating books takes on a whole new meaning. Stories and illustrations can move, morph, transform and become totally interactive.

An entirely new experience that will certainly influence a new generation of readers. This is an example of what books are becoming....

On the Cannes shortlist

Today I received a phone call from Wilson Pereira, our account executive from AlmapBBDO telling me that our Doritos TV campaign "Wanna share something with friends, share a Doritos" made it to the Cannes 2010 Shortlist.... cool!

Toddy's Moooooovement of truth

Last year, we launched a very successful campaign for our Toddy® business in Brazil called "Toddy the flavor of truth". Brand loyalists love how Toddy has always been about authenticity... a certain unpretencious coolness. Brazilian millenials identify with the brand's iconic cows and their very Brazilian-style irreverence. The campaign idea is rather simple. You either say the truth or you get a moooooooo from the cows. You're either real, authentic, cool or you get a moooooo.

Hundreds of different moooos are being posted in social networks and forums by people all over the country. It has become a fun way to protest against anything that's not real.


The campaign was created by PeraltaStrawberryFrog.

Here are the two latest spots which start airing this weekend. Come join the mooooovement.

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Wallpaper* June edition 'Born in Brazil'

If you've got a thing for Brazil or just curious to get into the vibe of what's going on in this beautiful country.... pick up the June edition of Wallpaper* - one of the coolest magazines around with cover story "Born in Brazil - a warm wellcome from the most exciting country on earth". It was a great read flying back from Curitiba this week.

Different than other publications, Wallpaper* set up a temporary office in São Paulo to live, breathe and get a true inside view of why this place is finally happening.

Brazil's little piece of chocolate heaven

France has truffles... Brazil has the brigadeiro.... a little chocolate sin served at birthday parties and as a dessert around the country. Nobody knows brigadeiros like Juliana Motter, founder of Maria Brigadeiro. Until recently, she would only take reservations by phone but now Juliana opened a storefront in one of São Paulo's cool neighborhoods. We went there last night to buy a gift box.

If you're ever in São Paulo and you get a craving for chocolate... here's the address:

Rua Capote Valente, 68

World's first display made from reclyced chip bags

Last week, here at PepsiCo Brazil we started to roll-out an exciting new product display for our line of snacks. The news is that is the world's first display made 100% from recycled chip bags. In fact, 675 chip bags are used to make each display. By the end of the year, we will be producing 25,000 displays to be placed in stores all over Brazil.
























We're working with waste management coops in São Paulo which are collecting chip bags as part of a larger post-consumer packaging program that we're deploying in partnership with TerraCycle - the world's most innovative eco-friendly manufucturers.

This initiative means, that in the next six months, 16.8 million bags won't go to landfills.

The Nothing Movement in Rhode Island

Jeanette Palmer and I worked on a few packaging graphic projects for 7UP and H2OH! a few years ago when she was with Raison Pure New York. She now lives in Providence, Rhode Island and works for a local agency called NAIL. She sent me a link with an amazing cultural movement called Nothing her agency has created for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

A beautiful example of how the power of creative can work for a greater cause. This is the type of campaign that would work very well in developing countries, like here in Brazil.

I love everything about it.

Click here to visit the movement's website

Campaign for NatuChips - all-natural chips made from Brazilian Roots

This is our TV campaign for NatuChips - a line of all-natural chips made from Brazilian roots: Mandioquinha (arracacha in English) and Inhame (taro).

The copy reinforces naturalness and freshness with a touch of humor. It actually takes between 12-36 hours from the moment these roots are harvested and are produced at our plant in Sete Lagoas (state of Minas Gerais).

NatuChips also follows a global trend towards clean labels. In our case, just three ingredients: roots, palm oil and salt.

Creative by AlmapBBDO.

Dip or squeeze... great packaging idea

An e-mail came in today from 4Sight - a NY-based packaging design firm I've worked with a few years ago - communicating a recent project they worked on called Heinz Ketchup Dip & Squeeze.  

This is an absolutely brilliant example of how many times the best packaging ideas are very simple.  

I love it!

Salsa, salsa, salsa!

In case you haven't seen it, this is a fantastic example of creativity to communicate a food product. Congratulations to the Tostitos Team at Frito-Lay!

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More on our "Share a Doritos" Campaign in Brazil

The third 30"TV spot of Brazil's new Doritos campaign "Wanna Share Something with Friends, Share a Doritos" beutifully created by AlmapBBDO. This spot, which is take on the famous truth or dare game, is by far my favorite of the three spots. I love the suspense, the production details... and the fact the story is told backwards. It started to air this weekend.

