One of the biggest discussions about this year’s Super Bowl commercials was the absence of Pepsi. For 23 consecutive years, Pepsi has advertised during the Super Bowl. However, the company decided to invest resources into their social media marketing campaign, called “Pepsi Refresh Project.” Pepsi plans to grant $20 million to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages, states,
“It’s a big shift. We explored different launch plans, and the Super Bowl just wasn’t the right venue, because we’re really trying to spark a full-year movement from the ground up. The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers.”
Pepsi is engaging and promoting people to be involved for a good cause. People can submit and vote for ideas through Facebook, Twitter, and the RefreshEverything.com official site.
According to Irbtrax founder Scott Moir,
“At its core it’s a well planned Internet Marketing campaign based on Advocacy that is utilizing its existing Social media assets to spread the word virally. Its appeal has been enhanced by perception. A perception that was fueled by the publicity and Internet chatter they created when they ‘pulled’ their Super Bowl advertising.”
As people are becoming more environmentally friendly and social media on the rise, Pepsi’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect to capitalize on opportunity and trends, which Moir points out as two very important public relations ingredients.
· Traffic to the “Pepsi Refresh Project (refresheverything.com) has spiked before and after the Super Bowl.
· The site’s traffic has increased to 800% and remained consistent.
· Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Pepsi’s official site are its four main incoming traffic generators.
Written by Chris C.