pepsi
You are currently browsing articles tagged pepsi.
You may not be able to buy happiness, but you can certainly buy refreshment. And that in a nutshell is Coke’s problem in the U.S. Short of a cold slap in the face, there is really nothing more refreshing than an ice cold Coke. Pepsi is refreshing but a bit sweeter so it loses the refresh-off. Orange soda? Ice Tea? Cold bottled water? Not as refreshing. The Pepsi “Refresh” campaign, where the word is mostly used as a synonym “reboot,” shows possibilities but doesn’t yet deliver.
I love the entertainment value of the current Coke TV work out of Wieden+Kennedy. It’s pretty, heartwarming and fun. But it lacks the primary motivation for consumption. Sure refreshment may trickle through the work but it’s secondary. People don’t drink Coke to up their happiness quotient.
The soft drink market is the States is facing lots of issues: Sugar, recession, obesity, competitive specialization, i.e., energy drinks, yet soda consumption is actually outpacing waters and teas for the first time in a while. Overseas Coke is growing by double digits in countries like Russia, India, Egypt, Vietnam, Philippines, Turkey and Brazil. Are they buying Coke to get happy? Roots is a big movement in the U.S. right now. Coca-Cola and the Coke brand need to get back to its roots. Peace!
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: coca cola, coke, pepsi, soda marketing, whats the idea, whatstheidea, wieden + kennedy, wieden+kennedy, you cant buy happiness
Aol. and Yahoo have both finally figured out that good content begets readership, viewership, referral, and participation which begets — the same. These two seminal online brands will be dooking it out for years to come. They both took different paths to get here and both have CEOs with unique perspectives, but the battle should be fun to watch. Coke and Pepsi, AT&T and Verizon fun.
Armstrong vs. Bartz
My bet is on Aol. Tim Armstrong hitched his ride to a rising star (Google) and got that success smell on him — but I think he created some of that smell with his focus and good leadership. Carol Bartz’s career advanced by good blocking and tackling and good business decisions, something Yahoo hadn’t had for a while prior to her arrival. Yahoo made lots of decisions, just not with a solid brand idea driving them. Until proven otherwise, I’ll give Mr. Armstrong the edge and write it off to “derring do.”
Ad dollars are moving online, no doubt, but those in the know will tell you the lion’s share are going to Google thanks to AdWords and their direct-to-consumer, DIY, analytics-powered ad model. As Aol. and Yahoo re-create their online brands and lead the market in the generation of original content (paid and contributed), search will stay a powerful, lucrative utility, but won’t be the best way to find good content. That will be the domain of Aol and, hopefully, Yahoo. Peace!
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: AOL, at&t, Carol Bartz, coke, google, pepsi, Tim Armstrong, Verizon, whatstheidea, yahoo
Rant time. My bad, it’s Friday. Pepsi’s sales, it was reported yesterday, were weaker-than-expected caused by lower soft drink sales in North America. Interestingly, Pepsi Cola just finished a big brand redesign which was well received by the design, advertising and brand planning communities; the latter community acknowledging the work at the recent Jay Chiat Awards in NYC. I am a dissenter when it comes to this new Pepsi strategy, which revolves around the idea “Refresh.” Pepsi’s strategy celebrates refresh more for the computer definition than the thirst-quenching definiton. Hello? Is anyone paying attention? Refreshment is Coke’s strategy.
Anyway, both Coke and Pepsi — but Coke in particular — need to focus advertising not on culture but on the ability for colas to truly quench a thirst. Nothing in the world can quench a thirst like a Coke. It creates a jolt, a satisfying, smile-provoking recoil for the thirsty drinker. Here’s a test strategic account planners: get out of the building and walk a trail in the hot sun for 8 hours. Have someone meet you at the trail’s end with a Coke in one hand a Gatorade in the other. See which your arm reaches for. (Only physicists will grab a Gatorade.)
Colas are under fire from waters, energy drinks and teas. They need to fight back. And fight back with all the syrupy, coca-ey, carbonation demonstrations at their disposal. Cola growth in the third world is strong because those consumers know that Coke and Pepsi refresh like nothing else. In the US we’ve lost sight of that. Come on people, stop over-thinking this stuff. Cultural refresh indeed! Peace.
