There will be no Pepsi ads at the SuperBowl this year. Pepsi has chosen to spend $20 million on a social media campaign rather than buying a 30 second spot at the SuperBowl. Mashable outlined how they are choosing to invest in building community.
The cost for a SuperBowl ad has been growing exponentially over the years. (Source: MSNBC)
- 1967 cost $42,500
- 1987 cost $600,000
- 2009 cost $3 million
ABC News notes that Pepsi spent $142 million on Super Bowl ads over the last decade.
This is a bold move! Being the first could be game changing. They will get a month’s worth of word of mouth now. Then when they execute on their campaign people will not only be aware, but that many more will participate. The $20 million will be spent on the Pepsi Refresh Project, an effort to to refresh the world we live in. Projects will be proposed by the community and then voted on. The philanthropy will extend into the offline world.
Imagine if that $142 million over the past decade had been spent on making Pepsi’s world a better place? (Ok, they need to advertise, how about half of it then?!)
This decision marks the shift that many of us have been predicting.
- Social media marketing will become mainstream.
- Community building will take priority over a 30 second ad.
- Many channels will be leveraged rather than just tv
In January 2008 a number of us had a conversation on Twitter about the huge spend on SuperBowl ads. Mack Collier proposed a social media campaign composed of:
- $100 k hire a community manager
- $300 k hire 5 talented bloggers ($60 k ea)
- $100 k 20 events across the country ($5 k ea)
- $100 k hire someone to facilitate the offline meetups
So a company could spend $600 k and have talent of the highest quality. These people would listen to customers, participate in their communities online & offline, and encourage the conversation. Let’s assume the budget is $20 million like Pepsi is dedicating. That leaves you with a healthy chunk to for supporting your advocates and to build your brand’s community.
Will building community be more effective for Pepsi than a 30 second spot during the SuperBowl? What say you?
Wow, this is truly big! The idea that a company the size and brand of Pepsi would pull out of the Superbowl ad game is going to change things. I for one think it is high time that some big company questioned whether it is reasonable to spend that kind of money just for a few minutes on TV. I wonder how long it will be before others follow suite. I am not a football fan but I can remember the begining of the hype surrounding those commercials. Now the only thing I tune in for is the half time entertainment and even that is becoming not so exciting anymore. I think this move by Pepsi should be a signal to companies large and small that they should consider revising their marketing plans to include more social media. Consumers like me will listen in that space. On TV maybe not so much. The truth for me is that once I got TIVO I gained a righteous dislike for commercials and won’t watch them since I don’t have too.
I love the fact that Pepsi is committed to social media and designated significant $$ behind their efforts. But, if I was on the Pepsi team, I would have chosen the Superbowl ad (possibly less time, 1/2 the cost) and purely promoted their social media outlets to drive their community to them. How long will it take their social media team to reach the number of people that an ad hits in 15 seconds?
It would have been exciting to see how an online community, almost instantaneously, can build through the power of mixing mediums. As they view the the increase in community members, they would be able to justify the $$ put into the SM programs as well as the ad for the Superbowl.
Me thinks you mean 30 second spot…
“Pepsi has chosen to spend $20 million on a social media campaign rather than buying a 30 minute spot at the SuperBowl.”
Wow, this is truly big! The idea that a company the size and brand of Pepsi would pull out of the Superbowl ad game is going to change things. I for one think it is high time that some big company questioned whether it is reasonable to spend that kind of money just for a few minutes on TV. I wonder how long it will be before others follow suite. I am not a football fan but I can remember the begining of the hype surrounding those commercials. Now the only thing I tune in for is the half time entertainment and even that is becoming not so exciting anymore. I think this move by Pepsi should be a signal to companies large and small that they should consider revising their marketing plans to include more social media. Consumers like me will listen in that space. On TV maybe not so much. The truth for me is that once I got TIVO I gained a righteous dislike for commercials and won’t watch them since I don’t have too.