Comments on: Can Pepsi buy its way into community and social media?

By: Branding Secrets Of The World’s Best Brands « crowdSPRING Blog

Branding Secrets Of The World’s Best Brands « crowdSPRING Blog — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:26:37 +0000

[...] Pepsi’s decision to pull out of the Superbowl after 23 consecutive years and instead, to funnel its advertising budget into online community efforts. While your company might not have anywhere close to Pepsi’s budget, you should pay attention [...]

By: AdHack Blog – Pepsi Refresh Project Rejects Superbowl for Crowdsourced Charity

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:25:45 +0000

[...] Edward Boches put it: Done right the Pepsi Refresh Project has the potential to create one of the first examples of a [...]

By: edward boches

edward boches — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:40:04 +0000

What, you don’t remember Michael Jackson’s hair lighting on fire?

By: Tom Cunniff

Tom Cunniff — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:49:09 +0000

When we do the math, note that not all impressions are created equal. Most TV commercials, even really good ones, have fairly limited impact.

But, a few become part of the culture and resonate for a very long time. 26 years on, Apple’s “1984″ commercial still matters. Should we still measure its impact based on how many impressions it generated on its one and only airing?

I applaud Pepsi for trying this bold experiment. Maybe it will be their “1984″ for social media. Maybe not.

Whatever the outcome, we’ve all been given a huge gift: the opportunity to learn a lot on Pepsi’s nickel, without bearing any of the risk.

For that alone, I plan to buy some Pepsi over the Holidays. Somebody please add $10 to Pepsi’s ROI figures

By: edward boches

edward boches — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:29:22 +0000

Daniel:
You can look at this multiple ways. Desperation in that they can’t compete with Coke in ad space. Admission and declaration that old media doesn’t have the power and impact it once did. Acknowledgement that consumers want and even insist on new kinds of relationships with the brands in their lives. We all can’t be number one in our business or category, but we have to keep trying stuff. I’m interested to see if Pepsi can make community and conversation a valid marketing solution in a category that’s more about frequent purchase and consumption rather than about content and real interaction. You buy a Mac and you start a long relationship with Apple that transcends one product. You buy a can of Pepsi and you just drink it and maybe buy another one the next day. Different relationship.

By: edward boches

edward boches — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:25:14 +0000

Tyler:
You may be right. Real challenge for brands is whether they can create communities that are fueled by the community members and that reach some level of scale as they build themselves. Dell’s service site, Coca Cola’s fan page are a couple of examples. Tough to get the reach a mainstream brand needs in sm alone right now. But if the word of mouth from a growing and active community can achieve significant reach levels and become self-perpetuating, we’ll see more of this. As I’ve suggested before, eventually being there won’t be enough, will need constant creative refreshment. No pun intended.

By: Daniel Rubinton

Daniel Rubinton — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:37:39 +0000

It is a noble effort, but unfortunately I doubt it it will be as revolutionary as some people think it will be. Pepsi is perennial second-place brand. They will not surpass Coca-Cola, so any success they have with this campaign, (and don’t get me wrong, I think it will have success) will be overshadowed by their inability to move into the top spot. Besides, Mountain Dew has done similar things before, asking consumers to pick new flavors and design bottles, and it didn’t have any sort of revolutionary success. Who knows, I could be completely wrong however, and be poor and bitter when this competition is over.

By: Tyler Sanborn

Tyler Sanborn — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:09:25 +0000

I absolutely think Pepsi will set and example and everyone will turn to them for a bit and give them pats on the back with a blog post or two. Over time, if campaigns like this become easily replicated and are, then it all becomes clutter once again. There are so many “initiatives” over a 10 month span that requires continued audience engagement that Pepsi’s biggest challenge is going to have people come back for more. I believe the numbers you’ll see over time of voters coming back, and overall participation will look similar the ratings chart of Jay Leno’s attempt at the 10 O’Clock time slot.

By: Veronica Baker

Veronica Baker — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:45:02 +0000

I think Pepsi will set an example. The idea is innovative, but I wonder how many times it can be executed by other companies and still be considered new and exciting, or authentic rather than exploitive. .-= Veronica Baker´s last blog ..veronicabaker: Social media matters because it has redefined the way we communicate as friends, consumers, brands, marketers and more #ESM. =-.

By: Terry Rogers

Terry Rogers — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:08:46 +0000

Not that long and it's a loaded tweet waiting to happen. Definitely makes for an entertaining brand study with social as this is one of the fear obstacles clients have been dreading with bad PR. This is so overlooked but it's their own employees that will probably be the biggest vulnerability as opposed to the pissed off consumer. At least an unhappy customer tells you what is wrong and is more than willing to consult on how to fix it to a level of satisfaction. An employee mistake is the company's problem as they represent the brand and product. .-= Terry Rogers´s last blog ..mrBeanStalker: Least amount of sunlight today since it's the Winter Solstice. This will mean more light in my life. Yeah, only upside from here. =-.