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.

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.