Advertising and Pepsi Refresh

COMPANY Case Pepsi: Can a Soda Really Make the World a Better Place? This year, PepsiCo did something that shocked the advertising world. After 23 straight years of running ads for its flagship brand on the Super Bowl, it announced that the number-two soft drink maker would be absent from the Big Game. But in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLIV, Pepsi was still the second-most discussed advertiser associated with the event. It wasn’t so much what Pepsi wasn’t doing that created such a stir as much as what it was doing.Rather than continuing with the same old messages of the past, focusing on the youthful nature of the Pepsi Generation, and using the same old mass-media channels, Pepsi is taking a major gamble by breaking new ground with its advertising program. Its latest campaign, called Pepsi Refresh, represents a major departure from its old promotion efforts in two ways: (1) The message centers on a theme of social responsibility, and (2) the message is being de livered with a fat dose of social media. At the center of the campaign is the Pepsi Refresh Project.PepsiCo has committed to award $20 million in grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 to organizations and individuals with ideas that will make the world a better place. The refresheverything . com Web site greets visitors with the headline, â€Å"What do you care about? † PepsiCo accepts up to 1,000 proposals each month in each of six different areas: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education. Then crowdsourcing takes over, as consumers vote for their favorites. Pepsi awards the grants each month.One-third of the way through its one-year run, the company had funded more than 100 projects, giving approximately $5 million back to local communities. The company stated that the project was right on target to award the full $20 million by the end of the yearlong effort. INTEGRATING DIGITAL THROUGHOUT THE PROMOTIONAL MIX The Pepsi Refresh c ampaign has been a groundbreaking effort, in part because of its heavy use of social media. PepsiCo is capitalizing on a growing trend in a way that no other major brand has done so far.The company is quick to point out that Pepsi Refresh is not a social media add-on like almost others, where an ad simply directs people to a Web site for reasons that may or may not be relevant to the message. Nor is it a social media campaign as such, where the entire campaign takes place through social media. Rather, social media are the glue that holds together a truly integrated marketing communications effort. â€Å"It’s not about digital as its own channel anymore,† says Bonin Bough, director of digital and social media for PepsiCo. â€Å"It’s how do we infuse digital across all of our marketing programs? For starters, although PepsiCo bypassed the Super Bowl, it is not ditching broadcast media. To the contrary, Pepsi is running spot ads on the main networks as well as 30 different cable channels. The ads initially informed people about the Pepsi Refresh campaign, directing them to the refresheverything. com site. But shortly after the first grants were awarded, ads began highlighting projects that had been funded. Traditional media efforts extend to 10 print publications as well. And PR plays a role through agreements such as the one with NBC Universal for paid pitches on the â€Å"Today† show.But this campaign underscores a shift in how PepsiCo is spending its advertising dollars. According to CEO Indra Nooyi, the world’s number two soft drink seller is shifting as much as one-third of its marketing budget to interactive and social media. This move involves not only the Pepsi brand but also Mountain Dew, Doritos, Sobe, and PepsiCo’s other brands. Certainly, PepsiCo is not alone in the trend toward digital and social media marketing. But analysts point out that its approach, moving away from high-profile spots in favor of heavy spending on a digitally focused social responsibility campaign, is both compelling and risky. I applaud Pepsi for embracing social media and technology,† said Marc Lucas, an advertising executive. â€Å"On the flip side, I think it’s very bold to not be in a place where you know you’re going to have an audience. † The refresheverything. com Web site is just one component of the brand’s online efforts. PepsiCo is spreading the message through the big networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and even partnering with them for advertising opportunities. For example, Pepsi Refresh held the lead ad position on Facebook during the Super Bowl.Pepsi has also partnered with Hulu to sponsor its first original series, the reality show If I Can Dream. â€Å"It amplifies an advertising campaign by making it something people talk about, more of a social conversation,† said Jean-Paul Colaco, senior vice president for advertising at Hulu. PepsiCo even partnere d with Spin magazine, music festival South by Southwest, and two Indie bands in a Web-based contest where music lovers could vote for their favorite. Metric beat out Broken Social Scene for a $100,000 grant that it gave to the Women’s Funding Network.As another component of the integrated campaign, the company has not shied away from using celebrity endorsers. Through clever network spot ads that place celebrities inside a life-sized, threedimensional laptop made of tagboard, Kevin Bacon appeals to people to vote for his cause, SixDegrees. org. He is quick to point out that this has nothing to do with the cult trivia game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Rather, he proposes using a $250,000 grant to hand out â€Å"good cards† that people can use to donate to any of more than a million different charities.But Bacon goes on to explain that the power of SixDegrees comes from the social networks of good card recipients. They buy more good cards and pass them on to others, and as social networking works its magic, that $250,000 grows into millions. Among various other celebrities, Pepsi has also recruited Demi Moore; NFL players Mark Sanchez, DeMarcus Ware, and Drew Brees; and NASCAR veterans Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. , and Jimmie Johnson to apply for grants and act as spokespersons for the project.These celebrities are vying for votes to award grants to such organizations as the Girls Education and Mentoring Service, the American Cancer Society, and the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. PepsiCo