I hope you like it...

What's happening during school recess?

If you want to know what's hot among kids, check out what's going on during recess in any school around the country.  Nowadays, the hottest property in Brazil (and what I've been reading in many countries around the World) is the FIFA 2010 World Cup Official Sticker Album.  In the past two weeks, I've been myself driving to the neighborhood newstand to buy more stickers for my two daughters... who aren't really soccer fans.  They tell me everyone at school (and even the teachers) is collecting the cards.  This is a fascinating cultural movement.

Why is this so hot?  Ok, I know that we're 45 days away from the coolest sports event in the World (I personally can't wait!), but why are kids so obsessed to collect these cards?  My personal feeling is the following...

There's a certain thrill of exchanging cards with other kids

There's a tangible feeling of opening the envelopes, sticking the cards, seeing the album being complete that beats the many virtual experiences these kids have after school in front of the computer

There's a sense of belonging, that kids all over the world are doing the same

What can we learn from this experience that can apply to the brand experiences we provide?

DVD on the innovation workshop

I borrowed a DVD on innovative thinking from my good friend Gilvan Azevedo, who works at IFF. Gilvan is a great source of information, always very wired.  So, I was curious to watch the video which is called Marty Neumeier's Innovation Workshop.    Marty Meumeier is president of San Francisco-based think tank Neutron and author of Zag, Brand Gap and The Designful Company. For those looking for inspiration and a few useful tips on how to jump-start the innovation journey, the video is worth watching.   

Innovation toolkit containing the DVD available at Amazon.

Two new spots for Doritos in Brazil

This weekend, we started airing two new 30" spots from Doritos 2010 TV Campaign. The new spots are a continuation of last year's successful campaign 'Wanna Share Something With Your Friends, Share a Doritos' which reinforces the brand as a social snack among teens.

In these two new executions, AlmapBBDO did a great job creating new situations which are interrupted by the campaign theme... reminding people that the best thing to share among friends is a bag of Doritos.

Doritos - Brazil's fastest-growing snack in 2009 - is becoming a lovemark among Brazilian millennials.

More news to come...

Photoshop free

On the cover of this month's French-edition of Maire Claire magazine you'll see a lettering that says "100% Sans Retouches" which means the edition is totally photoshop-free.  Another good example of a consumer trend that has been with us for a while now and my feeling is it's here to stay:  the search for authenticty.  In a climate of uncertainty and a mistrust in brand marketing, the interest people are finding in anything that keeps it real.  A positive attitude towards 'what you see is what you get'.    

You see this trend's manifestation from furniture retail (think Design Within Reach) to food (Innocent comes to mind as well as the recent launch of Haagen-Dazs Five) and now making it to the editorial world.  

Remembering a good wine

With thousands of wine labels available, often people try a wine at a restaurant or party and can't remember the next day what it was.  Wouldn't it be great if you could peel off a little sticker on the back panel with the wine's main features.? 

I couldn't find any example online.  What I did find was a site:  rememberwine.com that helps people keep records of the wines they have tasted over time. 

Good start.

Ice creams and gelatos I love

Those who know me, know how much I love ice-cream.  Last week-end in New York, I had a chance of visiting 

il laboratorio dei gelato (95 Orchard Street - Lower East Side), a gelateria that was on my wish list ever since I read an article on how Jon Snyder (founder of Ciao Bella where my wife and I used to go when we lived in the city) was creating some very unique flavors. I end up tasting toasted sesame, amareto crunch and lime fresh mint.  Absolutely fantastic!

Here is my list of great ice-creams and gelatos that I have tasted over the years (in no particular order)...

Gelateria di Piazza (San Gimignano, Italy)

Maison Berthillon (Paris)

Ben & Jerry's Factory (Waterbury, Vermont)

Ferris Acres Creamery (Newtown, Connecticut)

Mil Frutas (Ipanema, Rio)

Freddo (Buenos Aires)

Persicco (Buenos Aires)

Gelateria del Teatro (Rome)

If you know of any other great ice-cream parlors please let me know.

Making it easier for people to keep medical files

In the beginning of the year, I took my annual medical check-up. A few days later, I received an oversize envelope with the results of practically a full-day of tests.  How do those tests relate to previous check-ups?  I have no idea.  It doesn't help that I've never had a family doctor mainly because I've lived in 12 cities in three different countries.

