The Super Bowl has always been the time of year when the flashiest and most expensive commercials have made their debut. This was normally true for Pepsi, but this year they’ve decided to make a change.
Instead of spending the big bucks on the game, Pepsi will instead be launching the $20 million “Pepsi Refresh” social media campaign on January 13, and it won’t be showing commercials during the Super Bowl. This is a big change (not to mention risk) for a company that has spent $142 million on Super Bowl spots over the last decade, and has shown commercials at the game for the past 23 years.
More broadly, Pepsi’s decision is hugely indicative of the changes facing the world of advertising, as fewer and fewer people tune into cable and increasingly engage in the Internet and social media. To wit, a recent study by Forrester Research found that over 50% of marketers have recently increased their activity and spending in social media.
The focus of Pepsi Refresh will be a website which asks fans and visitors to think up projects to “refresh” the world around them; the best projects will receive some of the $20 million to get started. Pepsi is hoping that that the success of their project will encourage other companies to make similar moves that foster community involvement.
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