I noticed an odd but relevant comparison between politics and branding this weekend.
Was it a coincidence that a press report claiming the death of Osama Bin Laden was released at the same time as US intelligence claim the war in Iraq has been responsible for increasing extremist support in Asia? I doubt it.
Why not do the Labour party thing and use timing to neutralize negatives statements and events?
Yet at the same time, Pepsi have been very patient in responding to Coke Zero. They have waited for the promotion and public fuss to die down, and now are reminding people about the "real deal". Instead of trying to paste all over the CZ threat, they simply ignored it, as if it didnt really matter, as if they werent bothered...truly enacting the brand image they put across (and CZ has so badly failed to match).
I think they have timed it well, and with enough of a media spend or great tv creative to go with the interesting print creative; they could suddenly gain back a lot of the market share CZ took away from them.
2 comments:
it's an interesting approach. They did do some pre-emptive work (in London at least), some simple, bold outdoor work with a pack shot and the headline 'well tasty' - kind of the proverbial 'pissing in the wind' when the torrent of Coke work broke though
i'd be interested to see how Pepsi do on this one. I believe that when Zero launched in Oz it wiped the floor with Max, and they really struggled to recover (correct me if I'm wrong on this one)
Saying that, I've only seen the print/outdoor work, but it's quite clever
If there's one thing Pepsi ARE good at - it's 'timing'.
I remember when the Rugby World Cup was on in Sydney 2003, they bought every major outdoor site from the airport to the stadium ... simply because they knew the Coke execs from Atlanta would see them.
Sure it was more to do with corporate willy-waving [and expensive willy-waving at that] but it was great and to be honest, made me feel more connected to Pepsi than I ever had.
Not that I feel that way now - oh no - I love Coke. They're a very important and loved client of ours. Honest.
Check out www.theyrule.net - see how close Coke and Pepsi really are.
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