Brand Marketers Rally Around Election-Themed Products

Glass food and beverage marketers are taking advantage of the abundance of media coverage, cooler-talk, and hoopla surrounding the 2008 US presidential election and creating election-themed products.

Dave’s Gourmet Hot Sauces, Svedka Vodka, and Jones Soda are three companies using the 2008 presidential elections as a marketing push for their glass packaged products.

Dave’s Gourmet Hot Sauces

Dave’s Gourmet Hot Sauces, packaged in 26 oz. glass jars, has combined Americans’ need to be heard (think YouTube) and their insatiable love for hot sauce with Dave’s Gourmet 2008 Presidential Candidate Hot Sauces.

"The Presidential sauces were created as a way to raise money for cancer related charities and to have some fun at the same time,” says Dave Hirschkop, Spicemeister, Dave's Gourmet, Inc. “Poking a little fun at our presidential candidates via a tasty condiment is the American Way.”

Poll results are tracked at davesgourmet.com.  As of last week, Obama had the lead with 40% of bottles sold, followed by Hillary with 32%, and McCain with 19%.

“We also thought it would be interesting to see how closely the popularity of each candidate's sauce helped to predict how that candidate would fare in the real election," says Dave. "That’s why every bottle sold counts as one vote for that candidate in our race.” To get in on the action, if you place an order of 10 or more cases, the company will “write you in” with your own custom caricature label for a chance to become “president of the Hot Sauce World.”

"We used glass bottles as we always do because glass bottles communicate higher quality and value," says Dave Hirschkop, Spicemeister, Dave's Gourmet, Inc. "We also feel that they are generally safer and any Presidential Candidate would only want what is best for the people."

Svedka Vodka

Svedka vodka is running a “Join the party” campaign to promote putting a “Fembot in the White House.” The campaign features a robotic Svedka Girl, and the company has hired buses, called the Straight Shot Express (a play on Senator John McCain’s Straight Talk Express), to drive people to election-night parties.

According to Marina Hahn, chief marketing officer for Spirits Marque One, which markets Svedka, “Politics is where the action is. We want to put our brand right in the epicenter of pop culture.

”Svedka has introduced a new drink, the Cosmo-politician, sponsored an Unpresidential Debate between the “Saturday Night Live” star Seth Meyers and the political writer Matthew Cooper, and has held presidential “rallies” in 800 bars. The Svedka campaign will end in November.

Jones Soda

Jones Soda’s Campaign Cola 2008 let’s consumers vote and “buy their way to victory!” Jones offers “Pure McCain Cola,” “Yes We Can Cola” for Sen. Barack Obama, “Capitol Hillary Cola” (still selling), and “Ron Paul Revolution Cola”. Each purchase comes with a complimentary “Campaign Cola” button.

The 12 oz. glass bottles feature patriotic-colored cut and stack labels with photos of the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates. Jones will sell its Campaign Cola 2008 beverages until November through their website. As of last week, Obama was on top with 6,552 bottles sold, followed by 1,998 for McCain, and 1,692 for Clinton.

The Jones website has a browse feature that allows visitors to find out more about their favorite candidate and to understand what a delegate is. There is also an interactive forum for web visitors to voice opinions on issues such as health care, the Iraq war, or amending the legal driving age.

Allied Waste and RecycleBank Launch National Recycling Partnership

Allied Waste Industries Inc. and RecycleBank have announced a national effort to step up recycling. Allied Waste, which is planning a merger with Republic Services Inc., plans to have its 7 million residential customers participate in RecycleBank’s incentive program, where households receive retailer discounts and gift cards for recycling.

The partnership is expected to launch in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis/St. Paul where customers are already receiving program information. The initiative will expand to Allied Waste’s remaining markets in early 2009. Commercial customers will be included in further expansions. More And read about recycling and RecycleBank in USA Today

Brazil’s Abividro and GPI Coordinate around International Glass Container Issues

GPI and Abividro, Brazil’s trade association for the glass manufacturing industry, gathered last month to share information on glass recycling and the environment, and marketing messages.

“We have mutual company representation on three continents and believe working in concert will benefit our industry moving forward,” Joe Cattaneo, GPI President who hosted the meeting with Lucien Belmonte, Abividro Superintendente, an O-I representative, and GPI staff.

