RetailWire’s Post

The juxtaposition of Pepsi in 1996 and Liquid Death in 2024 is chock full of important takeaways for marketers of all stripes. Granted, the Harrier jet fiasco has been a minor obsession of mine since I first saw the spot on TV almost 30 years ago. And when I first launched #LeadBalloon, it was third from the top of the list of aspirational topics I wanted to cover. I love that Liquid Death finally gave me the excuse to dig in on this one. And I really enjoyed getting Fast Company editor Jeff Beer's take.

Pepsi’s latest campaign is a total win and might be the funniest thing I’ve seen all week! Picture this: pizza delivery drivers getting chased down the street by a slick, Pepsi-themed sports car—just to make sure every pizza gets paired with a Pepsi. It’s the perfect mix of ridiculous and brilliant. The whole thing taps into our love of Friday night pizza (because who doesn’t?) and takes it to the next level. The video is pure comedy, with one driver wondering if it’s “some kind of TikTok bullshit” as they’re pursued by the Pepsi-mobile. It’s a fun, lighthearted spin that plays off our obsession with pizza and soda, but with a sense of humor that hits just right. The best part? This Pepsi-pizza chase isn’t just a random stunt—it’s everywhere! From Instagram to TikTok, you can catch bloopers and cutdowns across all platforms, making this campaign not just clever, but super shareable. Pepsi really knows how to blend humor, creativity, and just a dash of chaos to make their brand pop—because let’s face it, pizza isbetter with Pepsi. What really impressed me is that there’s solid strategy behind the laughs. Pepsi nailed the timing by targeting the Friday night pizza rush, placing their brand right in the middle of our weekend tradition. Genius! Thought I’d share this with you all—just a slice of humor. Thanks, BBDO Worldwide for this! U rock! #CampaignGoals #MarketingWin #HumorMe

🍔 Does your burger deserve Pepsi? Pepsi thinks so, and they’re not being subtle about it! Pepsi is back with its bold marketing antics in the new “Undercover Cups” campaign, directly challenging its rivals in the fast-food world and showing how creativity can spark conversations online. Here’s why “Undercover Cups” caught my attention:  💪 Bold Moves: Pepsi agents are literally swapping out drinks at McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. It’s fun, unexpected, and screams confidence.    💡 Creative Genius: A Wendy’s mascot with Pepsi-blue hair? Logos cheekily reimagined? It’s playful branding at its best.  ⏲ Purposeful Timing: Launching this before National Fast-Food Day ties in perfectly with their “Food Deserves Pepsi” narrative.  For me, this is more than marketing - it’s storytelling. It’s about turning competition into a conversation. I absolutely love seeing brands take calculated risks to amplify engagement. See the campaign video yourself! 👇 https://lnkd.in/gyCs4WPA What’s your take on Pepsi’s bold moves? Would love to hear your thoughts! #MarketingStrategy #GuerillaMarketing #SocialMediaMarketing #FoodDeservesPepsi #CreativeMarketing

Need a Harrier #FighterJet - Drink #Pepsi! In 1995, Pepsi ran an ad promising a Harrier Jet for 7 million Pepsi Points. No fine print. No disclaimers. Just a teen casually flying the jet to school, claiming it “sure beats the bus.” Sounds insane, right? Well, 20-year-old John Leonard did the math, realized buying enough Pepsi would cost him $4 million - way out of budget - so he found a loophole, raised $700,000 with a friend by purchasing points for 10 cents each, and sent Pepsi a check, eagerly waiting for his brand-new jet. Pepsi’s response? A polite “LOL, nice try” and a refund. But Leonard wasn’t giving up. He sued Pepsi, arguing there were no disclaimers saying the jet wasn’t a real prize. Cue the legal showdown Pepsi fought back, claiming “no sane person” would expect a $32 million military jet for chugging soda. The judge agreed, calling the ad mere “puffery.” To shut things down, Pepsi added a “Just kidding” disclaimer and hiked the jet’s price to 700 million points. Pepsi. They turned a courtroom drama into a free marketing masterclass—no jet required! And Leonard? No jet, but hey - he got famous. Netflix even made a documentary in 2022: “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” What did we learn from this epic saga? - No such thing as bad PR - just free marketing with extra drama. - Always read the fine print… or at least put one. - If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (except free pizza). Pepsi walked away with a win and a whole lot of free publicity. Would you have also gone for the jet? #PepsiJet #MarketingMasterclass #PRWin #BoldAds #Business

