The Truth About the Portman Group

The global economy is, to put it mildly, in a fix. For a new package launch this was perhaps not the year to be changing the packaging and introducing ShotPak® into new markets?

Look around you, credit has tightened, stock markets are in freefall and through all of this despair we are proud to announce that North American ShotPak® consumers continue to buy our products. A signal of their strong support allowed us to grow month to month for the past three quarters. Our eight products launched in our new patented Standup pouch in the first quarter of 2008 was be a momentous occasion for us and fully supported by our million plus consumers.

Despite the gloom we are still introducing new ideas. Our Holiday 12 pouch variety packs is a great gift box for the season and is being well received by the trades.

However, just as sudden as the financial crisis appeared, we were thrust into the limelight based on the so called "attractiveness" of our product to people under 18 in the United Kingdom, accusing us of encouraging binge drinking to young people.

Even though we do not market to young people in the UK, we were "tarred and feathered," tried and found guilty without a chance to defend ourselves in the UK market by the officious Portman Group.

Who is the Portman Group you might ask? They are an organization of liquor industry members who act as a watchdog group. There they oversee a code of practice on the naming, packaging and promoting of alcohol in the UK. By the way, we fully support the principle of no underage drinking or out of control binge drinking sessions, but the judgment on these acts must be honest and unbiased. Read on for the truth as to what happened to ShotPak®.

As an introduction, let me explain one of the Portman Group's latest rulings. They condemned and banned a Scottish beer called "Skullsplitter" on the grounds it would encourage violence.

(My Scottish ancestry and character did not take this childlike decision so well!)

The fact that this beer is over 20 years old (ShotPak® is five years old) and is not available in UK supermarkets (ShotPak® is also not available in UK supermarkets) was totally ignored by this group of apparently out of touch committee. These are people, who probably never have had to work and balance a budget in their entire life. The harm they cause to other companies in the interest of always being right is actually shocking. The lack of commercial understanding makes me wonder about fiduciary duty and harm to a brand they ban with little or no evidence of any wrong doing. The damage to our group could exceed a million pounds by the time we are finished with our lawsuit.

The so called Portman Group justice for the "Skullsplitter" brewery was, "off with their head" (sorry a pun) a total ban, as well as the end of an era. Do the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland come to mind? (My apologies to Lewis Carroll).

I am personally enraged by the Portman Group's report about ShotPak®, because they have allowed a UK product called "Sidekick" the ultimate shot to remain on the market. The "Sidekick" Ultimate shots have all the negative attributes the Portman Group complained about, compared to our eco-friendly pouch with a lower alcohol product content. We were banned and they were allowed to remain. Consider that in London, at several sports pubs every weekend, alcohol is served in pouches. There is no doubt we were selected as a competitive US product and for sure as a threat to a member of the Portman Group supporters (actually our competitors).

The Portman Group first raised its concerns about ShotPak®, following a single complaint from Sally Keebles. She is a controversial British Labor MP, who advocates a variety of issues including banning fox hunting dogs and smoking and so on. She is desperately trying to find something to hold on to her seat after a unproductive term in office, where she has done nothing, but try to stop her constituents from enjoying themselves (these views are not mine but according to reports on various internet blogs). She suddenly found that the liberal party opposition published a manifesto about underage and binge drinking, which actually makes sense in that if you break the liquor laws you must be punished. Ms. Keebles, with no liquor policy in place, immediately countered by saying that ShotPak® encourages binge drinking in young people, in fact we have less than half the alcohol of the miniature liquor bottles including less than "SideKick" shots readily available in stores.

To show her bias even more, she claimed that children will mistake the pouch for fruit drinks. So we wonder where or what her actual thought process was, only to think what she saw was perhaps another US idea that our very upper class MP (from a blog) decided was unacceptable for adults. No questions were asked. A complaint was made and we were banned.

Back to the Portman Group, we explained all of our benefits to them, including the reduced alcohol cocktail formulas and our efforts to diminish the effects of binge drinking, but with regret to no avail. Really, ShotPaq® is a positive solution to the so called binge drinking problem, which is mentioned in their report, because after four drinks you are still well below the legal limit for a normal sized person.

