Coca-Cola Great Britain has partnered with Merlin Entertainments to offer people half price tickets to some of the UK’s most popular family attractions in exchange for recycling their used plastic drink bottles via a new network of reverse vending machines installed at Merlin theme parks.

A trial at four of Merlin’s leading attractions (Alton Towers Resort, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures and LEGOLAND Windsor) will run between 25th July and 19th October 2018, inviting people to bring and recycle any 500ml plastic bottle via on-site reverse vending machines in exchange for a voucher to receive 50% off entry at 30 participating Merlin attractions, including Alton Towers Resort, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures and LEGOLAND Windsor.

The project follows research by Coca-Cola Great Britain, revealing 64% of British consumers would recycle more on-the-go if they were rewarded instantly for their actions.

Coca-Cola and Merlin say that the trial is the first of its kind in the UK to offer people a more valuable reward than the original purchasing price of the plastic drinks bottle they recycle, as the 50% off voucher equates to a saving of around £27 when buying a Merlin attraction day pass.

The partnership comes a year since Coca-Cola Great Britain launched its sustainable packaging strategy alongside a global goal to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one it sells, by 2030, to help ensure a world without waste.

Jon Woods, General Manager of Coca-Cola Great Britain, says: “We want to reward people for doing the right thing by recycling their bottles and hope to encourage some people who wouldn’t otherwise have done so. Through this exciting new trial with Merlin Entertainments we hope to remind people how valuable their empty plastic bottle is. All of our bottles can be recycled and we want to get as many of them back as possible so they can be turned into new bottles and not end up as litter.”

He continues: “This is just one of the actions that we’re taking to play our part in achieving a World Without Waste. We buy more recycled plastic in the UK than any other company and we are in the process of doubling the recycled plastic in all our bottles from 25% to 50% by 2020. We’re also running television campaigns encouraging people to recycle, putting clear recycling messages across all of our packs and we’re supportive of new interventions, such as deposit return schemes, to see if they improve recycling rates.”

Sandra Hazel, Head of Force for Good at Merlin Entertainments, observes: “This partnership with Coca-Cola Great Britain demonstrates our shared ambition to use our brands for good. We’re constantly looking for ways to raise awareness and help contribute to a better environment. As a responsible business and an advocate for marine conservation, we’re pleased to be joining forces with Coca-Cola Great Britain to encourage people to recycle more this summer, by rewarding them with family fun.”

Jon Dormer, Managing Director at Unisan UK, supplier of the CafeCrush reverse vending machines being deployed in the trial, adds: “Our CafeCrush reverse vending machines reward people for recycling. Users simply insert an empty plastic bottle, it’s crushed and then they receive an incentive. The way the machine works means the bottles are not contaminated by other waste and so, are perfect for recycling. Also, because they are crushed, reducing waste volume by up to 90 per cent, more bottles can be stored and therefore less transportation is needed to get them to recycling facilities – a win for consumers and the environment.”

The announcement is the latest in a series of actions from Coca-Cola Great Britain to ensure its packaging is as sustainable as possible and to encourage more people to recycle. Since the launch of its sustainable packaging strategy last year, Coca-Cola has introduced clearer on-pack recycling messaging on its bottles, and aired a dedicated recycling TVC called ‘Love Story’ which has reached over 30m people.

Coca-Cola Great Britain also continues to be the largest user of recycled food grade plastic in the UK with a commitment to increase the recycled PET in its packs from 25% to 50% by 2020. The company also continues to work closely with UK and Scottish governments looking at the introduction of a well-designed deposit return scheme and other ways to increase recovery and recycling rates.

Coca-Cola Great Britain is responsible for marketing 20 brands and over 80 products to consumers across Great Britain. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable and recognisable brands, its portfolio includes Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Oasis, glaceau vitaminwater, glaceau smartwater, Schweppes, Lilt, and Powerade.

Merlin Entertainments plc is a global leader in location based, family entertainment. As Europe’s biggest – and the world’s second-largest – visitor attraction operator, Merlin now operates over 120 attractions, 18 hotels and six holiday villages in 25 countries across four continents, with more than 65 million visitors worldwide.

