Question

Pepsi has developed an innovative, integrated campaign to support Pepsi Max. This activity is important because integrated marketing communications is essential to a product's—and a firm's—ability to effectively communicate value to potential customers. The goal of this exercise is to test your understanding of integrated marketing communications by applying chapter concepts to Pepsi's activities. Read the case about Pepsi's integrated campaign to support Pepsi Max and answer the questions that follow. As explained in the opening of the Integrated Marketing Communications chapter in the text, Pepsi has embraced the communication capabilities of emojis in a big way—you might even say, in a maximal way. Actually, PepsiCo would love it if you used that description, because for its Pepsi Max line of beverages, it actively seeks to establish a consistently cool, cutting-edge perception among consumers, mainly by using integrated marketing campaigns that revolve around the notion of living life “to the max.” Let's consider a few of the ways it presents consistent messages across a range of channels. The very name of the product line provides the foundation for the consistent message. By referring to the carbonated beverage as Pepsi Max, PepsiCo signals that this brand will offer more, greater, and bigger things to consumers. Thus every communication needs to be “to the max” as well—grander, louder, more exciting, more thrilling. In this effort, PepsiCo uses the tagline “Maximum Taste, No Sugar” in combination with hashtags such as #LiveforNow and #Unbelievable on social media. On its dedicated YouTube channel, Pepsi Max posts videos of people living up to the philosophies embedded in the hashtags, including the “Human Loop the Loop” Damien Walters—a man who seemingly defies gravity (and offers an excellent lesson in centripetal force) in his unbelievable physical feat of running all the way around a vertical loop-the-loop.1 Other videos on the channel highlight “Amazing Trampoline Tricks” and cool JumpCam shots of remarkable feats. The efforts have vastly increased the number of followers and views earned by adrenaline junkies, as well as those who simply find enjoyment in watching seemingly normal people be unbelievable.2 Rather than amazing feats by regular people, Pepsi Max's #Maxfootball campaign relies on some of the biggest names in men's soccer, including Sergio Agüero from Man City, James Rodríguez of Real Madrid, Arsenal's Alexis Sánchez, and the goalkeeper for Manchester United David de Gea. In televised advertisements, the players are flashed blue cards (rather than the yellow and red cards that stop play in the game), prompting adventures and fun for the regular people holding them up. One television spot, for example, tells the story of two regular delivery drivers who raise their blue cards and thereby gain magical access to a shooting session with the all-star players, who show off their acrobatic moves and enviable ball-handling skills.3 With a linked app, Pepsi Max allows users to enter contests to win similar “Blue Card Experiences,” including tickets to the championship game. To increase the coordination across campaigns, the app also features a function that lets users scan the Pepsi emojis on Pepsi Max cans to win other prizes and contest entries. As if those innovations were not “max” enough, PepsiCo is entering some of the newest channels in unusual ways. Whereas outdoor advertising traditionally has been static and relatively straightforward, Pepsi Max is changing the relationship between this marketing channel and social media. On digital billboards, Pepsi Max posts user-submitted entertainment net-work, Vine, videos that detail how they #LiveForNow (remember that hashtag?).4 Drivers passing the billboards thus get to see a quick and exciting video, which they can access again when they get home and log in to their Vine accounts. With another example of marrying traditional communication forms with modern technology, Pepsi Max also transformed bus stops into adventure zones. Using augmented reality techniques, it has created a system to allow remarkably realistic videos to play in the windows surrounding bus stops. Thus when a rider sits down to wait for the next bus and glances to her or his right, it appears as though a tiger were literally walking down the street, headed right toward her or him. Other videos show a massive meteor ready to obliterate the city street or an alien-looking tentacle grabbing pedestrians nearby.5 The videos are very short, to avoid truly scaring people, but in those brief moments, more than a few people have experienced some thrilling terror. Of course, Pepsi Max also tapes their reactions and posts those videos to its YouTube channel. Footnotes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTcdutIcEJ4. How Pepsi Max’s ‘Unbelievable’ YouTube Channel Helped Increase Market Share,”Think with Google, November 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/case-studies/how-pepsi-maxs-unbelievable-youtube-channel-helped-increase-market-share.html. Tony Connelly, “Pepsi Max Launches Star-Studded Football Ad Campaign to Coincide with Its Emoji Marketing,” The Drum, February 23, 2016, http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/02/23/pepsi-max-launches-star-studded-football-ad-campaign-coincide-its-emoji-marketing. Emma Hall, “Pepsi Max Puts Vine Videos on U.K. Billboards,”Advertising Age, February 20, 2014. Jessica Gioglio, “Pepsi Max Shocks and Delights Londoners with Augmented Reality Stunt,” Convince and Convert, n.d., http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-case-studies/pepsi-max-shocks-and-delights-londoners-with-augmented-reality-stunt/. In the ads described in the case related to the #MaxFootball campaign, the transmitter of the message is Multiple Choice the ad agency or department that created the ads. the product manager for Pepsi Max. the TV networks showing the ads. the athletes featured in the ads.

In the ads described in the case related to the #MaxFootball campaign, the transmitter of the message is

Multiple Choice

the ad agency or department that created the ads.

the product manager for Pepsi Max.

the TV networks showing the ads.

the athletes featured in the ads.

the Internet.

Answer 1

The transmitter of the message is the ad agency or department that created the ads. Because the product manager for pepsi max is the sender of the message, and the message is then transmitted by ads agencies. Tv networks, the athletes and the internet are just the medium through which the message is conveyed.