is also getting its message out to consumers at the point of purchase. Cans, bottles, and multipacks feature updated graphics that minimize an all lowercase Pepsi logo written vertically and highlights a new Pepsi brand mark: a large circle with swaths of red, white, and blue. That symbol replaces any â€Å"o† in Pepsi’s packaging and promotional materials.Thus, both â€Å"Do Some Good† and â€Å"Doing Good 101† each carry four of the ne w Pepsi circles. To draw people into retailer outlets to see the pointof- purchase (POP) materials and hopefully buy its soft drinks, Pepsi has partnered with Foursquare, the social network that connects people through GPS in real time. Foursquare members are directed to Pepsi retailers and given offers as an incentive for them to visit. DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD Despite the growth of cause-related marketing, PepsiCo’s effort is perhaps the first example of a major brand making social responsibility the main theme of its campaign, rather than an add-on.This does not downplay the efforts of companies like Target, which has given $273 million to local schools since 1997 through its RedCard program. But PepsiCo’s effort is built around a theme that drives the concept of â€Å"doing good† as much as it drives the brand. Coca- Cola’s response to Pepsi Refresh, donating a dollar to Boys and Girls Clubs of America each time a visitor to Coke’s Facebook pag e shares a virtual Coke gift, illustrates how most advertiser’s causerelated marketing efforts are peripheral to other advertising activities. Nooyi brings the centrality of Pepsi’s socially responsible message into perspective.The Pepsi Refresh Project is a platform, but at the end of the day, what we are doing is awarding the grants, we are enabling connections. It’s having a catalytic effect on people who are actually embracing these organizations. So, we’re not only benefiting the person who received the grant, we’re benefiting the people who are the recipients of the outcome of that idea. With schools, for instance, it’s not just one classroom that’s benefited. It’s all the kids who will be able to go to that classroom. And there have been people who have worked so hard to get this money that others have stepped in and matched the money they receive.Projects funded thus far are too numerous to list. But they include more t han high-profile efforts like the celebrity campaigns. Many awards are being given to everyday people just trying to improve their own little corners of the world. Calvin Cannon received $5,000 for Clothe the N. A. K. E. D. Prom Date, his venture to sponsor low-income, upstanding dudes in Shelbyville, Tennessee, by paying for their tuxedo rentals for the prom. Jeanne Acutanza from Kirkland, Washington, got $5,000 for her children’s school so that it could manage a sustainable garden and give the harvest to local food banks.And the Associates of Redlands Bowl received $25,000 to support performing arts in the community of Redlands, California. â€Å"I’m proud of every idea we’re supporting, but it’s the simplicity of [these ideas that is] so innovative,† says Nooyi. â€Å"You would never have thought that one simple thing could bring about a big change in the community. † IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY GRAIL All this cutting edge promotion and the eff ort to change the world are wonderful. But at the end of the day, PepsiCo has to sell soft drinks. After all, it is the fiftieth largest publicly held corporation in the Fortune 500.Pepsi is also the 23rd most valuable brand in the world according to Interbrand. If this experiment fails to support sales of its core brand, PepsiCo will no doubt abandon its innovative promotion efforts and return to its old ways. As one social marketer states, â€Å"This is big, new, getting a lot of attention. It’s impactful; it’s innovative. What the industry is talking about now is, is this a gamble that was worth taking, in terms of a lift in sales? That’s the holy grail. † But PepsiCo remains extremely optimistic. In the first few months of the campaign, the number of Facebook fans doubled.The company formerly got a Twitter tweet every five minutes or so. Now, it receives more tweets per minute than a person can read. But just what is the value of a Facebook or a Twitt er fan? Although many advocates of social networking say questions like that are irrelevant, budget-strapped chief marketing officers want to see return on investment. That’s why Bough and his team have developed a scorecard that ties different elements of the Pepsi Refresh campaign back to the health of the brand. Using standard research methods, PepsiCo will be measuring whether or not this campaign merits the expense.Pass or fail, many observers inside and outside PepsiCo will learn much from this first-of-its-kind social media and social responsibility campaign. Ana Maria Irazabal, director of marketing for PepsiCo, wants this campaign to become the model of the future. â€Å"We want people to be aware that every time you drink a Pepsi you are actually supporting the Pepsi Refresh Project and ideas that are going to move this country forward. We may be the first to do something like this, but hopefully, we’re not the last. † Questions for Discussion 1.Consid er PepsiCo’s advertising throughout its history. (For a list of Pepsi slogans over the years, visit http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pepsi#Slogans. ) Identify as many commonalities as possible across its various ad campaigns. How is this campaign consistent with PepsiCo’s brand image? 2. List all the promotional mix elements used in the Pepsi Refresh campaign. What grade would you give PepsiCo on integrating these elements into an integration marketing communications campaign? 3. Describe PepsiCo’s target audience. Is the Pepsi Refresh campaign consistent with that audience? . As completely as possible, analyze the campaign according to the steps listed in the chapter for developing effective marketing communication. 5. Will the Pepsi Refresh campaign be successful? Why or why not? Sources: Natalie Zmuda, â€Å"Pass or Fail, Pepsi’s Refresh Will Be Case for Marketing Textbooks,† Advertising Age, February 8, 2010, p. 1; Stuart Elliott, â€Å"Pepsi In vites the Public to Do Good,† New York Times, January 31, 2010, p. B6; Elaine Wong, â€Å"Pepsi Community Effort Finds Fans on Social Nets,† Brandweek, June 8, 2010, accessed at www. brandweek. com.

