It’s been reported multiple times that Pepsi would not be advertising in this year’s NFL Super Bowl. Examining why provides a lesson in value disruption and differentiation in marketing.
Pepsi had been a major advertiser during the Super Bowl. According to TNS, the company spent $142.8 million on the 10 Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008, second only to Anheuser-Busch, which spent $216 million.
Instead, the nation’s second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing its marketing dollars into the “Pepsi Refresh Project” as its main vehicle for the brand. The project will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to “refresh” communities. A website was created where people can list their projects, which could range from helping feed the hungry, to teaching children to read. People can then vote to determine which projects receive money.
But there is more going on here than saving money. When you unpack this story you reveal a truth about differentiation and the power of value-disruption.
First, unpack advertising at the Super Bowl. It’s a premier event watched by millions world wide. Your brand picks up prestige: success, top of the game, toughness, etc. However, as an advertising medium, it remains passive. The consumer/viewer watches and may or may not assimilate the message. You need to capture viewer’s attention, which is why so much is spent on execution. But there really isn’t anything that is much different compared to other advertising, other than scale, scope, and prestige. Behaviorally it’s all passive. Viewers behave the same way whether they see your message during the Super Bowl, or on the latest episode of Desperate Housewives.
Compare that to the new connection they are going to make. Now viewers are transformed into participants. They interact with the site. They put in ideas. They make comments. They vote on others’ ideas. They are part of a system that helps others. Simply put, they engage. The consumer’s behavioral construct is now deep, multifaceted, and more relevant emotionally. Their relationship with Pepsi has changed from passive to active.
What is the result? The second largest advertiser during the Super Bowl has left the Super Bowl. Oops…Super Bowl advertising just became a commodity. And it’s not because someone came up with a bigger and better event. Rather it’s because they were value-disrupted by a technology (web 2.0) and an associated interface (voting system) that enabled a new behavior to emerge. And that, my friends, is the key to how you differentiate.
At Ennova, our client companies thrive, not just survive, through The Own Your Future ProgramTM by: knowing their value, growing their value, differentiating their value, reducing their risk.