The other day, I went for drinks with my brother-in-law James Maul, a techie who is very wired (every family seems to have one), who told me about Google Health - a service that allows people to store, organize, consult and share historical health data with a doctor or physical therapist.  It sounded like an interesting concept especially when you think how important health is to our lives and yet not everyone seems to keep good records.

Coincidently, on a flight back to São Paulo the other day, I read an interesting article in Time Magazine called "Paging Dr. Google - the search giant wants to help you compile your health records online. Is that a good idea?" written by Bonnie Rochman.

On the week-end, I ended up reading a little bit more about the service and I even found this very useful video resource in YouTube.... a pretty powerful concept.  

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Another cool augmented reality idea... from Doritos in Brazil

After the tremendous success we've been having with Doritos Sweet Chili and our augmented reality packaging, our digital agency CuboCC came up with another cool idea.  This time, they asked us if we wanted to put together the world's largest augmented reality event.  Why not?

Take a look at the video and see who appeared on top of the PepsiCo office building the other day?

Packaging redesign for Brazil's favorite tuna brand

Packaging innovation for Coqueiro - Brazil's most traditional tuna brand with over 75 years of history. Hitting stores all over Brazil this week, our new Coqueiro Tuna cans are moving from traditional paper labels (wrapped around the can) to easy-open full litographed cans more than doubling the area for product information and branding.

Consumer research showed that one of the main complaints from shoppers when buying tuna & sardines is the difficulty in identifying the right option among solid, grated, in olive oil, different flavors, light... which led us to create a very simple easy-to-read color-coded area where the product variant is written in bold font to stand out on shelf.

Morning newspaper and an oatmeal cookie

When it comes to new products there´s nothing like simple sampling. The more you get people to try, engage, experiment, the more chances are you´ll start forming a consumer base. Sounds simple but I have made a few mistakes in the past of not sampling enough.

For our Quaker On-the-Go line, we teamed up with São Paulo's Metro Newspaper and used their army of distributors at traffic lights to give morning commuters a sample of Quaker oatmeal cookies and mini squares.

Electric bike to the rescue.... to jump-start your car

Dealing with a dead car battery is not something people are happy about.  For those who have auto insurance with Porto Seguro - Brazil's most innovative insurance company - things are little different.  You call their 1-800 number, tell them where your car is located and you may end up being rescued by an electric bike (apparently service is restricted to certain metro areas).  What a fantastic way for the insurance company to reduce operating costs, get through chaotic traffic found in metro areas like São Paulo, jump-start the car using the bike's battery and help the environment.  Absolutely brilliant.

The interesting thing is that Porto Seguro is also marketing the electric bikes, which they co-developed in collaboration with engineer Felicio Sadalla (an engineer who designed Brazil's first electric bike a few decades ago) and Pro-X bike manufacturers.  This morning, I met Patricia Collese from Porto Seguro who showed me the bike and told me the story of how the project got started.

Click here for more info. 

I found this video on YouTube (in Portuguese) covering the story...

NatuChips - made from Brazilian roots

In a few days an exciting new snack concept we have been developing for the past year will hit the shelves all over Brazil: NatuChips.

There has been a growing interest among Brazilians consumers for products that celebrate local food staples. The growth of açai, coconut water or guaraná-enhanced energy drinks are examples of how Brazilian are re-discovering local tastes... from fruits to roots.

NatuChips is a great way for Brazilians to try something completely different in terms of snacking... different, but very close to their food culture. NatuChips comes in two great-tasting options: Inhame chips (known in English as taro) and Mandioquinha chips (known as arrancacha). We're very excited with this launch.

Try them out and drop me a line with your thoughts.

Care for some local sausage on your way up the slopes?

Flying back from a 2-week vacation in Europe (reason why I haven't been blogging as much as I'm used to), I read a great article in BusinessWeek about a surge in the 'buy local' movement. This is something my wife and I have always believed in.

Coincidently, my Family and I were skiing at a very quaint resort last week called Le Diablerets in Switzerland and it struck me how that particular community is so proud of their local products. You could feel it at the local supermarket, at the little laiterie across the street from our auberge, the week-end farmer's market and even at the ski lift. Yes, the ski lift. This is a photo I took at one of the main ski lifts where one of the local producers of sausages and cheese was showcasing his products. Pretty unusual way to get your message out. I loved it.