Employee empowerment Essay

With no particular list of practices and principles associated with t TQM, a culture, focuses on quality and what does quality constitute in an organization’s functions and it considers customer reaction the best measure of quality which depicts the chances of competitive advantage and higher gross profits. Employees having ideas about the improvement of quality and how to do a good Job should be asked to contribute and monitor quality in TQM programs. These programs lay emphasis on the use of technologies that support and aid quality measurement, improvement, issue identification and its solution. In order to ensure substantial commitment to making better decisions and Increase effectiveness and fficiency individuals or teams should be given the power, information and knowledge concerning their autonomous performance and management. Employee involvement programs emphasize changing Job designs and using team structures at the organization’s lowest level where as Employee involvement programs emphasize changing Job designs and using team structures at the organization’s lowest level. This comparison shows that they do overlap substantially In their major points but that employee Involvement argues for some different forms of organization and places more stress on practices such as self managing work teams. Employee nvolvement seems to fit well In rather small organizational units which are created to produce entire products and serve a particular customer base. Total quality management processes tend to fit situations where large numbers of employees are required to service a customer or produce a product. Depending upon the organization’s condition, strategic orientation, the kind of work It needs to do, and where It operates, the best management approach may be either one of these In Its pure form or an approach that modifies each to take advantage of certain elements In the other. Future research needs to focus on when and how specific practices ffect organizational performance. mployee empowerment By areebasaad27 substantial commitment to making better decisions and increase effectiveness and This comparison shows that they do overlap substantially in their major points but that employee involvement argues for some different forms of organization and involvement seems to fit well in rather small organizational units which are created organization’s condition, strategic orientation, the kind of work it needs to do, and wher e it operates, the best management approach may be either one of these in its in the other. Future research needs to focus on when and how specific practices

Aquaintance Rape of College Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Aquaintance Rape of College Students - Essay Example ed to formulate competent policies and measures to tackle the issue; the police, public safety officers, the school management and other enforcement agencies need to stay vigilant to prevent and wipe away this menace from the American campuses. This essay focuses on the various aspects of the problem of acquaintance rape in the American campuses with special reference to articles entitled â€Å"The Problem of Acquaintance Rape of College Students† by Rana Sampson and â€Å"Acquaintance rape on college and university campuses† by Felicia F Romeo. Deriving conclusions from the two articles, the essay also seeks to offer some practical guidelines and advices for the fresh students who attend the American campuses. As Sampson (2002) points out, most of the rapes in the colleges go unnoticed and unreported and this gives the false impression that the current prevention programs are adequate to tackle the issue. However, researches and available statistics underline the fact that the current policies and prevention programs on the issue are quite insufficient and inadequate. Sampson also deals with the other related sexual assault crimes in the campus such as stranger rape, drug induced rape, sexual assault other than rape, use of verbal coercion to obtain sexual intercourse, indecent exposure in college libraries, â€Å"peeping Toms† on college campuses, obscene phone calls made to college students, sexual harassment and stalking of college students, and purports that acquaintance rape in colleges can be prevented only when there are comprehensive measures and coherent college strategies to prevent these related issues too ( Sampson, 2002, p. 1). The available statistics on acquaintance rape in American colleges and universities is quite alarming and shocking and this in turn calls for better effective measures to solve the problem. Sampson (2002) cites a number of statistical information on the issue which highlight the depth and seriousness of the issue. The findings

