Don’t Get Into Social Media: The “Pepsi 25″ Social Media Rebranding Campaign.

So here I am talking/blogging about the new Pepsi logo. It’s really what Pepsi wanted in the first place.

For those not familiar with this marketing event, just Google something like “pepsi 25 new logo marketing” and you’ll have plenty to read. In a nutshell, Pepsi recently released a new logo on their cans by sending out 3 individual packages to 25 select members and thought leaders of the online social media crowd. This Pepsi’s innovative new campaign is being dubbed by many the “Pepsi 25″.

Darryl Parker over at Parker Web Marketing is keeping a list of who actually received the packages, and then blogged about it. Apparently only Pepsi knows who the 25 are, so the identities of these bloggers have to be pinpointed manually,

I would expect that, if you’re one of these 25, there is no obligation on your part to participate. It is not known if they were compensated other than receiving the packages. In fact receiving any compensation would all together defeat the purpose of this whole campaign, so therefore I think it’s safe to say that if any one of these folks blog about this event, then Pepsi would have achieved a successful viral marketing campaign.

Here are what a few other bloggers say about this:

• Pepsi Cooler at FriendFeed.
• Jennifer Laycock’s The Choice of a Social Media Generation.
• Mack’s post over at his The Viral Garden.

I think this is a bold move on Pepsi’s part. Let’s pick it apart shall we? First off, many bloggers feel that Pepsi should target the smaller, more relevant group of Pepsi evangelists instead. But I tend to disagree. By choosing the supposedly biggest 25 marketing bloggers, Pepsi is shooting for the largest potential spread of viral marketing. Why go small when you can go big. This takes guts but it was a strong business reason.

Furthermore, if only one blogger decides to say anything about this, then Pepsi would have a success. By the very nature of social media, the selected “experts” cannot NOT blog about it. By the very nature of viral communication, the selected “experts” cannot by themselves find out who’s who, then agree among themselves not to blog about it. This is the beauty of social media. Even in the case of Mack’s post, where he absolutely refuses to mention the brand or company name, it’s hard to hide what he’s talking about. His post even made the list of 25 kept by Darryl Parker at Parker Web Marketing.

In the end, this is actually only part of a much wider, longer campaign that Pepsi’s running. According to AdAge, Pepsi finally seems intent on regaining its share. Its strategy involves three years; $1.2 billion; a complete packaging, merchandising and marketing overhaul of its soft drinks. So this is only the beginning.

Pepsi is a very large company with a very large marketing budget, and they will do what they need to do. Large corporations have done great marketing before, and creative marketing have been achieved way before social media arrives on the scene. This is another example that big corporations are making an effort in the social networking arena. And it’s refreshing to see Pepsi finding a good way to mix it up with their marketing push.

If you’re not approaching social media like Pepsi does, with bold creativity, detailed planning, clear goals, high intelligence and most importantly, utmost respect, then don’t get into it at all.

So what’s your take on Pepsi’s approach?

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Tags: logo, marketing campaign, pepsi, social network, Viral Marketing