Are We Refreshing Everything?

by Brian Reich | 6 Feb 2010, 4:34pm

The Pepsi Refresh Project (http://www.refresheverything.com) is the hot topic of the week — and for good reason.  Its a big deal.

Its a big deal because Pepsi took the millions of dollars it normally devotes to advertising during the Superbowl and put it instead towards the Pepsi Refresh Project — which is focused online.  That speaks volume about the potential reach and impact that the internet has to offer marketers, especially when compared to more traditional forms of advertising (including television).

Its a big deal because the Pepsi Refresh Project is committed to finding the “people, business, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact” in local communities across the country.  In short, the Pepsi Refresh Project one of the largest cause-related marketing campaigns to date, and Pepsi’s commitment sends a message that having a (genuine) commitment to addressing serious issues in our society is quickly becoming a requirement for brands.

Its a big deal because the Pepsi Refresh Project is inviting the public to choose where the money is spent.  This isn’t the first time that a company/organization has given control over to the crowd online, far from it, but given some of the very public failures by brands when it comes to crowdsourcing (Chevy during the 2007 Superbowl, Chase in 2009/2010), Pepsi’s ambitious effort is especially notable.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is a big deal and everyone is talking about it… mainstream media (including the New York Times), the advertising community (led by AdAge), social media strategy folks (like Jeremia Owyang from the Altimeter Group), nonprofit superstars (like Beth Kanter)… and many, many others.

Pepsi absolutely deserves credit for launching the Pepsi Refresh Project.  It is an exciting experiment.  The size and scope of their commitment - both to the campaign, and in terms of the money they give to the community - is significant.  Just by launching the campaign they have raised the bar in terms of how companies engage audiences online, how cause marketing is approached, with regard to what is possible when it comes to crowdsourcing, and more.

But, what are we really learning from the Pepsi Refresh Project?  Is the Pepsi Refresh project as ambitious and exciting as the coverage suggests?  Will the Pepsi Refresh Project really change the way marketing, cause branding and online engagement are conducted?  Do the numbers of organizations and individuals participating serve as a measure of success, or do we need to measure more than just clicks to assess the real impact?  If the project does drive big changes, are they the kind of changes we want and need?  Will something really good come out of this?

I’m not sure.

- I don’t think most of the discussion about the Pepsi Refresh Project is focused correctly.  The attention given to the Pepsi Refresh Project should not be compared to the attention that Pepsi might have received by advertising during the Superbowl.  Whether or not Pepsi is a trending topic on Twitter during the Superbowl, when presumably other Superbowl ads will be, is not a measure of success, or the lack thereof.  The number of impressions it generates is not a measure of anything other than the success of the marketing effort itself. The project will operate all year, with thousands of organizations competing for votes and dollars throughout that time, and (potentially) millions of tweets driving sustained traffic and attention throughout that time.  Pepsi is pursuing a totally different strategy.  And we have to find other ways to measure whether their strategy was successful, and what it means for the rest of the marketing world.

- The Pepsi Refresh Project isn’t just about social media, its further proof that all aspects of marketing and brand are being redefined.  Everything is fragmented and blurred.  The clear lines between how corporations operate and how they sell themselves no longer exist.  Social media is not just a tactic - its a reflection of the changes that technology and the internet are driving all across society.  Cause marketing is not a smart positioning strategy — a commitment to serious issues has become a critical piece of a successful company’s DNA.  There are bigger changes afoot here than just the medium through which promotional messages are being delivered.  Until we recognize and embrace those changes, and focus on trying to understand them — and how everything flows from them — not much will change.

- I am not yet convinced that the Pepsi Refresh Project is all that different from past marketing efforts, by Pepsi or anyone else.  Pepsi is still spending millions of dollars to advertise the project (I saw a print ad - gasp! - last night) and drive traffic online.  Pepsi is still using celebrity PR (Kevin Bacon and Demi Moore introduced the project this week on the Today Show) to drive awareness. There is very little conversation or direct engagement being offered by Pepsi online.  Where is the personality behind the campaign?  Where are the human beings helping to answer our questions and teach us how to build a community of followers? It seems a lot like a big brand, broadcast style, advertising-eque campaign is social media clothing.

- I’m not sure the structure is a good thing.  First, money is being given to projects that receive the most votes online, which means organizations that have greater resources, more time to devote to promotion, celebrity support, etc. will likely come out on top.  Many of the best or most deserving projects won’t get the support they need.  Second, organizations competing for online support are realizing quickly that this is a number game — the more emails you send, tweets you write, or other promotional tricks you use, the most likely you are to generate votes.  Social media is supposed to change the way organizations engage their audiences, how they develop relationships with people who are interested in their issues or support their mission, there is supposed to be more conversation and substance.  This contest is giving organizations an invitation to find new ways to bombard people with messages, without considering the long-term implications being known.

Basically, I see the short-term, short-sighted, self-motivated things about the Pepsi Refresh Project.  I see more being rehashed than refreshed with this campaign.  I don’t see enough of the long-term commitment, deeper commitment, greater understanding and sense of leadership that I was hoping to see from Pepsi.  Its a start, but there is much more that could and should be done.

I would have liked to see Pepsi try something significantly different, not just bigger.  I would have liked to see Pepsi demonstrate a greater understanding of how social media is really changing our behavior, and our society, in how they built and promoted the project.  I would have liked to see Pepsi do more to support the nonprofit community and the work that people are doing to address serious issues — beyond just giving money. And I still hope to see the project evolve, in major ways, to address these and other challenges going forward — since they have a whole year to make it even better.

And while I am at it, I would like to see the people who are watching and talking about the Pepsi Refresh Project — the media and bloggers, the experts and strategists, the organizations and individuals who are participating — ask some different questions, take a wider view, consider the broader implications of what is happening, do more than just find ways to game the system or emulate what Pepsi is doing. Pepsi can have a huge impact and drive big change, but we have to help them.  We can do exciting things online, but we have to demand more of Pepsi - and other marketers - for that to happen.

I have hope.  There are hints of some real discussion.  There are tweets and blog posts that start to challenge the assumptions and ask the tough questions about this project, and what is happening in general around brand, marketing, cause, online communications, and more.  There are new, big ideas being formed for future projects already because of the lessons we are learning here.  And there is evidence that amazing things could happen because of the Pepsi Refresh Project itself.

Let’s see what happens.

TAGS : Pepsi Refresh Project