We cooperated with them all the way. However as they are so full of, well you know what, and their hidden agenda which is probably the need to correct the labor government perceived mistake of 24 hour licensing, they looked for non UK products to be the scapegoats for the binge drinking problem. Why not take on and ban the 40% alcohol miniature bottle that can compared to our 17% alcohol pouch product? This is simple math, but taking responsibility for screw-ups is not their strong point.

Remember we do not target the young market, we sell the lowest alcohol product at the highest prices on the street (£15 a six pack in the UK) and to adult clubs and yet we were banned.

We presented the new labeling on our pouches incorporating the UK Government alcohol consumption guidelines as requested, without any approval or comment on our efforts from the Portman Group.

We pointed out that we offer the eco-friendly, lowest carbon dioxide footprint package on the market, but to no avail. What are they going to do when major groups change over to the pouch? Will they invite Shotpak® back? They are just out of touch with any modern market developments.

Under the Beverage Pouch Group marketing policy, we have always promoted a responsible attitude towards underage or binge drinking and we are not the problem in this regard. In fact, our cocktail sales in the UK is a small percentage of the national consumption of cocktails.

My biggest concern with the officious, out of touch, self important Portman Group is that they did not bother to check if ShotPak® has been named by any Police Chief as having a direct link to binge drinking or appeared in any court or hospital complaint as a result of heavy drinking of ShotPak® cocktails.

Remember ShotPak® pouches are not sold in Sally Keebles' area. Do you see the bias coming through?

Another concern is that the Portman Group is ignoring CE trade and US trade relations with the UK?

We continue to wonder why they do not look at more high profile drinks with higher alcoholic contents than ShotPak®. These high profile products are sold in miniature bottles and freely available in supermarkets and traditionally used for binge drinking. If we are banned, then all similar products should be banned. Is this an attempt to protect home packaged UK drinks to the detriment of the UK drinker being exposed to so-called lower alcohol Yankee cocktails? In addition, they are less likely to be harmed if they drink a few Shotpaks®

I personally believe that this is the case with the Shotpak® ban.

Please look at the above pictures of the "Sidekick" shots packed in glass and allowed to remain for sale in the UK and then think about Shotpak® pouches being banned. No glass and no weapon with our pouch. Comments about Shotpak® brand names being attractive to the young people market is really stretching the imagination.

The Portman Group has used its considerable influence to recommend the banning of ShotPak® brands based on the names of the products and the package style based on just this single complaint.

Of course when we look at the "Skullsplitter" beer ban and "Sidekick" shot approved stories above, we find that large breweries and our British cocktail or STR8UP® spirits competitors are totally ignored by the Portman Group, who know that if they clash with them that will be the end of their mission and possibly the Portman Group. Imagine a single complaint about one of the products of a major organization could lead to a ban of the product. All hell would break loose.

For example and to illustrate my point about the level playing field I do believe that in Westminster that the pubs still allow smoking, but no where else in the UK and so it is one law for the haves (Sally Keebles and the Portman Group) and another for the working class.

Sooner or later the credibility of the Portman Group will end as people realize they let their own members break their code of practice without any comment or bans. I can think of several beers well above the alcohol content of "Skullsplitter" and still trading alongside the miniature bottles or shot glasses of "Sidekick" with little Portman Group concern.

My suggestion to the Portman Group is get your act together, stop being so righteous when you are wrong, so keen to bend over for a British MP, because of the "old boys club", stiff upper lip British approach, because if you truly looked and vetted ShotPak(r) you would find we are not a product that encourages binge drinking. If "Sidekick" and PET miniature bottles are allowed in the market then we should also be allowed to participate.

We intend to fight this terribly biased commercial attack by asking the one million plus Shotpak(r) consumers and their friends, via our internet chat rooms to stop buying British gin.

It might be a small revolution and take time, but we hope it will show our contempt for the Portman Group's completely biased and tilted playing field approach to our new modern American cocktail products in pouches.

Think about it, no more British gin and tonic! We have some great US gins which we will advertise for free on our website.