GPI and Abividro member companies are in North America, South America, and Europe. Plans are in the works for a future meeting with global representatives later this year. And in 2010, the International Congress on Glass is set to be held in Brazil. Abividro represents makers of container glass, tableware, flat glass, and fiberglass.

GPI and FEVE Participate in “Green Week”

The European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) was one of 64 exhibitors at the European Commission’s Green Week 2008 conference held June 3-6 in Brussels.
 
“This was the first time FEVE has had visibility at this event, the biggest on environmental issues,” says Sandrine Laurent, FEVE Public Affairs Officer. “It turned out to be really successful at getting information about the sustainability of glass bottles into the hands of stakeholders.” Legislators, commissioners, academics, and members of the European Commission all visited the FEVE booth.

The conference held 38 sessions, debates, and workshops on resources and waste management, sustainable consumption and production, nature and biodiversity, and climate change. GPI President Joe Cattaneo, who attended the conference, also used the opportunity to meet with European glass industry representatives to coordinate their efforts with those in North America.

LEGISLATION

Louisiana to Study Deposit Program for Glass Bottles

Louisiana State Senator Yvonne Dorsey (D-Baton Rouge) introduced a Study Request that would require the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality to meet at least twice to study the feasibility and all aspects of establishing a deposit refund program for certain types of glass bottles. The Committee approved the study on June 20th.

The Senator noted that containers manufactured from recycled content use significantly less energy than those made from virgin materials. The summary also highlights the fact that states who have implemented container deposit programs have seen recycling rates increase dramatically.

GLASS RECYCLING

Rhode Island Sets Municipal Recycling Goal

Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri's signed SB 2797, which establishes a 35% municipal recycling goal by January 1, 2011 for all communities contracting with the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. for the collection of recyclables.

This mandate requires municipal officials submit a plan, as part of its fiscal year 2010 contract with the RIRRC, detailing how the locality will achieve at least 35% diversion by 2011 and 50% diversion by January 1, 2012.

Additionally, commercial establishments with 50 or more employees must contract for recycling services and work with local officials to identify alternatives to private hauling of commercial recyclables.

WRAP Releases Study on Curbside Recycling Collection

A Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) study on curbside recycling collection costs released in June finds “contrary to the popular belief that co-mingling is more successful in collecting recyclable materials, what determines how much recycling people do is the size of the containers they have to put it in.”

The aim of the study, according to Phillip Ward, WRAP’s Director for Local Government Services, “is to provide a benchmark to help local authorities understand the cost of a good recycling system.” The report details economics and best practices from three types of curbside recycling—source separated (called “kerbside sort”), two-stream, and single-stream.

It found that “kerbside sort” is more cost effective for local authorities than single stream co-mingled. But two-stream collections with paper kept separate have similar net costs to kerbside sort. Single stream fared less well when the cost of sorting the material at a MRF is taken into account.

But Ward points out that “collection scheme costs are sensitive to many things, such as the price which can be achieved for recycled material, and new technology means material sorted by MRFs is likely to improve in quality. This means it would be wrong to assume that one type of collection scheme is always going to be cheaper or product better quality material than another.” Get the report

Report Documents Climate Change Impact of Waste Prevention and Recycling

A new report, Stop Trashing the Climate, provides more evidence that preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting programs is one of the most effective strategies for combating climate change.

“Recycling is as important for climate stability as improving vehicle fuel efficiency, retrofitting lighting, planting trees, and protecting forests,” says Brenda Platt, the report’s lead author and co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which released the report on World Environment Day with Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Eco-Cycle.

According to the report, a zero waste approach to solid waste management will decrease disposal in landfills and incinerators reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 406 megatons CO2 eq. per year by 2030. This is equivalent to taking 21% of existing coal-fired power plants off the grid and is comparable to other leading climate protection proposals, such as improving national vehicle fuel efficiency. Get the full report

1000 WORDS

Send Your Climate Message in a Glass Bottle

Greenpeace uses a glass bottle to urge “real action” against global climate change. Watch the video and then send your climate message.

Copyright © 2008 Glass Packaging Institute 

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