When soft drink heavyweight Pepsi announced that it would snap its 23 year streak of Super Bowl advertising, the advertising community was stumped. For a company that has spent over $190 million on Super Bowl ads since 1987, and in recent years produced trendy spots featuring such celebrities as Britney Spears, Cindy Crawford, and Ozzy Osbourne, it seemed only natural that Pepsi would continue on this course. But Frank Cooper, senior vice president of PepsiCo American Beverages, claims the company will pursue “a marketing platform that will be less about a singular event,” integrating both cause related and social media marketing in its new campaign.
Pepsi began the new year by unveiling its “Pepsi Refresh Project,” a program that will disburse grant money for community projects. On January 13, the company launched a website, Refresheverything.com, where consumers can propose projects such as feeding the hungry or teaching people to read. In addition to non-profit or cause marketing, Pepsi declared it will spend 60% more on online ads in 2010 than it did last year. Online advertising, Pepsi claims, provides the most fertile opportunities for Pepsi to reach its target audience of younger consumers, and to keep these consumers involved with its brand.
Branding experts believe Pepsi’s decision bears some risk, because consumers have come to expect compelling ads from the company. Not to mention that the Super Bowl is the most popular nationally televised event. Most companies would be skittish to surrender such an enormous audience for an undertaking in the constantly evolving ecosystem of digital media. Despite the possibility of a backlash, Cooper contests that “brands should not blindly anchor themselves to history.”
Pepsi’s decision represents a tactical change in advertising that other companies will hopefully embrace this year. While Super Bowl advertisers may reap the immediate rewards for their efforts in the form of short-term sales, as a result of reaching such a large audience, they will likely fall behind in one key area of marketing: branding. Given the emergence of social media, as well as the current state of the economy, it seems impractical for companies to spend $3 million for a 30-second spot. Companies such as Monster, E-Trade, and Go-Daddy indeed have benefited from the gimmicky and novel nature of their Super Bowl ads, but Super Bowl commercials only help to establish brand awareness. If you already have $3 million dollars to reserve a spot for the Super Bowl, its likely brand awareness is not a top priority for your company.
Social media allows companies to build long-lasting relationships with their customers, eventually ensuring brand loyalty. For companies already deep-rooted in our subconscious, such as Pepsi, this is of utmost importance. The more involved a consumer is with a particular brand, the more likely this consumer will hold favorable perceptions of that brand, and the more likely this consumer will prefer the brand. Super Bowl ads at most provide a topic of conversation the next day at the office, and then their instant appeal quickly evaporates. Social media on the other hand keeps consumers actively engaged with the brand, allowing the product to become firmly stamped in their minds. Hopefully 2010 will see other companies follow Pepsi’s courageous plunge into this very young and promising form of marketing.