Chick Corea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chick Corea - Essay Example Use of accompaniment developed in the jazz music such as ornaments are used, as the performer primary goal is to play a composition as it was written. Armando Anthony who was known as â€Å"Chick Corea† was a renowned jazz musician who tirelessly composed hits of the jazz fusion and pianist. (Ward, 2005 )As a member of Miles Davis band in the 60s, he was a vigorous participant in the electric jazz fusion movement. He was a collaborator with other musician as he took the chance to explore various musical styles with musicians such as the Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Keith Jarrett. He developed his talent of playing the piano as he tried to explore music of his own; musicians of Jazz fusion at his young age influenced him examples of stars like Dizzy Gillespie and Horace Silver. He build his career by studying musical education in New York. He took a profound stylistic turn from Avant garde playing at a crossover jazz fusion that incorporated Latin jazz elements that build h is relations with other artist in the jazz fusion industry. As a pianist he played the tune, stated the melody, and played the tune all the way through with his long solos. His accompaniments he used to make his song appealing that made people more excited and the audience loved it as they applauded him. (Weatherford, 2008) His work was known, as musicians would sing his compositions. (Weatherford, 2008) Chick Corie started composing Piano concerts and adapted a signature piece that he performed in Spain for a full symphony orchestra. In the late 8os, Corea joined forces with other young musician such as John Patitucci who was then known as Bass this made corea realized that the use of instruments led to opening new possibilities with labels that resulted to series of tours and recordings. The... "Chick Corea" outlines creative activity of talented jazz musician Armando Anthony. He build his career by studying musical education in New York. He took a profound stylistic turn from Avant garde playing at a crossover jazz fusion that incorporated Latin jazz elements that build his relations with other artist in the jazz fusion industry. As a pianist he played the tune, stated the melody, and played the tune all the way through with his long solos. His accompaniments he used to make his song appealing that made people more excited and the audience loved it as they applauded him. (Weatherford, 2008) His work was known, as musicians would sing his compositions. (Weatherford, 2008) Chick Corie started composing Piano concerts and adapted a signature piece that he performed in Spain for a full symphony orchestra. In the late 8os, Corea joined forces with other young musician such as John Patitucci who was then known as Bass this made corea realized that the use of instruments led to opening new possibilities with labels that resulted to series of tours and recordings. The characteristics that Corea mostly used which were aspects of Jazz improvisation was to create an interesting melodic lines which were as a result of repetition in the harmonic structure this led to overlapping of the melodic and harmonic elements in his composition. Core often preferred Lydian and altered scale that added which added tension to the improvised line that he composed making them colorful to listen.

Islam and Feminism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Islam and Feminism - Essay Example Viewed as a Western ideology, feminism has both differences and similarities between Middle Eastern Muslim feminists and Western feminists, as well as third-wave feminism. Feminism is largely triggered by cultural and traditional factors and may not be fully compatible with Islam, and many groups are split as to whether Muslim feminists are trying to achieve human rights or their feminist rights like Western women. This paper will research and discuss these aspects of feminism by analyzing Duygu Asena, who was a Turkish Muslim feminist, hence the thesis: Feminism is a Western ideology and it is not compatible with Islam. Even though there is a group that understands and advocates the rights of Muslim women, there is another that hates feminism as an ideology of the Western world that is only concerned with female superiority. It is worth noting that feminism, in the sense of a Universalist faith, gained momentum in the 19th century, with the concept emerging from the Western world. I t has links with the French Revolution, during which women wanted to be considered as having the full status of citizens. In the Middle East and Muslim world in general, feminist movements appeared as women acquired literacy. Asena become an iconic as well as controversial figure in Turkey following her calls to women to escape from oppression, which she likened to a vicious circle. She urged women to fight for their equal rights with men and seek employment as a step towards freedom (Alemdar 1). In Turkey, being a predominantly Islamic nation, this was perceived by most, particularly the authorities, as a contradiction. Her role in feminism may generally have taken a diversion from what feminism in the Middle East has been focusing on. Feminism in the Middle East has basically had an emphasis on women’s role in Islam, targeting full equality in both private and public life for all Muslim faithful irrespective of gender. The rights they advocate for are founded on Islamic law , also known as Sharia. Feminist ideologies in the Middle East are inspired mainly by faith. Although Islamic feminists in the Middle East are fierce advocates for legislative interpretations and reforms that represent contemporary understanding of gender equality, they also embrace their Islamic faith strongly. However, more recently, Middle East Islamic feminists are also applying secular ideologies in their discourses, albeit strategically, having acknowledged the role played by Islamic feminism as an integral part of the feminist movement globally. This aspect creates the underlying similarity between the ideologies of the Middle East feminism and Western feminism movements. Feminism may be viewed as a global trend, but its uniqueness to every culture must also be appreciated. Western feminist’s ideologies are fundamentally different from those of the Middle East, and indeed most other parts of the world, because of the values on which the movements are formed. Being secu lar, most of the Western feminist ideologies stem from Western thoughts, principles and traditions. Western attitudes, which are mostly Christian and

