Pepsi capitalizes on Obama & Millennials

PepsiCo has hired communications agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, of Playa Del Rey, CA, to revitalize their soda, which has been losing favor with consumers, who are now purchasing flavored waters and energy drinks. (PepsiCo reported a 3% volume decline in North America during the third quarter, while Coca-Cola reported a 2% decline.)

The new Pepsi campaign includes brand new packaging, merchandizing, and marketing. The new logo shown here (a smiley face) is Pepsi's 11th in its 110-year history. PepsiCo's previous communications agency, BBDO, held the account for almost 50 years.

The new campaign takes into account the results of a PepsiCo consumer survey, conducted by StrategyOne in November. The consumer survey was part of the Pepsi Optimism Project, which aims to examine the mind-set of Millennials. The study found that Millennials (people born between 1980 - 1990) are hopeful about the future.

* 95% agreed that it is important to maintain a positive outlook on life.

* 95% make positive associations when they think of the word "change." They also associate the word with sentiments including "new," "progress," "hope" and "excitement."

PepsiCo has always tried to appeal to youth, with previous taglines like "Generation Next" and "The Choice of a New Generation", and this new campaign is no exception. With this new campaign, PepsiCo hopes to capitalize on the Millennial study results. But a Pepsi spokeswoman pointed out that it's not just Millennials; more than two-thirds of adults surveyed said that the election of President-elect Obama is making them feel optimistic about the future of the country.

"We have a broad target audience, and we believe this campaign will appeal to people of many different ages," the spokeswoman said. "We are excited that people are optimistic across the board. ... [The survey] gives us more information, so it does help shape how we're going to move forward with this campaign."

PepsiCo said that product with the new logo is on its way to stores, and the campaign will launch shortly. There is speculation that this could happen during the Super Bowl on February 1st. PepsiCo has confirmed that it bought time in the game, but won't reveal any additional details. Last year the game attracted approximately 97.5 million viewers, in the USA.

The effort is funded by a "Productivity for Growth" initiative, expected to generate a savings of $1.2 billion over 3 years. PepsiCo spent about $162 million on advertising in 2007, according to Advertising Age's 100 Leading National Advertisers report.

source: Pepsi Embraces 'Optimistic' Millennials in New TBWA Work: Survey of Youthful Consumers Influencing Campaign That Could Break on Super Bowl
By Natalie Zmuda, Advertising Age, December 11, 2008