Pepsi Cola has long been known to use edgy marketing tactics, but in 1995, they learned the hard way not to make promises that they can’t keep.
1. Pepsi Points
The “Pepsi Points” campaign was supposed to encourage consumers to collect points from Pepsi products in exchange for merchandise like t-shirts and sunglasses.
2. The Harrier Jet
But in a move that would later come back to bite them in the butt, Pepsi decided to add an outlandish item to their catalog: a Harrier Jet.
3. How Many Pepsi Points?
For just 7 million Pepsi Points, one could claim their very own fighter jet. The jet, featured in a commercial with a kid landing it at his high school, was intended as a joke.
4. John Leonard
The idea that someone could drink enough Pepsi to collect 7 million points seemed impossible. John Leonard, a 21-year-old business student, saw the commercial.
5. Leonard’s POV
Unlike the rest of the world, he thought, “Why not?” Leonard stated: “I said, well, when there’s a Harrier out there for 7 million Pepsi points why not aim your sights a little higher?”.
6. The Loophole
He noticed a loophole in the promotion’s rules. Participants didn’t have to purchase Pepsi products to collect points but could just buy the points for 10 cents each.
7. Do The Math
Leonard said: “I did the quick math, I go oh, you know, 7 million, you know, 10 cents a piece, $700,000”.
8. He Got A Lawyer
Leonard reached out to several investors, among them Todd Hoffman, an eccentric businessman who saw the opportunity to get a $23 million jet for a fraction of the value.
9. The Check Was Sent
With Hoffman’s help, Leonard raised the necessary funds and sent Pepsi a check for $700,000. But almost immediately, they refused his order.
10. Just A Joke
Pepsi’s legal representatives stated: “Tens of millions of Americans and people around the world got the joke and laughed. Mr. Leonard saw the spot and decided to take legal action”.
11. In Court
In response, Leonard decided to take the battle to the next level: court. And he was not going to give up.
12. Leonard Vs. Pepsico, The Lawsuit
The lawsuit, Leonard vs Pepsico, became a media sensation that had everyone watching. And everyone wanted to participate.
13. Just A Joke
Eventually, the court ruled in favor of Pepsi. They agreed that the commercial was clearly a joke.
14. It Did Not Make Sense
The court stated that no reasonable person could conclude that a $33 million jet would be a genuine offer in the promotion.
15. Disclaimer
Pepsi added a disclaimer to the commercial and raised the amount of points from 7 million to 7 hundred million.
16. Both Sides Of The Story
Over the years, Leonard had shared his full narrative of the story. The reason he took Pepsi to court was because they had sued him first, back when he had just sent them the check.
17. “They Sued Me First”
Leonard once said: “I’m like, what? How did Pepsi sue me? What Pepsi had done is they had filed a preemptive lawsuit against me”.
18. “A Young, Opportunistic Guy”
He holds that Pepsi tried to paint a picture of this young opportunistic guy that lawyered up and did all these things and sued Pepsi, and the reality was that Pepsi sued him first, and that’s how it became a public story.
19. A Case Study
The ‘Pepsi Jet lawsuit’ has since become a known case study for both law and marketing students. Today, Leonard still thinks that if he could do it all over again, there would be different things he would do.
20. “I Know Better Now”
“If I could do it all over again now through the 48-year-old mind, I might not even have done it”. But was this the only marketing campaign that Pepsi messed up?
21. The Kendal Jenner Controversy
Experts suggest that the backlash over the Kendall Jenner ad shows marketers need an outside perspective, whether from an ad agency or by conducting thorough market research and reaching out to consumers.
22. Pepsi Marketing Strategies Under Study
At the 2016 Cannes Lions Festival, PepsiCo’s president, Brad Jakeman, energetically talked up its decision to form Creators League Studio, a new in-house content creation arm.
23. The Numbers
Laying down the gauntlet to ad agencies, he barked: “Instead of five pieces of content a year, a brand like Pepsi needs about 5,000 pieces of content a year. Instead of taking six months to develop an ad, we have six hours or six days. And instead of it costing $2m, it needs to cost $20,000.”
24. The Marketing Agencies Can Do Better
PepsiCo, he said, was sick and tired of the complicated structure that working with ad agencies created. “There is no infrastructure for advertisers to be able to quickly produce that content. You have to patch it together. Certainly, the traditional agencies can’t do it.”
25. A Controversial Ad
Pepsi’s tone-deaf ad featured model Kendall Jenner as the leader of a group of protestors, who awkwardly mirrored the Black Lives Matter movement.
26. An Insult
After the campaign, which was created by the soft drink brand’s in-house creation arm, insulted the daughter of Martin Luther King and created a mass social media backlash, Pepsi was forced to pull it and issue a groveling apology.
27. We All Make Mistakes
But should Pepsi have enlisted an agency? Jakeman’s Cannes comments suggest that Pepsi’s in-house team worked so quickly on the Jenner campaign that it failed to properly vet it for controversy.
28. Another Marketing Disaster
But there’s even another marketing campaign disaster that Pepsi tried to hide from the public eye. In 1992, the market share of Coca-Cola was 70 percent, and Pepsi had a share of 17 percent. Pepsi came up with a number game called ‘Number five’.
29. They Should Have Known Better
Under each Pepsi soft drink cap, there was a number, and whoever got the number when dit was rawn every day, he gets a cash prize. It seems this became viral, and in 2 weeks, Pepsi’s market share went to 40 percent.
30. Pepsi Could Not Pay
The final draw had 1 million pesos as the prize. On the final draw, the number drawn was 349. Pepsi expected one person to win, but it turned out more than 4 lakh people had the same number. All wanted 1 million, which then led to riots as Pepsi could not pay.
