Scalable Intimacy

Branding in the age of social media.

Pepsi Has Its Act Together

Posted on | June 4, 2009 | Comments

Just back from a long day at Pepsi World HQ, where America’s 52nd largest company hosted a busload of blogerati and your humble correspondent for a day of propaganda and swag.

Going in, I was pretty cynical.

All due respect, Pepsi has a few strikes against it. For starters it pretty well perfected Spectacle Advertising and it’s slutty sister, Celebrity Advertising, back when it was “the choice of a new generation.” Now at the end of that era, the brand really can’t help but feel a little tired. On top of that it has the Unholy Trinity of Mass Consumption Sins going against it… pumping a tanker-full of high fructose corn syrup into the arteries of overfed Americans each year, much of it to wash down it’s own salt-laden chips, dips, pretzels, crackers, nuts, wafers, and <pre-barf sound> “extruded snacks.” Prefer water, chubby? That’ll be 3 bucks, a Sasquatch-style carbon footprint, and a dirty look from every vegetarian driving by in a Prius.

What I found was utterly unexpected.

These guys are serious about reinventing themselves, have been for some time, and have made real progress on fronts other companies are only now waking up to. A few highlights that stuck with me:

  • As part of an ongoing corporate effort to save water, electricity, and carbon, Pepsi saved nearly 5 Billion (with a “B”) liters of water, 500 Million kilowatt hours of energy, and 20 Million pounds of packaging in 2007. Yea. A lot, on a scale of 1 to a lot.
  • Pepsi proactively launched the world’s first Carbon Reduction Label, and is now moving aggressively to incorporate such labeling on all of it’s packaging, to empower consumers to make smarter carbon choices.
  • Despite sugary sodas and unhealthy snacks still representing a significant share of their revenues and profits,  both represent a rapidly shrinking share of their product portfolio. The truth is that if somebody is to blame for Americans being fat and salty (said the fat, salty American…) it is us.

The Social Marketing Stuff

On top of all that, these guys get social media like nobody’s business. Every person we spoke with – and we’re talking major big-wigs all the way up to the CMO – either got social media or was working hard to do so. The folks leading that charge from within are smart and empowered, as evidenced by the brilliant work they’ve done of late on Pepsi’s moving “Dear Mr. President” campaign; the just launched, Rock Band promotion, and Mountain Dew’s Dewmocracy program.

You can see how it all unfolded in today’s Flickr stream, featuring my old and new homeys @stephagresta, @whitneyhess, @Katadhin, @mariadiaz, @joryDJ, @pnken, @pop17, @leoraisrael, @Alexa, @magnify, @howardgr, @debs, @dbenk, @mdfsmash, @erincrum, @ggdm, and @misswill, just to name a few.

PS – The contrast betwen this and my last post is pretty striking to me. Up and down the scale dial, intimacy is what it’s all about.

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Category: Advertising, Branding, Case Studies, Social Media 101, Web 2.0 Gurus

Comments

  • Nelly
    Mike,
    Nice recap of your day at Pepsi, thanks. Agree totally on them getting it. Saw the Frito Lay CMO speak at the HBS Marketing Revolution conference back in November. He hit on eco (Sun Chips bag example) and social media (Doritos website) themes throughout. I'm still a Diet Coke guy though...
  • Interesting. It does seem it's either the smallest brands with no money or the biggest brands (Pepsi, Ford, American Express) with the most amount of money (and therefore the ability to experiment) who gravitate to social media. For the biggies, of course, there's also the fear of being left behind. So good for Pepsi.

    However, I'm not sure that these ideas are as good as something like Dove's Self Esteem.

    At first glance the Dear Mr. President seems more like borrowed interest (not unlike the borrowed interest of their celebrity stuff of old) of Obama's momentum and visibility and less like a sincere desire to give consumers a meaningful voice and or really create a dialog between Pepsi and consumers.

    As for Dewmocracy, again, at first glance seems like a gimmick to call attention to new product by letting consumer choose. Not as authentic or as legitimate as letting customers design their own pair of Nikes.

    Then again, they are using newer media in interesting ways and I give them credit for that. On the other hand, some of the numbers (views, followers, etc.) don't seem anywhere near the scale that I would expect a Pepsi to want from their marketing.

    For me the most impressive thing is that they realized the power influencers are the bloggers who identify trends, start movements, and pass judgment on who is or isn't doing it right. Kudos to Pepsi for bringing you all there. Hope the swag didn't influence your post.
  • They gave us Bacon-Cream Cheese potato chips from Europe, Ed. How could we not be influenced? Are we not men?

    Your criticism is fair... by any measure of great advertising, none of these measures up.

    I would submit, though, that the measure that matters with respect to this kind of marketing - call it "participatory advertising," if you like - is participation itself. Did the level of participation in these campaigns move the sales needle? I asked on 3 separate occasions, and while i never got a real answer, the smile on Ami Irazabal's (Pepsi Brand Manager) face gave me the sense that it did.

    At a minimum, as you say, Pepsi is on a learning curve for such programs. I think that will prove to have been a prescient investment.
  • Well, if they were actually from Europe, what choice do you have. Chances are for ubiquitous brands like Pepsi Co, nothing moves the needle like a great end aisle display and a sale on 12 packs. Then again, for some strange reason, our new offices have all Pepsi in the machines when for the last 20 years we've offered nothing but Coke. Must be working.
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