In closing, a tough blog, but we have families working at ShotPak® and at our customers outlets who do not deserve to be blamed for the UK problem of binge drinking, particularly as we actually have a better solution to help curb this practice.

Remember tell a friend; tell your local club, your local bar, bottle store, golf club, we want fair play. Pass on the message "No more British gin until ShotPak® is allowed back in".

Help the boycott, one gin substitute at a time, until we get a fair deal from the Portman Group.

Send this message by e-blasts to all concerned.

Global Branding - It's not easy when you're small and the new guy on the block!

Building a global brand requires very strict goals and repetitive assiduous attention to detail.

There is no room for mediocrity and everything must always be the same or better. Product, printing, pouch and people must be available. Day in and day out our business model is ensuring customer satisfaction, through our 'we care' service and the desire to maintain our goal of being the best in the category.

We had great plans, and then suddenly our daily routine of building a strong chain for our machinery and liquor brands was interrupted. We were rudely awakened by the global financial mess and its negative effect on our customers.

What a time for this to happen, because during the past month, despite all the bad news about greedy bankers and questionable political decisions, our company received news of several awards to celebrate.

Our machinery group, PPiTechGlobal received three awards. The first from the prestigious Inc. 5000, Best Private Companies competition, we were ranked number 2950. Then, runner up for the EDC Florida Manufacturing Companies Award and finally the Top Manufacturing Company Award in our hometown of Sarasota.

Considering these awards have occurred in the toughest economy in 50 years, it was a wonderful way to recognize this group of dedicated machinery people led by Stuart Murray.

The point of these comments is this, if you have a goal stick with it and adjust to meet the new conditions around you, even if the sky is falling. Branding is the identity of a business and our plan is for ShotPak™ brand to create loyalty and an emotional bond and with our consumers.

If we look at the Beverage Pouch Group, our ShotPak™ brand reached a commendable 10,000 cases sold in our first nine months, from sales in only seven states and exports to England. What is more of a feat, is that this has been accomplished with little advertising other than viral internet marketing and the support of the band, 'Early Pearl'. Promotion at local sports events from cricket to paint ball as well as golf has also helped our growth. The pouch was delivered to participants at each of these functions and this allowed sensory marketing (touch, taste, smell) of the product and that translated into purchases.

This 10,000 case success is phenomenal in the strictly controlled liquor industry, where everything is against the building of a major global brand by a small company.

These large incumbents mercilessly defend their turf where survival means total consumer support. The product and package cannot vary in any manner. Our aim has been to create a modern brand around our consumer's profile.

Remember BPG ShotPak™ also has huge responsibilities to support education and preventing underage drinking, and still keep our product awareness in the market place.

To this end we introduced the six pack box to ensure that at least $9.00 was needed for the retail purchase of our ready-to-drink cocktails and STR8UP's. All the literature we use refrains from any underage marketing practices and we promote within liquor stores to reduce youthful exposure to our product posters or product.

What concerns us greatly are the accusations that our patented StandUp pouches look like a soft drink box or fruit drink pouch for children. Wow, are the public being mislead by these comments. Our six and twelve multiple pouch boxes are totally different and have the 'alcohol included' message all over them and sold solely in liquor outlets. While bar sales are always one or two shots. Also, should negative references to our colorful pouches and their modern names be interpreted as adult drinkers should only be allowed to see dull and dreary packs? It makes one wonder who writes this stuff, and if they even believe what they have written. But more importantly would it stop underage drinking if ShotPak™ was sold in brown paper bags?

We believe that we must encourage parents to play a more active role in keeping alcohol out of the hands of our nation's youth. The liquor industry cannot do it alone.

Few people realize that the future of global brands is going to be based on the reading of demographic (people), industrial (money to spend) and social megatrends (parties and alcohol). A real Triple Bottom Line (TBL) that we must plan for.

This TBL simply means looking at how much of the disposable family income is available to purchase our BPG ShotPak™ and water products given the hundreds of choices available.

We continue to learn all we can about the TBL and will continue doing so. While at the same time we all can help rebuild our nation's financial infrastructure (through our tax dollars at work). We see this as an opportunity to also build our ShotPak™ and fortified water brand awareness in another dozen states, so that when the economy returns to normal, we will be ready to celebrate our success again.

