NCAA Basketball Championship:Eyeballs May Have Strayed

After The Fray's charming acoustic guitar and drum national anthem,the NCAA Championship basketball game was trending downhill,though with some blips of excitement.The Kentucky Wildcats seized control early and made it clear they likely wouldn't relinquish it to the Kansas Jayhawks.The game started too late to begin with-9:23 Eastern.Despite a football style crowd of 70,000 screamers in the New Orleans Superdome,the air was gradually being let out of the broadcast balloon.
Sponsors of the CBS telecast included SABMiller PLC;Capital One Financial;AT&T;Chrysler;General Motors;Daimler Benz;Liberty Mutual;Nissan Motor Company Ltd.;Coca-Cola;and TD Ameritrade.The initial audience was no doubt of exceptional size,but one can see how it may have trailed off considerably before too long,depriving these firms of many of their highly desired eyeballs.
Kansas made a late run,but number one-ranked Kentucky won 67-59 for the team's eighth national championship.

Coke Aims For Responsibility

As part of its overall image makeover,Coca-Cola is positioning itself as an ally of parents in their commitment to their children's welfare.The company says that is why it aims to have a responsible and helpful presence in schools.Beginning in 2006,Coke points out,it helped institute national school beverage guidelines in the U.S. by voluntarily removing its full-calorie beverages from schools.Since then,their industry has reduced calories provided to U.S. schools by 58%,Coke claims.
Coca-Cola cites its more than 60-year partnership with Boys&Girls Clubs of America as evidence of its commitment to children.The relationship has produced programs such as Triple Play,which has encouraged more than 4,000,000 children to increase their level of physical activity and educated them about proper nutrition.The beverage maker also notes the My Coke Rewards for Schools Program,through which it has outfitted schools with the sports equipment and teaching materials they badly need,registering more than 5,000 schools to date.Coke maintains a website about its activities and motives at livepositively.com.

Coke Continues Health Push

Coca-Cola is continuing its healthy lifestyle marketing campaign.Coke understands what Americans need today,and is there to meet that need,not just peddle random products.With its signature brand,Coke is offering both low calorie options Diet Coke and Coke Zero,and Coke portion-control cans.
Coke is even introducing a new,all-natural no-calorie sweetener.Rebiana is derived from the stevia leaf and is part of the sweetening for 50-calorie Sprite Green and 10-calorie vitaminwater10.Coke says that,for nearly every beverage brand it sells,it has developed a low or no-calorie alternative.In the U.S. alone,it offers more than 650 sparkling beverages,water,juices,teas and sport drinks.People want variety and choices in all the beverages they drink,the company believes.They have committed themselves to continually providing a variety of options that help people make the right choices for themselves and their families.
Coke has set up a website for this campaign at www.livepositively.com

Coca-Cola Takes Health Tack

Coca-Cola says it is taking steps to help Americans realize their health goals.First,it is adding calories per serving and servings per container information on the front of all U.S. packages.To further help people manage their caloric intake,Coke is introducing 90-calorie slim cans in 2010.The company also points out that,since 2006,Coke has not sold full-calorie sparkling beverages in schools,in accordance with national school beverage guidelines.Since that time,total beverage calories in schools have decreased more than 58%,Coca-Cola reports.
All that being said,Coke goes on to admit that they know more needs to be done.Childhood obesity,and obesity generally,are major health concerns in America today.

Q4 Success Stories

A number of companies did manage to improve their year over year profits in Q4 2008.They include Colgate-Palmolive,Amazon,Heinz,Hershey's,Netflix and Verizon Communications.Colgate-Palmolive even raised its dividend,as did Coca-Cola and 3M.General Electric cut its dividend recently,but it is still above average at over 4%.As of last Friday,only IBM had an increased share price,of all the stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for 2009.

Belief in the Olympics

According to CEO Neville Isdell,Coca-Cola is the number one brand in Olympic sponsorship.There is no immediate return in sales,but eventually there will be an uptick.We really believe the Olympics is beneficial to the world and the Chinese people.We're so proud to be a part of it.China is moving in the right direction,Mr.Isdell feels.There's always a downside to everything,he admitted,addressing China's human rights record.Nothing works absolutely perfectly,the CEO acknowledged.Besides the Olympics,Coca-Cola is benefiting from China's rapid urbanization.The company is extremely multinational,with 80% of its business being outside of the United States,which may protect it from U.S. economic problems.

Focus on China:The Coca-Cola Connection

Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell sees the Beijing Olympics as a long term branding opportunity.China is our fourth largest market,he said.We're using this to communicate with the Chinese people.Coca-Cola(KO) sponsored the torch relay,which was a huge success in China.The Chinese drink 24 Cokes a year,but they will eventually drink 150 a year.We see greater growth from teas and coffee,as well as Minute Maid juice,the CEO predicted.

Buffett's Best

Warren Buffett,a grandfatherly billionaire,says the economic crisis is not a short run phenomenon.We are already in a recession.The Federal Reserve did the right thing in bailing out Bear Stearns(BSC),but the U.S. dollar will continue to drop for the next 10 years.Nonetheless,he continues to look for a business he can understand,at a sensible price and with a durable competitive advantage-a business he can trust,such as Coca-Cola(KO),American Express(AXP),Procter and Gamble(PG),Burlington Northern(BNI) and Johnson and Johnson(JNJ).He has added them to his portfolio.Mr.Buffett is very fond of cherry Coke.