Pepsi to Skip Super Bowl ads in favor of Social Media Campaign  

Posted by Haley Clint

The Super Bowl has always been known for its commercials, with companies pulling out all the stops to make their ads bigger and better than the next. However, with the advent of social media, this trend may be beginning to change. Pepsi announced that it will forgo this years Super Bowl, breaking its 23 year tradition of airing commercials during the game, in favor of its $20 million social media campaign, The Pepsi Refresh Project. This campaign will give users the chance to submit ideas on ways to "refresh" their communities and the winning ideas will be funded by Pepsi.

It has been said that television commercials are becoming a thing of the past, but I think that Pepsi opting out of the biggest advertising day of the year really says that things are indeed changing in the advertising industry. Social media is no longer a medium that companies can overlook as a fad. I think that this is a bold move by Pepsi because the buzz factor that social media is so good at spreading is not so easy to create. However if executed correctly, this project could pay off much more than any commercial.

Read more here.

4 comments

Jen Keller   says December 28, 2009 at 8:15 PM

Wow- this is amazing! And a very bold move for Pepsi to take. But I agree with you, Haley, that this could pay off sooner, and generate more revenue then the traditional Super Bowl advertisement campaign.

I believe that we should fully expect to see other large companies follow Pepsi and their implementation of a social media campaign. It's my firm belief that this is an area that will promote businesses and their sales in the future. One can only speculate what impact this will have on the advertising, and marketing industries.

Samantha Dudics   says December 30, 2009 at 9:21 AM

I don't know if I'm really a fan of this idea. I like watching the super bowl and I like watching the commercials. It's an American tradition and I think that many people will feel the same way. I think a better idea would be only have one commercial on the super bowl and then use the rest of their budget on a social media campaign.

Ximena Cestoni Aguirre   says December 31, 2009 at 1:45 AM

I am not a big fan of football but I have watched some super bowls. Most important, I like watching every years commercials because I personally think they are great. Therefore, I do not support this idea.

I think that samantha' s idea of having only one commercial could be a good idea, this way there will still be some expectation on the super bowls commercial and money for social media campaign.

Unknown   says January 4, 2010 at 2:10 PM

I think this is a great idea and President Obama's campaign for office comes to mind. His campaign was hugely successful to a free flowing of information between all parties through active participation in idea generation. Companies who realize the usefulness of this philosophy now, early, in the social networking/media craze will be much more successful later because of it, even if it's all not perfectly clear. It appears Pepsi is going in the right direction in involving customers rather than simply 'selling something', which most people are simply tired of.

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