Pepsi: From Stars to Cars
What will Pepsi-Cola do for an encore after splashing Star Wars villains and heroes on billions of cans this summer? Trot out All-American heroes,of course.
A four-week promo breaking in September brings standees of NASCAR heartthrob Jeff Gordon to store displays. A national Race to the Pepsi 400 sweeps gives away a weekend package to the Daytona, FL, race. A self-liquidating offer gives two die-cast collector’s cars – a Busch Series Pepsi car and a Winston Cup Dupont car – or a Gordon mini-standup or poster. Tearpads near displays of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi One, and Mountain Dew hold the mail-in offer.
A separate World Series tie-in for Pepsi One puts Major League Minutes phonecards in 12- and 24-packs. Most cards are good for five or 10 minutes, but 1,000 packs carry one-hour cards. A spring ’98 phonecard promo for Diet Pepsi boosted volume sales eight percent, Pepsi reports.
The Somers, NY-based company tapped its Major League Baseball sponsorship for a Steal or Stay instant-win for Orange Slice, Mug Old Fashioned Root Beer, Lipton Brisk, and Wild Cherry Pepsi. Players scratch off first base on a game card for a one-in-two chance to win a mini-pennant from their favorite team.
They can keep the pennant, or steal second base (scratch it) to win a World Series cap. Keep that, or scratch third to win a mini locker filled with MLB stuff. Scratch home for a shot at a World Series trip. The promo runs through June 30, and gives away 10 million prizes. TLP, Inc., Dallas, handles.
You’ve got to love those pager promos that use the technology itself to advance the campaign. Aiming at one of the hottest demographic segments for pagers – 16 to 24 year olds- Motorola, Boynton Beach, FL, rolled out My World My Words My Wheels on March 1. By April, two sweeps winners had earned Jeep Wranglers and 14 others Gateway Destination computer and entertainment systems. Winners were notified by pager or phone.
Motorola hosted a radio campaign in 13 major markets awarding hundreds of prizes ranging from Ray-Ban sunglasses to MovieCash certificates to drive retail traffic. On-air ads highlighted the benefit of the word message paging feature, otherwise known as alpha-numeric messaging, and of staying in touch with friends and family in general.