Whoever said global branding was easy?

The Challenges of Growing a Business in These Hard Economic Times Without Traditional Advertising

This past month we have had huge publicity and debate about the Shotpak brand and the patented StandUP pouch we use and whether it encourages underage drinking.

Syndication meant the LA Times article including a colored picture appeared in hundreds of local papers throughout the USA and on several TV news shows. We reminded all and sundry that we agree that anyone under 21 years of age should not drink and also reminded all that the family is in charge of this behavior and not Shotpak!

It is interesting to us that Shotpak has been around since 2003 and in our BPG pouch since last August. The total sales are still small compared to other liquor beverages and we have only just introduced the Shotpak brand fulltime into 7 states and some overseas markets. The store count in USA is under 1000. In other words we are tiny brand, but we were discussed as if we were an industry leader. This is a compliment to our viral marketing program if nothing else.

The key points of the viral program are that our pouch is like a slim flask designed to fit in a purse or back pocket and to fit snugly into a unique marketing niche.

Shotpak is a social drink designed for consumption in settings such as parties, bars and dance floors where glass is a danger.

You don't get a second chance to make a first impression and we are aiming to make Shotpak an iconic brand where the pouch, in its essence, becomes a signature part of the overall brand. In a nutshell our aim is to create loyalty and love for our patented StandUp pouch.

We want to hit a nerve with the consumers as regards the flavor and the package. Our pouch is simple with strong graphics and has an edge to be memorable and unique on the shelf.

In summary, we have a simple, distinctive package, with great products inside and this is the message we want to get across.

Growing a business in hard economic times is already a challenge and if you take our decision not to use mainstream press or TV to advertise and promote, it is unbelievable how we have managed to maintain growth each month via the internet and social functions.

What this nontraditional marketing exercise has taught us is some very clear direction and we share some of these points of our assiduous attention to detail plan, with our Shotpak supporters:

Rule 1 / If you can do it yourself then do it.

Rule 2 / Don't be afraid to wear many hats so that you can ensure the message gets out.

Rule 3 / absolutely essential to surround yourself with honest, passionate, qualified people, who believe it can be done. Keep pushing home what you expect of them and try not to get moved off the path. This will be your biggest challenge.

Rule 4 / Manage limited resources (think cash flow) effectively.

Rule 5 / simultaneously as you launch the new package and product, ensure your next product development idea is ongoing. You will need these stage 2 plans to keep the product in front of consumers as they test your new innovations.

Rule 6 / Create a campaign to communicate brand message in a nontraditional way that is exciting and people want to return to your web site and read more. It is this part of our plan that is working.

Rule 7 / Make sure that your product message is fun, energetic, innovative, and has a personality.

Rule 8 / Broaden customer base to encompass the upwardly mobile professional and sports fan segment of the market place. This has been our mission.

Now in these tough times we have found that users of our products talk by email to each other more frequently and make a lot of buying decisions based on what their peers are drinking habits.

It has not been lost on our supporters the increase in the numbers of celebrities drinking Shotpak on social occasions, as shown on the MySpace web site 'Party in a Pouch.

Early Pearl, the rock band we sponsor, is doing a tremendous job on the road showing the safe, secure drink responsible side of the product and the product message. Texas, Florida and Georgia are part of their tour this month.

Using our viral marketing we are trying to make contact with our consumers on a level that is very emotional.

We try to get in front of our consumers with a face to face and touch the pouch approach, so it resonates with them through a taste of brand event. For example our efforts at golf courses means consumers touch the product before buying and enjoying real time.

A new message is Standup for and talk, touch, enjoy our products in our 'oil to oil' eco-friendly pouch. We are a 21st century product.

It's an aesthetically pleasing pouch and it is hard to describe why, but people just like it.

MySpace was used to launch our viral campaigns and to generate a huge amount of awareness about people drinking Shotpak.

The MySpace site run by The GuyZzz, has been flawless and has managed to elicit the appropriate brand impression of success and Shotpak go together.

