Dive Brief:
- Pepsi is taking another shot at its chief competitor with a summer marketing effort riffing on the iconic “Share a Coke” campaign, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- Rather than sell bottles bearing different names, as Coke does, Pepsi is using the concept to promote its positioning around food pairings. Limited-time packaging comes emblazoned with words like “Burgers” and “Wings” instead of “Tom” and “Paige.”
- Pepsi is running out-of-home and radio ads in key markets that reinforce the messaging behind “Food Deserves Pepsi.” The soda brand continues to ramp up its combative streak in a fight to win back declining U.S. market share.
Dive Insight:
Just months after Coke resurrected “Share a Coke” to better engage Gen Z, Pepsi is putting its own spin on the idea to build on a long-standing brand platform that argues its soft drink makes for a better pairing with food.
The original “Share a Coke” is generally viewed as a triumph of personalized marketing due to bottles labeled with a variety of names that are designed to be passed between friends and family. “Share a Coke” helped grow sales at a point when consumers, and particularly young people, were generally turning away from sugary sodas.
Timed to the return of the well-liked campaign, Pepsi is now arguing that sharing a soda with another “pal” or “dude” is comparatively lame when one can instead indulge in a beverage while digging into summer staples like burgers, wings and hot dogs. Pepsi earlier this year slid to become the No. 4 carbonated soft drink by volume in the U.S. after being surpassed by Sprite, also owned by The Coca-Cola Company, according to Beverage Digest. The brand last year lost its long-held No. 2 spot to Dr Pepper.
New Pepsi packaging cribs from the Coke playbook, swapping out first names in favor of food items relevant to the season known for ballpark games and cookouts. The custom Pepsi bottles will be available via a social media giveaway to consumers who post which foods they’d #ShareaPepsi with, as well as through the Pepsi Drops platform and at Eeeeatscon in Los Angeles from June 28-29.
Out-of-home media buys in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas ape the style of the “Share a Coke” creative while Pepsi is also pushing radio ads in those markets to steer people toward its own offerings. In addition, the brand has again teamed with DoorDash on a $5 off promotion on orders carrying two Pepsi-Cola beverages for this Thursday only.
The “Share a Coke” parody arrives just a month after Pepsi launched ads that show its team of hapless Crashers — operatives who go undercover to convince people to switch to Pepsi — storming barbecues to swap out Cokes for Pepsi. Previous stunts using the candid-camera style of filming saw the Crashers conduct similar operations when chasing down delivery drivers and barging into restaurants where only Coca-Cola products are served.