Unisan UK provides environmental sustainability and recycling solutions to over 1,000 major UK brands, serving Food & Drink Manufacturing, Car Manufacturing, Hospitals & Care Homes, Distribution Centres and the Corporate Facilities Industry.

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Too many major brands are coming late to the party and/or delivering paper-thin token gestures in their ‘show’ of support for causes, says Ciara Garratt of global brand experience agency Sense. 

Have you noticed how every brand is trying to prove a point at the moment? How every product you pick up in the supermarket now boldly states its protein content? Or, how the shampoo you bought the other day is suddenly ‘gluten free’?

Perhaps awareness of even a simple form of marketing is heightened for us marketers, but in a society where everything is under scrutiny, and where consumerism is at its peak, it feels like brands are more self-aware than ever before.

In 2008, Heineken brought us the ‘Walk-in Fridge’, racking up millions of views on YouTube. The ad highlights the different values of men and women, as stereotyped in society a decade ago, as a couple show their friends around their new home. The woman shows her walk-in wardrobe to her female friends, while the man reveals a walk-in fridge full of beer to his mates. Both result in enthusiastic screams from their same-sex friends. The advert played on traditional stereotypes in a humorous way – presumably to appeal to what it thought was an all-male audience.

As society has changed, brands have had to adapt to a more nuanced view, which we can see in Heineken’s 2017 #OpenYourWorld ad. Heineken brought together people from different cultures, backgrounds and sexual orientations in a ‘social experiment’, exploring the benefits of finding common ground – Heineken beer and reasonable discussion. The message was raw, empathetic and forward-thinking, which, in the current climate of thriving equality and liberalism, was well-received.

Of course, we expect brands to evolve with the times – they need to stay relevant to the changing attitudes of their audience. But the way in which brands manage that change is critical. Heineken achieved a 180-degree pivot; from clumsy sexist stereotypes to jumping on the equality bandwagon – without irritating the public. Because it was a proactive effort, even though the principle isn’t exactly original, it comes across as relevant and authentic. We’re all entitled to change our minds once in a while (even if it takes the best part of a decade).

What’s more concerning is when real world issues are side-lined, only to later be exploited by brands looking for a hot-topic-of-the-moment.

Plastic no longer fantastic

For example, despite scientists sounding the alarm for years over the impact of plastic on the environment, it seems like brands have only recently started to take action, capitalising on the opportunity to be seen in a positive light.

Do they feel a genuine corporate social responsibility or is it just another tactic to make headlines? It’s particularly galling when the brands in question are category leaders – surely major powers on the world stage should be leading from the front, rather than playing cautious catch up, or only acting when they’re caught out?

Greenpeace has made a number of protests shaming Coca-Cola for its contributions to plastic waste, although coverage of this has been all too scarce. However, when Coca-Cola ‘heroically’ announced that it will recall and recycle 100% of its packaging to help clean up our oceans, it made the news. Shouldn’t we really be celebrating Greenpeace, for acting when it mattered, rather than a huge corporation that showed up late to the anti-plastic party?

Where Heineken has made a positive shift and potentially contributed to changing people’s perceptions, other brands have been less proactive and instead demonstrated a lazy approach to jumping on the bandwagon. A prime example of this is when McDonalds turned the trademark ‘M’ upside down to show support for International Women’s Day. They’re hardly a brand who you would expect to be active on such an occasion, but perhaps like Coca-Cola they were only responding to external pressures.

Brands should be careful about how they portray acts of ‘good’ and must try to avoid looking exploitative. Instead, they should be proactive; earning respect by taking action, instead of just nodding in agreement like McDonalds. What Heineken have done is much more believable and empowering – instead of caring about how they look to consumers, they have focussed on getting the consumer to think about the bigger picture themselves, and hopefully make their own contributions to change.

It’s easy to say “better late than never, Coke” or “at least you’re doing something, McDonalds”; but the reality is that if these brand leaders were more proactive in the first place, they wouldn’t need to jump on the brandwagon. They’d be driving it – and making a real difference along the way.

Ciara Garratt is Account Manager at global brand experience agency Sense.

