With the Superbowl fast approaching, there’s lots of chatter regarding the epic advertisements that are known to make the most of the astronomically expensive commercial airtime they purchased. These commercials are so great that some people tune into the Superbowl JUST for them. Companies are aware of this, and sometimes go overboard in the ad production, resulting in it being banned for some reason or another. It’s interesting to note, though the commercials that do not make it on the air are uploaded and discussed online. The week before the Superbowl, the Internet is packed with information about banned ads and the effectiveness of the advertisement. Remember this one?
Taking into consideration that the ads are banned, they receive an enormous amount of viewing activity thanks to the rise of YouTube. So much attention that it’s been said some companies purposely create commercials with the intention of the being banned. This just shows the power of social media and interestingly enough, Pepsi has figured this out. This is the first year in 23 years that Pepsi is skipping out on paying millions for airtime and opting for another kind of viral marketing campaign. Named “Refresh Everything”, this is how Pepsi plans to use social media to better the world.
“Instead of pouring millions of dollars into a Super Bowl commercial, Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its "Pepsi Refresh" initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education.”
The following is an ad for the Refresh Everything Project. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a large corporation spend millions on positive initiatives – especially the environment, since human activity is not helping global warming. And really, we know how many people the Superbowl attracts, but spending millions on a 60-second ad compared to this Pepsi Refresh Everything Project seems stupid. Social Media for the Win!
And for the record, I’ve always liked Pepsi products better than Coke.
