just-drinks Editor's Weekly Highlights

Issue 660

February 25, 2013

Editorial

On just-drinks last week

The analyst community descended on Florida for the week – lucky devils – to hear presentations from a wealth of consumer-facing companies. Among those presenting were The Coca-Cola Co, Coca-Cola Enterprises, PepsiCo and SABMiller. It was the latter's moment in the spotlight that caught our deputy editor's eye: Could CEO Graham Mackay really be a Frank Zappa fan, asked James Wilmore?
Monday saw Carlsberg post its full-year results for 2012. The occasion afforded us the opportunity to trial just-drinks' new '360°' coverage of company figures – click here for a look at what we do and how we now do it.
Despite this change, I remained my miserable self last week, with Beam Inc enjoying my ire this time. Within a week of announcing its intention to reduce the abv of its Maker's Mark Bourbon, the company buckled under social media pressure and changed its mind back on Monday. I was not impressed.
The soft drinks industry in the UK was under the commentators' spotlight last week, with reporter Andy Morton mulling the state of the nation and regular commentator Richard Corbett considering what the future holds for GSK's Lucozade and Ribena brands.
For the wine folk amongst you, head over here to enjoy an in-depth look at what makes your consumers tick, courtesy of the good people at Wine Intelligence.

Until next time...