Most of us can recall Cindy Crawford’s jean-shorted, thirst-quenching saunter in 1997 and, in 2001, Britney Spears’ “Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba, The Joy of Pepsi” rendition—both were multi-million dollar soft drink television commercials featured on the illustrious Superbowl Sunday. Over the past ten years, Pepsi has spent over $142 million (second only to Anheuser-Busch) on Super Bowl advertisements alone. However, the new decade marks a monumental shift for this corporate giant; for the first time in 23 years, Pepsi is pulling the annual commercial in favor of a $20 million social media campaign.
The Pepsi Refresh Project launches on January 13, 2010, and will sponsor (in $5K to $25K increments) individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that hope to get their ideas off the ground and make a positive difference in the world. Anyone can enter, and people can vote online for who they feel best deserves the money.
DMNews.com does a great job explaining PepsiCo’s logic:
“Pepsi has always positioned itself as being about the youth market of America, and young people now are inundated with social media,” said Nicole Bradley, spokesperson for PepsiCo. ” . . . Pepsi is making a big statement that they want to be about all of those things that their target [audience] is about.”
“We are always looking to further develop our two-way conversation with consumers,” she added.
The PepsiCo team clearly gets it. They understand that to market effectively to audiences today, brands need to interact, share, and listen to their consumers. Talk about a step in the right direction!
PepsiCo is one of the first mainstream corporate giants to pull millions from traditional marketing—Super Bowl commercials, nonetheless!—and transfer those funds to social. On the fashion/retail side, we’ve seen the international label Lacoste cease all print advertisement in an all-digital effort. According to a December eMarketer article, advertisers will spend 7.1 percent more on social network marketing in 2010 than the $1,210 million spent in 2009, and these numbers don’t seem to be going down anytime soon.
How do you think this campaign will fare for PepsiCo? Do you think other companies will follow suit?
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This is a genius idea and perfect timing for Pepsi. They are taking advantage of the first mover advantage and using a new platform to deliver their message. It’s a sign of the times that there is a major change afoot.
Also, because of all the hype it will be broadcast everywhere and have massive PR beyond their target demographic. I have a lot of faith in this campaign as Pepsi has never let us down in the past.
Companies are 110% going to follow suit after this campaign, it is inevitable. Welcome to the Information Age!
Trace,
I really appreciate your comment, and I agree with your statements. Which companies do you think will be next in line? The L.A. Times reported that many long-time Super Bowl sponsors, such as Anheuser Busch, will be reassessing their marketing strategies and commitment to spending millions on traditional advertising. Will it be a race to see who does what? It’s a fascinating time in the social media and marketing landscape, and we at Catchfire are excited to be a part of it. Thanks again for reading!
Abby
10 things you pay for from traditional marketing agencies. http://www.famefoundry.com/1447/10-things-you-pay-for-from-traditional-marketing-agencies
@FFcommunicator
Fame Foundry
Charlotte Website Design
I’m so glad you took the time to read my post, and thank you for sharing yours! One of my favorite lines in your article reads, “In today’s business world, it’s no longer the big fish that eats the small fish; it’s the fast fish that eats the slow fish.” Ingenious! Today’s business landscape—be it, sales, marketing, customer service, what have you—requires quick thinking for a rapidly changing environment, technologically speaking. It will be the early adopters that prevail. Thanks again, stop back often!
Abby
Fantastic! As Trace said, Pepsi gets it! As a passionate Social Media “guy” I love it that a corproate giant finally gets it. Pepsi is going to ride the wave of this move, with many discussions like yours fueling the fire, to see an amazing ROI on their $20mm investment. It will be interesting to see how it pans out and how many other companies jump on the bandwagon after viewing Pepsi’s success.
Pete,
Thanks for your comment. Totally agree, Pepsi’s always been on top of their marketing game, and this is no exception. It obviously just goes to show that PepsiCo recognizes the inevitable shift from traditional to digital marketing; they want to continue to be leaders, innovators that continually strive to be the best. Yes, it will be interesting (I honestly can’t wait!) to see who’s the next in the movement. We at Catchfire know it’s only a matter of time. Thank you again for reading, I appreciate it!
Abby
I’d say it’s working.
I’m getting e-mails from people about this blog post (including CF) and about the contest. Someone even sent it to me yesterday on twitter.
If the idea is to get your brand in front of people in a positive way. I’d say they are doing that well. I know this is the first time in a while I’ve been to the Pepsi web site and I sent it to half a dozen people as well. Two thumbs up for Pepsi on this one.
Ben,
Agreed! Thanks for your input. It’s definitely working, and the thing about it, is that Pepsi is being smart about their social media campaign; they are allocating that $20 million for new media, but they haven’t ditched traditional media. I don’t know about you, but it seems like every other advertisement I hear on the radio is for the Pepsi Refresh Project.
Another cool thing is that other companies are starting to ride the wave, if you will. I’ll be posting another blog tomorrow morning about another B2C company that launched a smaller, yet comparable, campaign. Thanks for tuning in.
Cheers,
Abby