Browsing: Simon Coley

News
Karma Cola co-founder Simon Coley on sourcing organic, visual storytelling and transparency
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What goes around comes around. Possibly not a phrase that’s often heard in the board rooms of the giant cola companies, but that’s the founding philosophy of Karma Cola, the UK’s only Fairtrade organic cola. Supported by Kiwi-based parent company All Good Organics, Karma Cola are on a mission to prove that a product as commercially popular as a cola can be a vehicle for positive change in the world, without compromising on consumers expectations on taste.

News
Purpose over profit: All Good Organics named world’s fairest trader
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As a story in Adweek noted recently, “purpose transcends business and product (the what) and delivers on human principles (the why).” A lot of companies tend to tack this purpose on to the marketing department, or make it part of a corporate social responsibility programme. But All Good Organics, as the name implies, has goodness running through its veins and its efforts have been rewarded with a global award as the fairest trader of them all, beating out 27,000 products from 120 countries that carry the Fairtrade mark.

News
What goes around comes around: Karma Cola mission sends All Good to Africa
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There’s a growing movement in food around provenance, as seen by US restaurant chain Chipotle’s recent campaigns. And there’s a growing, but still unfortunately fairly niche movement in business around ethics, as evidenced by the creation of organisations like The B Team and the real steps being taken by big companies like Puma. All Good Organics has tapped into both of these trends, first with bananas and recently with its drinks range, and co-founder Simon Coley recently put down the crayons at Powershop and, along with Matt Morrison, headed to the jungles of Sierra Leone to see how the kola nut farmers it works with have benefitted.

News
Same power, different latitude: Powershop takes on Australia
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Powershop has managed to find a solid niche in New Zealand’s energy market as a cheeky challenger brand that gives its more than 50,000 customers additional information about their energy usage, lets them buy power online and shows them plenty of love. And now the Meridian-owned business is taking that model to Australia.

News
Awards rewards: Simon Coley
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As part of our push to remind you marcomms folk to get your entries in for the 2013 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards (there’s still 15 days left) we’re asking some past winners to tell us about their glorious victory, what it meant to the business and why these awards are different. Here’s why Simon Coley, design director of Powershop and co-founder of All Good, reckons you should enter.

News
All Good’s banana-based charity starts at home
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Fairtrade schemes typically aim to help end child labour, address child poverty and give producers in developing nations a fair shot at a good life. All Good Bananas has been doing just that by helping kids in the El Guabo cooperative in Ecuador, but it decided it was time to try and help out some of the local young’uns in need by giving away 5,000 bunches (25,000) bananas this year. 

Opinion
The Year in Review: Simon Coley
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It’s been a massive year for Simon Coley, one of the main men behind both Powershop, which was judged the fastest growing company in New Zealand this year when it was awarded top prize at the Deloitte Fast 50, and All Good Organics, which won the sustainability gong at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. Here’s his pick of the 2011 bunch.

News
The power of the force: does Powershop’s latest ad cross the line?
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Powershop’s ‘Same Power, Different Attitude’ campaign by DoubleFish was well-received by the StopPressers when it was launched in July. And, while some offense and distress led to the images of Kim Jong Il and Saddam Hussein being removed from the campaign, it’s continued down a similar creative path with its follow-up ads. But we received an email from a reader wondering if its latest effort had also gone a bit too far. 

News
Battle of the bananas: Dole thrusts, All Good parries
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All Good Bananas won the Sustainability prize at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards recently. And, according to its entry, it managed to gain four percent market share and sell its Fairtrade bananas at a premium. But not everyone is singing its sustainable praises, as evidenced by an email we received from Steve Barton, the New Zealand representative for Dole Asia, that questioned the assertions made by its smaller competitor. 

News
All Good Bananas taps into QR technology to connect shoppers with growers
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We may have been slow off the mark here in New Zealand to adopt them, but QR (Quick Response) codes are finally making their move, popping up everywhere from outdoor advertising to shampoo bottles. Now, in a more ethical application of the technology, Kiwi company All Good Bananas has announced all its bananas will come equipped with a code, helping connect shoppers with the growers of their fruit — the first time the technology has been used in such a manner in New Zealand.