Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Refreshing Pepsi's Philanthropic Image "One People" at a Time

Labels: , at 8:28 AM

In January, Pepsi launched their newest campaign, Pepsi Refresh, which is a single, year long marketing effort engaging consumers, businesses and nonprofits by allowing them to submit their ideas on how they can positively affect their communities. Suggestions are posted to the Pepsi Refresh website (refresheverything.com), and visitors are able to vote for the best ideas. The winners will receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 in one of 6 areas: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education. By the end of the year, Pepsi expects that it will have given out more than $20 million in grants. WOW. I think that this is a fantastic idea. It reminds me of Dell's IdeaStorm, only a million times better.


On the latest episode of "If I Can Dream", the marketing director at Pepsi made an appearance, announcing their promotional tie-in to the show. The 6 cast members have been asked to come up with three ideas to help their community, which will be posted to the "If I Can Dream" site. Viewers will vote for their favorite suggestion, and then Pepsi will grant them $10,000 to enact the idea. Good PR for both Pepsi and "If I Can Dream". Touché.
Not only do I really like Pepsi's newest initiative, I also love the commercials that are promoting Pepsi Refresh, especially the most recent one that I've seen "One People", created by none other than TWBA\Chiat\Day in LA. May it's the catchy music (Black Eyed Pea's "One Tribe"), or the incredible graphic effects that are made by the people in the spot, or maybe it's that I'm partial to the ad given my support of the Refresh Project. Who knows? All that I am sure of is that it is a wonderful, creative advertisement. Unfortunately for the company though, I still won't be drinking Pepsi anytime in the near future. But my perception of the social responsibility is much higher, if that's worth anything.


One suggestion for Pepsi? Have a Pepsi_Refresh Twitter account -- It's ridiculous to depend on the #PepsiRefresh to spread awareness about the campaign. I definitely think that a separate account is needed to retweet people's comments, ideas, etc. 


Watch Pepsi's "One People" Ad

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