Daily we get asked how to reach the 'Party in a Pouch' site and this tells us the message is working as we build a niche brand!

We have also been creating an intimate environment conducive to developing an emotional response to the brand, an olfactory excursion, relax and enjoy life with Shotpak.

We are in stores, bars and clubs where the pouch can be touched before purchase. The success of the pouch is in the way it so beautifully captures the essence of the brand as a high end, unique, friendly and colorful flavorful product. This aspect is what has led to all the press around Shotpak!

We are trying to orient the consumer to the sense of the 'touch' of the pouch, a sensorial significance of this aspect of the package and then after opening remind them and excite their sense of 'smell' and 'taste' of sweetness or bitterness to the palate. The exquisite printed designs invite consumer to feel the pouch and hopefully fall in love or be fully comfortable with it.

We all have five senses and we aim to use all of these on seducing the consumer in our sensory marketing campaign.

We are not a new product, but we want pleasant and surprise emotion when consumers touch, open and drink our products, we prefer to say nothing at all on the web site other than consumers enjoying the product at social functions.

Emotion, joy of drinking, touch, taste, smell, sight and sound are all part of the sensory brand experience and brand loyalty.

That's our message in the campaign. We use all of these tactics and hope to engage the brain link to memory and emotional response to the brand eye-catching colors

Now back to how to introduce a product in a tough environment, we believe get the consumer involved and invite them to touch the pouch and enjoy the products. Let the consumer do the marketing for the product.

It's All In The Numbers

WOW, 8,516% in case sales growth in the first six months of the year, compared to 2007, that’s a pretty powerful number for our ShotPak™ brand of cocktails.

It is well documented that companies that continued to be aggressive in sales and marketing during economic downturns also made sure they stayed in sight and top of mind with their customers, consumers and prospects in order to be successful.

Our philosophy with the ShotPak™ brand has always been publicize, advertise or we perish!   The next quarter we are placing more marketing dollars into initiatives that have direct and measurable numbers impact.

These resources are going into highly targeted tactics at both P.G.S. our machinery division and B.P.G., our beverage division.   We are trying to generate demand for both products, through more support for the sales forces, providing strong leadership and additional promotions at trade shows, increased customer visits to the plant, supporting many charity events so we can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.   This includes more use of online web tactics to explain and detail our products.

It has been reported by “B to B Magazine” that the web and e-mails etc. are far and away the most popular of the interactive tactics.   However, these messages must reach end users who want news, otherwise the spam box is the final destination!

One of our ‘Big Numbers’ used in selling premade machinery is minimum waste at under 0.25%.   This low figure gets immediate attention.   Remember you buy the machine once and the premade pouches for the next 20 years.   So minimum waste is the number that makes the sale.

With our ShotPak™ brand, one of the key numbers we mention is that if they want to stay one step ahead of the competition, they need proper pour control or a ShotPak™ pouch.   This pouch is a fool proof, pour control system in place as soon as you introduce the pouch behind the bar.   Zero loss, is the number that gets attention, compared to bar habits of over-pouring, to poor inventory control, to outright theft – that can drain bottom line profits.   Remember the bar often represents 30% or more of the cost of doing business.   As an example if you have 100 pouches in the bar, 30 are sold and 70 remain in inventory.   No shrinkage with the pouch.   Now that’s a nice number!

We should point out that another feature of the ShotPak™ cocktail pouches is they follow accurately their various recipes.   Drink recipes are about a balance of ingredients.   Remember 20% more alcohol does not make a drink better, just like 20% more salt will not improve your soup!

Now to energy, a pet subject of mine where another interesting number about energy usage is that solar and wind have been around a long time and they are not going to make a difference long term, if you think we have to consider them as an alternative source.   So very close to zero input from these socially polite must support energy sources and of course corn ethanol is a fraud impressed on us by the politicians.   Even if we used all the corn in the USA it would not add up to 4 million barrels of oil a day and many animals and humans would starve.   We must think nuclear reactors to reduce our oil dependence on others and now the numbers will really count in our favor with this change.

