At the beginning of this year (2010) when I heard that Pepsi was not going to put in a Super Bowl ad, I was pretty shocked as I reminisced on the great Pepsi vs. Coke advertising battles.
Advertisements. People may hate them, but I love them!
For those of you in North America, watching the Super Bowl also meant watching some of the best of the best adverts of the year on TV. A successful 30 second Ad during the game meant instant iconic pop-culture status – a brand’s dream.
Now that you understand my surprise, you can appreciate why I was even more shocked when I heard that, instead of spending $20 million on Super Bowl ads, Pepsi decided to put their money into Pepsi Refresh – an online platform/marketing campaign which solicits the best ideas from consumers, and in return, donates up to $20 million in grants to good causes and ‘great ideas’ throughout the year.
How the Project works
For starters, anyone (US or Canadian Citizens) can submit their ideas. Specifically – people, businesses and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact on their communities.
Yes Canada, recently Pepsi launched RefreshEverything.Ca – their ‘Canadian’ version.
Not from the US or Canada? Don’t fret, read on.
Your ideas can fall into several categories – Heath, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods & Education – each referenced by a corresponding colour.
Every month Pepsi accepts a certain amount of applications. At the moment, the US gets 1000 and Canada receives 300 slots.
After the application period is over, or Pepsi receives the desired amount of submissions, they move into the voting phase.
Votes however can come from anywhere.
As long as you’re a registered user, you can vote for your favorite projects. And you can vote early and you can vote often. Each registered user can vote for up to 10 of their favourite ideas, every day.
And yes, you can even vote for your own idea!
At the end of the voting cycle, the most voted ideas in each selected grant range get awarded the respective amount they requested from Pepsi.
Grants (for Canadians) range from $5k, $10k, $25k and $100k. For our American counterparts however, the scale is slightly higher, with denominations spanning from $5k, $25k, $50k to $250k.
The number of winners per selection varies depending on the amount you asked for and the country you’re in.
Here’s a magazine ad created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, LA, who were responsible for Pepsi Refresh Project promotion
Ok, well why are you talking about a campaign that’s almost at the end of its life cycle and only available to US and Canadian citizens?
Well my fellow non North Americans, here’s some exciting information for you.
Since the Pepsi Refresh Project has been such a hit for the Pepsi brand in North America, they’ve decided to not only continue the venture into next year, but also intend to expand the project into Europe, Latin America and Asia in 2011. – (sourced via Pepsi’s press release)
A Credible Team
The Pepsi Refresh project is also partnered with a few fairly large social non-profits
GOOD – an integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good.
Global Giving - an online marketplace that connects you to the causes and countries you care about.
DoSomething.Org – one of the largest organizations in the United States that helps young people rock causes they care about.
City Year – unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world.
The Campaign’s Impact
Normally I take crowd-sourcing idea generating initiatives (especially one’s that claim to do good) with a grain of salt.
However, here are a few interesting facts that made me thing otherwise.
The Refresh Project has already racked up more votes than the last U.S. Presidential Election – (sourced via Mashable).
During the Gulf oil spill disaster, the Campaign lent a hand by offering $1.3 million more for one month for ideas on how to refresh the Gulf (Here’s a link to the finalists) – (sourced via Mashable).
While doing my research, I also came across We Are Visible, one of the coolest ideas that the Pepsi Refresh has funded.
After winning a $50,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project, Mark Hovarth (a former homeless man himself) made it his mission to help other destitute people to become part of a community again.
This led him to create We Are Visible – a website whose goal is to empower other homeless people by teaching them how to utilize social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube).
So as you can see, although similar in functionality to many other crowd-sourcing idea generating initiatives, the sheer scale and impact behind what Pepsi is trying to do is big.
And although this upcoming Super Bowl I may not see a Pepsi advert, I’ll rest easy knowing that all that advertising money is being put to some good.
Happy (American) Thanksgiving y’all!
I’m thankful for you reading this article all the way to the end.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d dig through the archives and share a classic Pepsi Super Bowl ad.
If you liked this post, please comment & share it with others.
