1. Our case study“Risks:The Pepsi RefreshProject:A ThirstforChange”outlinedthe difficultythatPepsi
was havingona numberof levels.First,theyhave beenembroiledinasodawar withCoca-Colafor
decadesandhave overtime lostinpopularity,resultinginlowersales.Second,the government,with
Michelle Obamaleadingthe pack, hasbeenencouragingthe publictoeatand drinkhealthier.Obviously,
thisisnot a ringingendorsementforasoda company.Theyrealizedthattheyneededtoadjusttheir
image inorderto compete,sotheybeganfocusingonhealthyfoodoptionslike oatmeal,Gatorade™,
and Naked™ juices.Thiswasa goodstart to shiftingtheirimage,but theypushedone stepfurtherand
createdthe Pepsi Refresh Projectcampaign. Thiscampaignedwasaimedathealthylivingandcreating
strongcommunities.
Pepsi reliedonoutside partners,bottlers,andemployeestodistributetheirnew message.While there
was an overwhelmingamountof support, criticsdidexist.Theybelievedthatpeople didn’tcare abouta
humanitarianmessage beingsoldtothembya sodacompany.Theymay have beenright.Millenials
perceivedPepsi assuperficial,sothe company decidedtotake actioninsteadof justsayingsome
meaninglesswords.
Pepsi engagedthe social mediacommunityandpromotedtheirmessage onTV andprintto getthe
wordout. It worked.The communitywasinvitedtovote onideasthatwouldhelpthe communityand
thenPepsi wouldgrantthe winnersmoney,butalsohelpwiththe logisticsof the plan.Pepsi boosted
theirdigital advertisingbudgetby60% whichultimatelyresultedin300kFacebooklikesand5 million
website viewspermonth.Pepsihadnow become part of the conversationwhichisexactlywhatthey
hopedfor.Strangelyenough,theychose nottoplace anad duringthe SuperBowl whichwouldhave
guaranteedthemmillionsof views. Pepsi decidedagainstthese ads because theybelievedthatit would
hurt theirmessage anditwouldnolongerseemauthentic.
Since the start of the project,Pepsi’ssaleshave fallenby4.8% withCoca-Colaup0.1%. It’shard for the
teamat Pepsi todetermineaproperROIat thispoint,butthey’re hopeful downthe roadthattheywill
create customersfromthissort of engagement.The questionthattheyneedtoanswernow iswhether
to stickwiththe projector abort? It’sa heavymessage foracompanythat has carriedand image of fun
and excitementfordecades.WillMillenials buyit,especiallysincetheyconsume considerablylesssoda
products?
In myopinion,Idon’tnecessarilythinkthatitwasa mistake topasson the SuperBowl ads. They
probablysaved$3 millionthattheywere able toinvestindigital marketing.AlthoughCoca-Coladecided
to spendmoneyonSuperBowl ads,theyonlysaw a 0.1% endof year gain.Pepsi ishopingtomake a
lastingimpression withorganicreach.If theystaytrue to theirmessage andcontinue onthispath,they
may start convincingMillenialstobuytheirproducts.Ido thinkthata properstrategyincludesboth
digital andtraditional markets,butsince I’mnotprivytoPepsi’sbudget,Icannotsayfor sure whetherit
was a goodor badidea.It isdefinitelyagamble thatPepsi hasmade that may payoff downthe road.
Pepsi maybe seeninthe future as digital trailblazerswhoscoffedinthe face of SuperBowl advertisers.I
thinkthe effortstheymade andthe amountof planningtheyputintothiscampaignwasa very
calculatedrisktheymay pay dividendsinthe future,butonlytime will tell.