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Barefoot Wine & Bubbly is again running its successful #BareYourSole roadshow campaign across the UK during July. Now in its third year, the activity, which sees a Barefoot van travel the country, encourages people to be proud to be different and to revel in their uniqueness.

Research by the award-winning wine brand has revealed that 84% of Brits believe that being comfortable with who you are and being accepted for your true-self ultimately makes you happier.

Visitors to the Barefoot van will not only get the chance to try a range of the brand’s wines, but will also be invited to ‘bare their sole’ by proudly declaring their unusual hobbies, habits or passions on a Barefoot sticker – and the more unusual, the better!

The #BareYourSole tour will visit a range of locations between 4 and 29 July, including Liverpool, Leamington Spa, Manchester, London, Oxford, Brighton, Coventry, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham and Birmingham.

The activity was created by global brand experience agency Sense, which is again running the campaign. Ciara Garratt, Account Manager at Sense, says: “Launched in 2016, Bare Your Sole champion’s Barefoot’s core values of diversity and inclusivity by encouraging people to share their hidden passions and celebrate each other’s quirks. Barefoot want to remove any pretentiousness surrounding wine and make it more fun and less serious. The concept has worked so well that we’re proud to be rolling it out for a third year in succession celebrating the fact that people feel happier when they are comfortable in their own skin and free to express themselves.”

Sense is an award-winning marketing agency that specialises in helping brands do exciting things in the real world, to create authentic communications across the marketing spectrum. It manages campaigns from strategy to evaluation.

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly started up in California in the 1960s. Its founders believed that wine should be more fun and less serious; and created a wine that could be enjoyed by everyone from first-time wine drinkers to hard-core aficionados. Barefoot Wine is the most awarded and #1 wine brand in the US and was introduced to the UK in 2009. Staying true to its grassroots beginnings, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly gives back to local non-profit groups through charitable wine donations. In addition to several years of cleaning British beaches with Surfers Against Sewage, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly has also supported the LGBT community for over 25 years.

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Former Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh has launched Pampers’ latest ‘Amazing Babies’ UK campaign, with the brand partnering with UNICEF for the 11th consecutive year in the drive to eliminate Maternal and Newborn Tetanus (MNT) from the Third World countries where it is most common.

Special packs of Pampers are available across a selection of Pampers nappies and wipes, carrying the ‘Amazing Babies’ campaign message, “1 Pack = 1 Vaccine”. So far, Pampers has helped UNICEF, national governments and local organisations to eliminate MNT in 19 countries, saving an estimated 500,000 newborn babies so far. However, the two partners want to get rid of the disease in another 19 countries, and warn that MNT still claims the lives of 49,000 newborns every year, one baby every 11 minutes.

MNT, which affects families in some of the poorest areas of the world, occurs when newborns are infected as a direct result of unhygienic birthing practices, such as cutting the umbilical cord with unsterile instruments. Once MNT has been contracted there is no real cure.

This year, Indonesia and Niger joined the list of countries where Pampers funding has helped to eliminate MNT, in an effort that involves working with governments and partnering with organizations on the ground to expand access to life saving vaccine.

Pampers brand manager at P&G, Paolo Haeusermann, says: “By simply buying packs of Pampers with the UNICEF logo or by engaging with campaign content online, UK parents can make a genuine difference and continue to support our wish to eliminate Maternal and Newborn Tetanus everywhere.”

Campaign ambassador Kimberley Walsh adds: “I feel hugely honoured to be supporting the Pampers-UNICEF campaign in its 11th year. As a mum to Bobby, and expecting my second child later this year, I feel great empathy with other mothers around the world who, just as I do, want nothing more than to deliver a happy, healthy baby. The reason I’m so passionate about this campaign is that mums and dads here in the UK can make a very real difference by doing nothing more than buying the Pampers that they need for their little ones. By simply buying packs of Pampers with the UNICEF logo or by engaging with campaign content online, UK parents can make a genuine difference and continue to support our wish to eliminate Maternal and Newborn Tetanus everywhere.”

For each purchase of a Pampers pack with the UNICEF logo, Pampers will donate the cost of one dose of vaccine. For every parent who shares a photo of their baby, Pampers will donate another vaccine. Finally, Pampers and UNICEF are encouraging consumers to sign Pampers UNICEF Pledge Donations and become monthly donors to UNICEF.