COMPANY STRATEGIC ANALYSIS- Starbuck Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

COMPANY STRATEGIC ANALYSIS- Starbuck - Essay Example An enterprise needs, at the very least, to define its role in the value chains based on its unique mix of strengths and weaknesses and design its processes, supporting assets and organizational structure and decision making. Firms create value for their customers by establishing a value chain within the organization. When customers recognize these values as being superior to the firm's competitors, the firm has established competitive advantage within its marketplace. Porter describes two broad ways in which firms can deliver this value: lower cost and differentiation. A lower cost emphasis is one where the firm can provide a good or service more efficiently than either the client or other competing firms; a differentiation emphasis is one where firms create superior value in the form of product or service quality. Starbucks Coffee is the leading coffee shop globally. It manages over thousands of branches across United Kingdom, Ireland, Central Europe and Asia. This study explored the competition inside the coffee shop industry. Starbucks Coffee is the most competitive company in the coffee shop industry. ... The study arrived to the conclusion that Starbucks Coffee is continuing to be the most competitive coffee company, however, since there are some competitors in the industry, Starbucks still needs the aid of Michael Porter's five forces, generic studies and cost leadership in order to stay on the top in the retail industry Company Background Starbucks, the coffee company, is the perfect example of a product that could have gone the route of a shallow brand. After all, what is so special about serving coffee As the Starbucks brand proves, this is a question that other retailers would have benefited from asking. Starbucks is full of warm, rich colors and shapes and is set up so customers have a lot to look at while waiting for their order. It is visually stimulating in a way that is pleasant to most people. Compare this to a typical coffee shop, where the customer is often subjected to bright, harsh lighting and is often in the way of traffic flow, making him or her feel vaguely uncomfortable. Accommodating fast growth also meant putting in systems to recruit, hire, and train baristas and store managers. (Student Resources:2005) Starbucks' is simply looking for passionate people who love coffee, diverse workforce which reflects their community and who enjoys what they're doing and for whom work is an extension of themselves. 16 Some 80 percent of Starbucks employees were white, 85 percent had some education beyond high school, and the average age was 26. All positions are filled internally about 60-70%. Automated staffing services between hiring managers and staffing teams and Starbucks has a user friendly field sourcing and selection tools in place. Internal movement processes and systems in place and broadly understood. (Student Resources:2005)

Government Deficit Spending Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Government Deficit Spending - Research Paper Example Another way of reducing budget deficit is by increasing the number of people under taxation. In the current taxation system, couples earning more than $ 200, 000 per month are exempted from a certain level of taxation. Creating an equal taxation rate in all American citizens may significantly increase the rate at which the government contains revenue. An increase revenue collection will increase the GDP thus minimizing the debts incurred through borrowing. In an argument by Masters collecting enough tax from the citizens may reduce unsure the budget value is not exceeded. Additionally, the author points out that this may also increase government earning significantly even creating a surplus in the proposed budget. The congress also proposed creation of budget policies that may prevent the government from over spending from the budget proposed amount. Â  Over the years, the government has surpassed on expenditure amount as specified in the national budget. For this reason, the amount of debt has increased. However, the proposed budget policies may only be possible if the budget is made flexible and large enough to cater for emergencies and all the requirements over the annual calendar. Â   The white house and the congress disagree on the proposed changes considering the fact that the white house may be affected from the proposed expenditure cuts. However, the white house understands the need to reduce government expenditure. The proposed expenditure and revenue policies require the contribution by both parties.