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: coca cola, coke, cola marketing, gatorade, jay chiat awards, pepsi, pepsi cola, weiden and kennedy, whats the idea, whatstheidea
If ever a brand owned an idea it was Coca Cola. McCann-Erickson got it. Early Coke brand managers got it. The people definitely got it. The idea was “refreshment.” Coke ads made you feel in your bones the total and utter refreshment from its unique, thirst-quenching taste.
(Not a big Coke drinker, I once came off the Appalachian Trail parched, craving a Coke. I found one and it was other-worldly.)
Pepsi which has always had smart marketers on its team realizes “refreshment” is Coke’s provenance and has for the most part stayed away. But today Pepsi is jumping on the word in its new “refresh everything” campaign tied to change in America. As it is with much of Pepsi’s work, this is a borrowed interest approach (not based on an inherent product quality) so it won’t be that effective. And the consumer generated content side of the program is a bit weak. But Pepsi will spend so it may muddle the “refreshment” waters.
Coke needs to defend its refreshment position and it needs to do it now. Get back to what refresh meant.
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: Advertising, coke, consumer generated content, mccann erickson, pepsi, refreshment, whatstheidea, “whats the idea”
What’s the idea with Tropicana Premium Orange Juice?
I’m okay with updating the Tropicana Orange Juice carton, which Omnicom’s Arnell Group just did, but not to the point where it looks like a milk carton, which they also just did. Losing the trademarked orange with protruding straw was a mistake. That icon was the fastest, easiest way to convey positive feelings and associations about the product. And it helped differentiate Tropicana from all the water and flavor-added orange drinks. A glass of juice does not bring forth great images from the recesses of the mind the way an orange does. Ahhh orange blossoms.
The new idea using the word “squeeze” as its center point is a dual strategy. It is meant to make up for the loss of the orange and at the same time drive consumers to thoughts of wonderful human images. Nyet! I do love the new cap on the carton though, shaped as half an orange. It would have been a great accent on the old carton.
Seems like Tropicana may have gotten the “B” Team while Mr. Arnell and his people were off logging hours on the Pepsi redesign.
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: marketing, omnicom, pepsi, Peter Arnell, The Arnell Group, Tropicana Pemium Orange Juice, “whats the idea” whatstheidea
Jerry Yang is stepping down at Yahoo (without a named successor) and PepsiCo has removed long-time ad agency BBDO in favor of white hot TBWA/Chiat Day. Change is in the wind. Yahoo needed to do something, though I’m not sure removing Yang does anything. The number 1 website in terms of traffic, they still do not know what they want to be. The next CEO had better have a focused strategic vision beyond “I wouldn’t have f’ed up the Microsoft deal.”
As for TBWA/Chiat Day picking up PepsiCo, it is the second black eye they have given BBDO in the last couple of years; taking Visa was the first. Both these agencies are on a par if you ask me with the slight edge going to TBWA thanks to good leadership (Tom Carroll and Lee Clow) and the ability to do striking, simple work. But “Life Takes Visa,” though a fine line, hasn’t yet been actualized.
These two changes are incremental, certainly not seismic. And so are they changes at all? Nah.
But ladies and gentlemen, change is in the wind and it is to those who take advantage of it – with tight strategic understanding – that the spoils will fall.
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: bbdo, Jerry Yang, Lee Clow, marketing blogs, microsoft, pepsi, tbwa chiat day, tom carroll, Visa, whatstheidea, yahoo, “whats the idea”
First off, Peter Arnell of the Arnell Group is one of the leading lights of branding today. He’s an artist, he has taste, he’s daring and though I’ve never seen him in action is probably larger than life in a room filled with marketing executives. The late Peter Kim of JWT and McCann was that way, minus the artist part.
But I will go on record as betting against his ability to turn around Pepsi. Nice, exciting new logos? Yes. Excited Pepsi drinkers, sucking down cases of bev, I think not. “Smiles” is an ownable branding idea (that’s what the new logos are all about,) but "fun smirks" would be better. Personally, I would give the smirk campaign to Crispin Porter Bogusky or TBWA/Chiat Day and see if they can reenergize the sweet seeking masses. Crispin has learned some important lessons in selling (or not) soft drinks, so I think today they can nail Pepsi. Pepsi needs energy, not merchandising tactics. It needs an idea that mobilizes drinkers. It needs a killer ad campaign first, then the merch and promos and digital games can follow.
Possibly Related Posts:
Tags: arnell, beverage marketing, crispin porter bogusky, marketing blogs, pepsi, twba chiat day, whats the idea, whatstheidea
Recent Comments