The Pampers brand is owned by Procter & Gamble. To find out more, visit pampers.co.uk.

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Adidas, Aon and Aviva are backing this year’s Rainbow Laces campaign, which is run by LGBT charity Stonewall UK to combat homophobia and transphobia in sport.

The 2016 campaign aims to recruit consumers, schools, sports clubs and other organisations to take part in a week of action in November culminating in a weekend of activity on November 26th and 27th to show that “everyone can play a part in making sport everyone’s game”, as the charity puts it.

The Rainbow Laces campaign is supported by TeamPride, a group of global organisations committed to making sport open to all regardless of sexual orientation or gender issues.

The Rainbow Laces campaign originally launched in 2013, backed by book maker Paddy Power, and saw sets of rainbow laces sent to dozens of major football clubs. Free newspaper Metro has also been a supporter in the past.

This year’s campaign launch has been supported with the release of new ICM research commissioned by Stonewall which suggests that younger sports fans are more likely to think that anti-LGBT language is harmless if it’s just meant as banter (22% of 18 to 24-year-olds compared to 13% overall).

The research also reveals that 18 to 24-year-olds are twice as likely to say they would be embarrassed if their favourite player came out as gay (22% compared to 12% overall.

However, the research shows that the majority of people think that offensive language towards LGBT people in sport is a problem (59%), with young people more likely to identify it as a ‘big problem’ (28% compared to 13% overall).

Football fans are the most likely to hear homophobic abuse, with 72% of fans hearing it while watching live sports in the past five years.

However, despite this, the research highlights some encouraging trends. Across the general population, nine in 10 (88%) would be either ‘proud’ or ‘neutral’ if their favourite player came out as gay (50% proud, 38% neutral).

Ruth Hunt, the chief executive of Stonewall, said: “We’re pleased that such powerful organisations have stepped up and given their support to our ‘Rainbow laces’ campaign, and now we urge more organisations to become part of our team. Sport should be everyone’s game but sadly, the research released today shows that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic abuse continues to heard on the terraces and in sports arenas across Britain.”

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed by ICM (63%) say more should be done to make LGBT people feel accepted in sport. Almost two thirds of young people (60%) say that open LGBT players would have a positive impact on the culture of sport, and 63% of young people say they wish more sports players were open about their sexual orientation.

Hunt adds that “there is a persistent minority who believe this sort of abuse is acceptable. These vocal few may be under the illusion that anti-LGBT language is harmless but it makes lesbian, gay, bi and trans fans and players feel unsafe, unwelcome and unable to be themselves. We need high profile sports clubs and personalities to stand up as allies and help make sport everyone’s game by showing that homophobic abuse has no place in sport.”

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British pet food company Lily’s Kitchen is donating 100 tonnes of its dog and cat food over the next three months as part of a new nationwide charity initiative, called ‘Dinner’s On Us’.

Lily’s is asking consumers to nominate deserving cat and dog charities and will be giving out at least 650,000 meals. The initiative is part of a wider company programme called ‘Acts Of Goodness’, intended to highlight how successful businesses can be a ‘force for good’.

Henrietta Morrison, CEO and founder of Lily’s Kitchen, says: “As dedicated pet lovers at Lily’s Kitchen, nothing saddens us more than a pet in need and nothing brings more joy to us than helping less fortunate pets when we are able to. There are thousands of wonderful organizations, events, and people in the UK quietly doing great work to support pets in need and we want to recognize and applaud their efforts, so please help us to help them.”

Anyone can recommend a deserving pet charity for ‘Dinner’s On Us’ by visiting www.lilyskitchen.co.uk/acts-of-goodness/dinners-on-us. Visitors can check in to see the number of meals that have been donated so far and view images of the various charities and dogs and cats that they have helped by taking the time to nominate.

The campaign is also on Twitter with the hashtag #ActsOfGoodness

The promotion runs throughout February, March and April 2016. Charities receiving donations may be based in the UK or in Europe and some

A meal applies to a complete (not complementary) food, calculated based on either a 3yr old 16.5kg dog or a 1.5yr old 4kg cat.

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