A city as a source of the ‘creative spark’. Urban streets as basis for bold and massive campaigns. For many decades, smaller towns and megalopolises have been inspiring advertising agencies behind multiple marketing projects, which on the one hand are targeted at promoting brands and, on the other hand, encourage consumers to compare different cities, unveil creativity and strong dedication to sport, cinema and quests, or even bring rural accents to urban settings. We at Popsop have reviewed global brands’ ad activity during 2010 and first two months of 2011 to see how they’ve been embedding city into their promotions. Now, we are presenting our 3-part study dedicated to the subject. The first section of this review will highlight competitions, cross-city studies, urban sport-related promotions, which have been taking place within big cities around the globe and in a way were dedicated to them.

Ralph Lauren Romance and Glamour Magazine have teamed up to provide an inside look at modern day romance. A survey held in conjunction with GfK Roper discovered that although technology has a role in the way men and women communicate, tradition remains an important facet in relationships. Comprised of 17 questions, the survey polled 1,000 male and female adults, age 18+ across the USA.

Bacardi Limited, which is one of the recognized leaders on the international spirits market, unveiled its third Corporate Responsibility Report titled ‘Spirit for Life,’ which highlights the company’s achievements in social and environmental areas during fiscal year 2009/2010. The 37-pages overview touches on global environmental efficiencies, increased engagement with responsible suppliers, an expansion of the Bermuda-based company’s award-winning ‘Champions Drink Responsibly’ campaign, and its active role in helping local communities through employee volunteer projects.

By Cheryl Swanson, Principal at Toniq LLC

With a new decade upon us, we thought this would be a great time to consider what socio-cultural shifts and resulting trends resonating today will gain strength moving forward. For CPG, HBA, any industry really, it is important to know what ideas will gain traction and what trends will fade away. Here, we have listed our favorite trends that we believe will continue to foster, from consumers to design.

Bacardi unveils a pioneering research study called the Bacardi Together Index. It uses 146 questions from a national survey of 5,000 American adults, aged 21 to 80+ years, to understand and summarize the dimensions of social connectedness. This index is a grand summation of the effort by Bacardi to get people thinking about how they prioritize their time and how social life affects general well-being.

SABMiller shows the results of the research, which is focused on today’s beer drinking traditions in European countries. The report titled “Whose Round?” unveiled that 20% of 6,000 respondents from 12 cities consider Prague as their top ‘beer’ city, which is followed by Amsterdam (13%) and Berlin (12%). The least attractive capital for beer-drinking are Bucharest, Bratislava and Warsaw with their 1% for each.