Some ideas about both our machines and the ShotPak™ Brand.   Based on the market place we now live in, we are under going brand reinvention, so we can continue to lead the market.   Remember it is my philosophy and thus current strategy to get the ShotPak™ brand right and increase distribution in order to get more value as a multiple of cash flow.   Only this way will we see the stock price increase above present levels.  

Looking ahead we will continue to push our outstanding quality for both machinery and ShotPak™ brands.   Our re-brand theme is as a purveyor of “quality products”.   For the ShotPak™ brand we will continue to launch new cocktails, ensure distribution throughout the USA and in a 100 + countries and the state of the company will be in the numbers!

Digital Skin…Are You Ready?

We held our sales meeting in Miami this year and introduced everyone to the Digital Skin concept, explaining that we need to embrace this technology and use more of what the web has to offer in all of our business practices.

Just think, each day we are exposed to some sort of electronic message. Do you nostalgically look back and think, how did we function in the business world without all of this electronic media at our fingertips? How did we get by communicating only by telephone and snail mail?

Today most e-information services operate under Web 2.0 and social networks, like MySpace and Facebook, interlinked data is the new business model.

I recently came across a business networking site, LinkedIn. This is a great social site to connect with former classmates, old and current colleagues. LinkedIn also allows you to recommend people you have worked with in the past. LinkedIn has millions of visitors and allows me to pose any type of question to anyone in my network, suddenly I can have feedback on our products or business methods.

Friendster used to be the social network, but Facebook (which used to only be open to individuals with a .edu email) upgraded their profile and many marketing professionals are starting to use the site. Large corporations like Proctor & Gamble even have a Facebook page.

Instant messaging is nearly 10 years old and teens have suddenly found a close friend in Twitter, which allows members on some social networking sites to broadcast real time updates in under 140 characters. As a business you can Twitter-scan and see what folks think of your products if they have been exposed to them. Imagine real time complaints can be corrected as they occur. We developed something very similar 4 years ago called ControlSmart™ which alerts machine operators by email the moment a pouch machine starts deviating from the agreed standards. The money saved from this real time alert system can be counted in millions.

As an entrepreneur, I see many opportunities to plug our companies in to this social media or digital skin. The only cost appears to be time, as we spread our name and products throughout web forums, online networking sites, wikis, blogs and podcasts.

However, be warned I have found that after four months with new web sites updates, our web traffic is up, but not staggering.

After much analysis as to why we need to build our digital skin, we realize we are going to have to be more proactive and think reciprocal—one message out and two in—hopefully.

Our MySpace site is run by 3 talented young men, known as the Shotpak GuyZzz (an actor, a radio show host and a rapper). Our page now has over 2000 friends and many are global. The ShotPak website (www.shotpakinc.com) also allows visitors click over to our Beverage Pouch Group, the machinery division at www.ppitechnologies.com

Since starting in earnest to develop my digital skin I have found a number of other sites you might be interested in for business purposes like gather.com, digg.com, twine.com and tbd.com. Each of these sites has a web position and suddenly we found additional members through these sites.


The following are a few other sites I have been exploring: ning.com allows me to set up in-house social network, basecamp.com, allows users to keep track of how much time groups are spending on tasks, Jigsaw.com allows me to have an online directory of business contacts and Jobscore.com allows me to exchange resumes of job candidates we have not hired, with other business people.

Finally as I move from my east coast head office to the west coast sales warehouse about every 10 days, I have been advised that I should use Dopplr.com for sharing my travel itineraries. On Dopplr, friends can send advice on restaurants, golf or packaging shows and even arrange meetings at my destination.

Amazement used to be expressed as 'WOW' and with social networks you use 'WOM' for Word of Mouth. I would like to bring 'WOW' back as Words on Web sites to describe all these social networking activities.

I started by asking how did we do all of this before the world wide web and I end this by saying I can't live without it! My Digital Skin grows more efficient every day. Think WOW!

The Case for Terrestrial (a.k.a. Nuclear) Energy to Use Our Plastic Waste Efficiently

We have a very new program at PPi Technologies Global and at all of our 10 divisions.

Called SECAMP an acronym for:

Sustainable
Environmental
Conscious
Approach to
Machine and
Pouch manufacturing


This means we try to use less energy and thus reduce our carbon emission footprint for all the products we touch.

