Pepsi Ditches TV For Web With Latest Ad Campaign
from the you-did-what-now? dept
Pepsi is fairly well known for their massive TV ad campaigns. However, it appears that even they have realized that when trying to reach a younger generation, TV might not be the most effective medium. Their latest ad campaign is ditching TV in favor of the web. Of course, it’s not clear that they really get it yet. While they say that, “kids are so smart, they’ll call you out on overt marketing in a minute,” the website they created does seem overly marketed. It’s trying really hard to be cool. It still seems like companies that figure out how to entertain online are going to get more bang for the buck. The problem is that ad execs are thinking about advertising first, and entertainment second. Without a captive audience, it needs to be the other way around. If it’s entertaining, people will find it — and they’ll pass it along to others, even if it is advertising.
Comments on “Pepsi Ditches TV For Web With Latest Ad Campaign”
Alternative Advertising
A long while back (six or seven years ago) I worked for a computer game company. We were doing free action games on the web (advertising-supported, natch). We were doing a sci-fi vehicle game, with the ability to upgrade various parts of your vehicle (engine, shields, weapons, etc). One thing I suggested at the time was that instead of having banner ads, we should approach car manufacturers and see if they want to sponsor in-game ugprades. The products the players “buy” would be entirely fictional, but it would benefit a company like, say, Toyota, if everyone knew that in-game, the upgrade you REALLY wanted was the “Toyota HX6700 Antigrav Engine” because it was the fastest and most reliable. My company never wound up pursuing it, and it may have been too early for deals like that anyway, with an online population still too low. I still think it is a good idea. Who knows, someone may have done it already, I’m not as in-touch with the games industry as I once was.