This ad from 2001 is a masterclass in classic competitive one-upmanship & humour 👏🏼 - qualities that seem to have faded in adland today, at best being replaced by tired tit-for-tat tweet exchanges (Burger King, Wendy’s, McD’s, I’m looking at you). Advertising is an art form, let’s not forget that! 🎨📺 In 2001, Coca-Cola announced it sold 4x more than Pepsi. Pepsi responded with this elegantly simple yet brilliantly effective advert. The ad shows a young boy visiting a vending machine, purchasing two cans of Coke, and placing them on the ground to stand on so he can reach the Pepsi button. He then happily takes his Pepsi and walks away, leaving the Coke cans behind. 🥤🔴🔵 This is a great reminder of how clever and playful advertising can be, and the importance of “feeling” when it comes to building brand, especially in a competitive landscape. #advertising #creative #cocacola #pepsi #marketing #brand #competition

👇 Is this ad too cringy? Or is it genius? 🧠 PepsiCo is releasing a film showing pizza delivery vehicles being followed around Los Angeles by a rubber-burning blue sports car. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: Pizza tastes better with Pepsi. The film shows a blue PEPSI sports car chasing down Pizza drivers and jumping behind them as they ring the doorbell to deliver their pizza. The production is gritty, with grainy door-cams and dash-cams capturing moments of conflict between pizza and Pepsi drivers, the whole scene set to “Startafight” by rappers Joey Valence & Brae. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐰̶𝐨̶𝐫̶𝐤̶𝐬̶ 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐬 🧠 👉 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭: most people drink soda when eating pizza 👉 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: the car chases, the conflict with pizza drivers, everything captures attention 👉 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: from the large can on top of the car and the uniforms worn by the drivers to the 12-packs of Pepsi cans 👉 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞: you watch it, you smile, and you want to tell your friends about it. Conversation marketing 101. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬? #Pepsi #Marketing #video 💛 TANGO - The Conversation Agency

Brilliant ad. I love countries where you can do comparative ads. By the way, Coca-Cola is still selling more than Pepsi (even though PepsiCo is way larger than the Coca-Cola company). During my AI for Marketing Masterclasses we break down the reasons why Coca-Cola wins (which is basically targeting the amygdala with emotions instead of fighting the battle of "who tastes better") and we teach you how to build AI bots to apply the same methodology to any industry. #AI4business Simone Zanetti AI

Pepsi research show that 60% of people "prefer burger with Pepsi" than Coco cola. But for 30 + years , the Top U.S burger chains (MacDonald, Wendy Burger king)have served their burger with Coke, due to their exclusive deal with Coca coal. Pepsi launch a unique campaign where they creativelu found "Hidden Pepsi logo" on wrapper of the three fast food chain. MacDonald - Better with Pepsi Burger king - Better with Pepsi Wendy - Better with Pepsi They even put up "Billboard in front of stores" and their headquarters which went viral and proved to be oned of pepsi's Best campaign.

It took Dr. Pepper 20 years to go from America's 6th favorite soda to surpassing Pepsi for the coveted #2 spot... and it has to do with catering to super fans & real product differentiation ⬇️ 🥤 I'm not a big soda drinker personally, but it's hard not to observe the habits of your friends, your family, and all the people growing up around you who do... And everyone has a "favorite" soda they look for in stadiums, barbecues, etc. and even a persona tied to that identity. 🥤 There are the Diet Coke girlies. IYKYK, it's an absolute cult following on TikTok. 🥤 There are the ultra-enthusiasts like Warren Buffett who drink 5 Coke's A DAY. Or decades long Coke "lore" like Christmas, the polar bear, etc. 🥤 And then Dr. Pepper ppl I feel like are a bit quirky, they LIKE to be different! Or they're from the south (I have a bunch of Texas friends who love Dr. Pepper... strong distribution there? Or the 104-yr-old lady from there who has 3 a day that's gone viral) And the issue because of the similarity in taste between Coke & Pepsi... is they're always seen as a substitute for one another. How many times have you been at a restaurant and asked for a Coke, and the waitress says "we don't have Coke, but we have Pepsi... is that okay?" They'll never substitute Coke with Dr. Pepper (which has 23 flavors & ultimately a strong differentiation from the other big 2). Social media has also played a big role. Unfortunately when I think of Pepsi, I still think of the controversial Kendall Jenner Superbowl commercial from 2017. Whereas Dr. Pepper has done a great job authentically relating to a younger audience on platforms like TikTok and leaning into trends (ie: viral Dr. Pepper with pickles trend). What are your thoughts on the big soda rivalries? Would love to see Pepsi ppl come to its defense in the comments 😛 #soda #businessnews #cocacola #pepsi #drpepper #superfans #fandom

What an Ad…marketing at a different level! I remember we had a discussion on this ad during my marketing lectures in MBA… Such a bold and clear expression of Competition.