Recently, PepsiCo and Edelman Digital staged a small event to tap the minds of 25 social media marketing experts about how best to engage the online community. The event began with mystery packages and ended with a discussion in a special branded area of FriendFeed called the
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The company set off the new initiative with an elaborate stunt to be sure they got the top 25’s attention. At 20-minute intervals a courier delivered a box with an assortment of Pepsi cans. The first two packages contained vintage, empty cans, and the third and final one was packed with a half-dozen full cans in Pepsi’s new packaging. The cans seemed to evoke little in the viewers, who may not have noticed the new “smile” in the logo, but saw very plainly in new media lower case: pepsi.
Pepsi was apparently very serious about the delivery process. One recipient blogs that the courier refused to deliver all three packages at once, and
As intriguing as that is (though, unless a vintage can collector, one might feel a little short-changed by the lack of product in the remaining dozen), it’s hard to tell, judging from the comments at FriendFeed, what solid social media advice this meeting of the minds revealed. Much of it seems derailed into questions about why Pepsi chose FriendFeed instead of Twitter, or criticism of Pepsi’s insistence on a closed and moderated-for-profanity format.
The question, as posed: “…how would you, moving forward guide the Pepsi brand in engaging folks like you through social media?”
Interesting question, but it seems like the wrong target. The target, as revealed in the conversation, was the younger generation, which makes more sense. Try to think of one person over 25 who doesn’t have his cola preference already set in stone, who either openly embraced the choice of a new generation or didn’t.
The suggestions from the crowd were disappointingly standard: celebrity endorsements, product placement, sponsorships, community service, be more like Zappos and Dell. One dared to suggest taste was the most important aspect of Pepsi’s brand and stunts like New Coke and Crystal Pepsi were to be avoided. Others echoed with cheers for Diet Pepsi and warnings not to change the formula.
And in this process, very few suggestions about changing the marketing formula surfaced either.
But it’s not an easy question, is it? What would be an aspect of something so perfunctory in our lives as a choice between Pepsi and Coke? It’s not something one goes around thinking about. There are diehard devotees of each brand, but one presumably would be hard pressed to find widespread loyalty such that a customer refuses to accept the competitor’s substitute. (Waiting tables through college, I’d estimate maybe 5 percent of my customers refused to accept Coke if the restaurant had a deal with Pepsi. That’s a generous estimate.)
Social media marketing, in its most basic form, entails getting people to talk about your product or to talk to you about it, but
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Pepsi's Social Media Challenge
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