One of the Current Campaigns being run by TBWA is the “Pepsi Refresh” campaign which began Winter, 2010 and is still going strong. The campaign cost Pepsi $20 million dollars and replaced their annual Superbowl commercial – a slot they’d held for 23 years.
The impact was phenomenal. The Project, which launched January 13, 2010 and allows individuals to submit and vote for ideas that will “refresh” their communities or the world at large, received more votes in its first six months than the last presidential election.
The goal was to improve Pepsi’s image as both a global and a caring brand. In TBWA’s own words, “The last thing the world needed was another campaign, so we started a movement”. The “Pepsi Refresh” project simultaneously encourages millions to get involved with the brand by not only drinking the product, but visiting the website, facilitates positive discussions, and sets the brand image in a good light.
The Big Idea is that by partnering with Pepsi, people have the ability to “refresh their communities” and, ultimately, have it believed that “every Pepsi refreshes the world”. The campaign appeals to American’s philanthropic nature, as well as to creating one united global community.
The first TV spot is entitled “One People” and includes the line “One tribe, one time, one planet, one way – it’s all one blood, don’t care about your face” and “let’s catch amnesia and forget about all that evil”. The second TV spot, “Intro”, ends with the line, “One Love, one blood, one people” stressing the unity that can be created from Pepsi.
The tone is idealistic and encouraging. It takes all the pessimism and hatred and the world and offers up a simple and easy solution – drink pepsi and show that you care. The quirky, happy music infused with world rhythms, not only adds to the idea of one connected global community, but also emphasizes the positive view PepsiCo has of the world.
The campaign includes print and web ads, buttons, three 60 second tv spots, and redesigned cans, as well as a brand new website (www.refresheverything.com) in addition to the social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter. As a result, there were 1 billion media impressions produced in just three months. Regardless of media, each part of the campaign is presented in a crisp and clear voice expressed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and really short simple phrases. It is easily identifiable as PepsiCo as all of the O’s throughout all mediums are the PepsiCo logo.
To carry the campaign into 2011, there were few changes.
Acknowledging that they are continuing with past trends, the 60 second spot reads, “In 2010 we gave millions to refresh America… together we put 1000+ refreshing ideas into action… let’s do it again” followed by “in 2011 let’s do even more”. This is coupled with a montage of challenges met in 2010.