Toddy on Facebook

Toddy - one of Brazil's coolest brands among millennials - is now on Facebook where fans can see in real-time how three cutting-edge Brazilian graffitti artists (Cusco, Carla Barth, Estudio Alice) are collaborating on the cow that is part of the Sao Paulo Cow Parade exhibit.  

Check it out.

Is this the coolest club in Brazil?

Last night, my wife and I went clubbing... something we haven't been doing that often.  We went to what is considered by many as Brazil's coolest club: Green Valley located in Camboriu, a well-known beach in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

Everything about this place is amazing.  Picture a massive tent with the main stage, open-air bars and a lounge-style pavillion with different DJs all in the middle of a lush tropical vegetation with world-class electronic music.   UK DJ Johnathan Ulysses was the main guy on the stage last night.

For anyone involved in marketing, it's essential to, whevever you can, go out to see and experience what people are doing, drinking, dancing.... whatever, especially away from your home turf.   It's easy to get cozy and end up doing pretty much the same things on weekends.  I loved the experience and will certainly try to do more of these things more often. 

Take a look at the venue's promo video below to get a little bit of the vibe of the place.  

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Cows, cows, cows invading Sao Paulo!

I just got back from the launch event of Cow Parade Sāo Paulo - one of the world's largest public art movements where local artists paint over fibeglass sculptures of cows.  These exhibits have happened all over the world from Zurich (where it all started back in 1998) to Tijuana, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Dublin, Taipei, Sydney just to name a few.  At the end of the 3-month event, the cows are auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity.   Here are a few photos that I took that will give you a little flavor of this amazing display of work.

We are one of the event sponsors with our Toddy Brand, an obvious choice since this is a brand that has irreverent cows in its DNA.  Instead of just displaying a cow with a logo on its back (which unfortunately a few brands end up doing) we decided to get more experiential.  Our digital agency CuboCC came up with a very cool concept.  Three street artists were commissioned to collaboratively paint our cow allowing the public to see these guys actual work and interact with them.  The entire process can be followed on Facebook and will be made into a short documentary. 

Here are a few shots of the first local artist we're using called Cusco.

Toddy Organico - our first organic product

Later on today, after a 12-month development process, we will be launching a fantastic new product our marketing team is very proud of: Toddy Organic - PepsiCo Brazil's very first organic product.
























The launch will take place at a press event organized by WalMart Brazil where nine sustainable innovations from nine different manufacturers will be revealed.

This initiative is part of our corporate strategy of developing products that contribute to a better tomorrow but still provide a great-tasting product experience. We are very proud of Toddy Organic in a number of ways. Following the global trend towards clean labels, Toddy Organic is made with only five ingredients: organic cocoa, organic sugar, malt extract, sugar and soy lecithin. The organic cocoa and organic sugar are both cultivated with absolutely no pesticides, only natural fertilizers. Labels are made with recycled material partially made from paper collected from our own offices. Certification of the entire process, from seed to shelf, is carried out by IBD-Instituto Biodinâmico.

The organic cocoa comes from farms in the beautiful region of Ilhéus, in the State of Bahia - by Barry Callebaut. This project is particularly special when you take into consideration that cocoa, like sugarcane and coffee, are an integral part of the history and culture of this country.

Toddy is one of our fastest growing brands and has been a part of the Brazilian breakfast for the past 76 years. We're hoping Toddy Organic will appeal to moms and a generation of young consumers who are concerned with the world they live in.... but can't live without their daily Toddy.

Pepsi Refresh Project - start submitting ideas tomorrow

For those who haven't seen it, the Pepsi Refresh Project in the U.S. market is an amazing example of socially-responsible marketing. Pepsi is giving away millions in grants each month to fund great ideas.

Tomorrow, Jan. 13 is the day people can start submitting their projects of how to make the world a better place. Log on and participate. As a PepsiCo employee, I feel very proud of this type of initiative that pretty much reconceptualizes the role brands can have in the world we live in.

Spread the word.

A beautiful story of the power of nature

In parts of Brazil, some electric posts are still made of wood instead of the more commonly seen concrete ones. In Rondonia - one of the Brazilian states part of the Amazon region - a Yellow Ipê (also known as a Tabebuia Tree and is a considered a symbol of Brazil) was cut down a few years ago to become an electric post.  

To everyone's surprise, the tree didn't give up, started to grow roots and blossomed.  The power company installed a concrete post next to it removing all the electrical cables from the tree.  

A wonderful story that proves the power of nature.  Social media is now turning the story into a movement in favor preserving trees.

Read more about the Yellow Ipê in Wikipedia.