Pepsi's 2003 Advertising Campaign

Chunye (Joacy) CHEN Student ID No. 100038281

Pepsi’s 2003 Advertising Campaign

Nowadays PepsiCo Inc. is among the most successful consumer product companies in the world. It divides into two major domestic and international businesses, beverages and snack foods. In order to attract the broadest number of customers, advertising plays a significant role. In this essay, the advertising campaign of Pepsi in 2003, which was unveiled not only on TV, but outdoor advertising as well, will be analyzed. The aim for this campaign is about combine consumption of food and Pepsi. A general picture of this advertising campaign will be given at first. After that, more details will be given by how that campaign has been presented, what the main message is from that campaign and who the intended audience is. Moreover, information will be given about how the media and other elements of the advertisement affect the whole advertising campaign to persuade customers.

When “Joy of Pepsi” was replaced by “Pepsi: It’s the Cola” in 2003, this was a new advertising campaign with the most recognizable taglines of popular culture. This new campaign highlights “the popular soft drink that goes with everything from food to fun” (Pepsi, 2003). Pepsi spent approximately 60% of their marketing funds on advertising in media outlets including broadcast, magazine print, outdoor, Internet and radio, “which it uses to target the teen demographic as part of its youthful brand image” (Korolishin, 2005). In this campaign for which the original version was “The Joy of Cola”, Pepsi unveiled three TV commercials as well as initial outdoor advertising using attractive pictures, particular words and famous stars.

In accordance with this campaign, the three initial commercials were on TV first. “Summer Job” featured two young adults working in an unglamorous profession. A young woman dressed in a hot dog costume is passing out leaflets for the grand opening of Wiener World and she becomes distraught when the passers-by ignore her. However, she finds a friend, a young man, dressed as a Pepsi outside a nearby store. Then, they walk off holding hands. In “Vacuum”, comedian Dave Chappelle drinks a Pepsi while waiting for his date. When an electronic, roving vacuum tries to get at his can ...