For machines, we reduce the air pressure required, we do not use painted parts and we try to use as many common components as possible. Our patented ControlSmart™ system sends an e-mail when ever the data entered is breached and in “live time” our customer can stop and access and correct the problem. This reduces product loss and also ensures the customer does it once and right!

In pouch manufacturing, our roto-gravure cylinders can be used again, our pouch laminations are all earth friendly and we use printing inks that meet FDA specifications.

Our total weight for the pouch and spout fitments for our 250ml / 6oz Chilling Rocks™ Natural Water pouches weigh less than their bottle counterparts and thus energy to handle them is well below that of rigid packaging.

After use, the pouches can be incinerated for energy rather than for recycling and or landfills. This “Oil to Oil” approach is not often understood by our customers.

Back to my energy topic, I am a firm believer in nuclear energy. There are only 103 operating nuclear reactors in the USA. Very few people realize that the steel required to make the reactor is only available from Japanese steel mills and they now have several years of back order position.

In America, we are still trapped in the Three Mile Island mentality. Little do people realize that with oil at $100 a barrel and will go higher, that nuclear energy promises less carbon emissions and also oil dependence!

The sun provides almost all of our energy. Remember plant photosynthesis taught at school, which showed plants start the energy storage process. Note, when our pouches are heated, the stored energy in the carbon chains is released. This heat energy can break down other carbon chains and now you have fire/heat. Today we use coal [pollutant] and we hope pouches will assist in providing much needed energy.

With the USA using oil for 40% of our energy needs we have to find a long lasting safe and efficient replacement as soon as possible.

When Albert Einstein told President Roosevelt that nuclear energy had been discovered, it was the first time mankind was no longer dependent on the sun.

The figures are staggering for using and changing ASAP to nuclear energy.

A 1,000 megawatt coal plant needs 110 railroad cars loaded with 20 tones of coal every 5 days. Coal produces 40% of our greenhouse gases and 20% of the world's carbon emissions. Plastic has a higher calorific value than coal. When you compare the above data to a 1,000 megawatt reactor, it only needs a train every two years to take away the mildly radio active rods that can be handed with gloves. The rods last six years. There is no exhaust, no sulphur sludge to be carted away every hour, no releases into the environment. There is no air, water or ground pollution.

Remember nuclear reactors cannot explode and the one dangerous isotope makes up only 7/10ths of a percent of the world's uranium. You need enriched uranium and so a reactor cannot explode.

What can occur is 'melt down' and can be contained within the reactor vessel. At Three Mile Island no one knew what was going on. Fear of the unknown led to this disastrous position..

Chernobyl accident was due to unstable design and that type of reactor is not used in the USA.

Our goal should be to incinerate plastics where we can and reduce coal usage; we should change our 50% electricity from coal dependence to 60% from nuclear energy and thus reduce all dependence on foreign oil.

A better use for coal is the South African SASOL process that provides for oil and plastics production rather than as an incinerating for electrical solution.

We need to dominate the industry we built and not let other countries take this away from us. Think clean, safe, no dependence on outside oil with safe terrestrial (nuclear) energy.

My thanks to William Tucker, who first interested me in this simple energy solution and for more information, suggest you read his latest book, “Terrestrial Energy: How a Nuclear-Solar Alliance can Rescue the Planet.”

Beverages and Energy

A lot of companies have entered the $2 Billion plus energy drink market segment.

The aim from many of the brands is to have a mainstream label.

This can be called “Strong and Natural” [a.k.a. energy and healthy] niche. What the consumer wants is the taste of fruit without the sugar.

To satisfy this niche we will launch later this year a Tequila with an energy boosting recipe and natural herbs in a small StandUp pouch with reclosable cap.

In the other energy drinks arena is the consumer preference for anti-oxidants from exotic acai berry, black cherry, pomegranate, cranberry and blueberry. We will also launch a natural water anti-oxidant to meet the consumer’s demands.

The Beverage Pouch Group is dedicated to provide drinks that meet all lifestyles and consumer demographics.