PEPSI Cans the Super Bowl
admin | Dec 18, 2009 | Comments 3
Pepsi has announced it will no longer be interrupting you during Super Bowl XLIV by pulling $33 million dollar ad spend which has kept the annual event in the juice for over 23 years. The king of pop has opted for a more targeted, relevant on-line channel which will host community projects in which Pepsi’s, ” new generation” can cast votes on projects that get the dough. Pepsi said, “we just can’t explain our new program in thirty seconds.” Pepsi’s jump to online has sent senior marketers scurrying as Frito Lay bets their enchilada on relevancy.
Adding insult to injury, yesterday Obama takes a break from healthcare, steps in and stops loud mouth marketers from turning up the volume. The legislation comes just in time, as consumers tune out – signaling companies about the importance of recognizing the importance of customer voice as Pepsi listens and goes tone deaf on irrelevant noise and moves to cause marketing.
The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act requires video service providers to ensure that commercials are any louder than the average volume of the programs they accompany.
Liz Miller said, “Marketers must take note and understand that turning up the volume is not going to attract and retain customers – in fact, as our recent report indicated – you are causing them to defect.”
As 2010 turns into reality, the measurement on increasing campaign efficacy will continue to be scrutinized by senior management. I am betting my toco’s on delivering the right message to the right person, in the right channel as the best Super Bowl play.
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Relevant and targeted messaging is no longer just a B2B play, but is quickly expanding into the B2C arena. As consumers, our senses have evolved to become more keen with only receiving and responding messages that are relevant, and completely blocking out everything else. As marketers, we must not only recognize this evolution, but also embrace and leverage the benefits for our campaign strategies.
It is arguable that if Pepsi’s decision to withdraw from Super Bowl ads is a smart decision. After all, the Super Bowl is one of the few events where people actually watch, remember and talk about the commercials.
In my opinion, there is a good opportunity for multi-channel campaign, combining tv and web, to further engage consumers.
-Willv
This is clearly illustrative on where marketing is heading. One-way communication with companies shouting at their customers is just no longer a viable marketing strategy.
But I agree with Will that the Superbowl is a great opportunity to open a dialog exactly because it is one of the few times people pay close attention to the commercials (see http://www.reprisemedia.com/pdf/RepriseMedia_SearchMarketingScorecard_09.pdf). If a company has the 3 Mil to drop, it can drive traffic to their site and start a dialog. For example, Pepsi could introduce their local project initiative and create traffic among those interested in such endeavors.
I guess the beast way to look at it is that in today’s multi-channel world, the TV ad is just the start of a dialog with customers. There needs to be SEO and social media follow up together with outstanding content to ensure two-way, relevant communication.
Most importantly, as long as the Patriots win the Superbowl, all will be good in the world!
Do Good Things,
John
Will and John, what I think what we are seeing here is the difficulty to monetize the business of airing 23 M dollar commercial. I suspect Pepsi has to prove with ROI the business impact generated off the Super Bowl commercials and how that spend has been translated back to the business. In many of the CMO I speak with, they share with me the challenge of monetizing goodwill. Is it important, but its the metrics that keep CMO’s in their job. Just my thoughts.