Pepsi Quits Super Bowl
December 20th, 2009 by Bob Bly
After 23 consecutive years of advertising during the Super Bowl, Pepsi has finally said: “Enough!”
The cost of running a TV commercial during the Super Bowl last year was $3 million for a 30-second spot.
Can you imagine watching your commercial run knowing that each second just cost you another $100,000?
According to an article in the Record (12/18/09), Pepsi plans to shift the ad dollars to a new marketing effort that’s mostly online.
Can you imagine what you could accomplish with a $3 million marketing budget for your Internet business … or even a $100,000 budget?
I predict we’re going to continue to see a shift of ad dollars away from TV and into Internet.
As for Pepsi, I think they made the right move — don’t you agree?
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 1:46 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 20th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
[...] Pepsi Quits Super Bowel – bly.com blog – bly.com direct marketing blog bly.com/blog/general/pepsi-quits-super-bowel – view page – cached After 23 consecutive years of advertising during the Super Bowl, Pepsi has finally said: “Enough!” [...]
December 20th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I don’t know whether or not they made the right move. It’s amazing, though, that a brand so established in society still needs to hustle and advertise.
It’s not surprising, but it is amazing.
Ad dollars migrating to the net sounds very positive for online entrepreneurs like myself. Should be good for those who do business online and unfavorable for TV.
December 20th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
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December 20th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
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December 21st, 2009 at 3:08 am
Of course Pepsi still needs to advertise, otherwise it will loose market share pretty fast. The move to Internet is not only wise, but inevitable. With TV ads becoming more and more expensive and less and less people watching it, especially the commercials, companies do need to follow where their customers go. It must be fun though having that amount of money for your promotion.
December 21st, 2009 at 11:57 am
Well, SOME of us are intrigued by the fact that the typo appears in the url, so you use a semi-automated method of generating the blog, but did you really mean “bowel”?
Is it safe to drink the water?
December 21st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
@ Chris: I believe Super “Bowel” was intentional to point out how the cost of advertising on the Super Bowl may be equal to flushing your money down the toilet.
Regarding Pepsi’s move, I think it’s very wise and also a trend that many are likely to follow. That is, shifting ad money to the Internet.
It’s SO much more cost-effective these days. A perfect example: I can’t believe how much local car dealers still spend to run their ads on TV when they could get so much more bang for their buck by targeting demographics and geographics online.
Coach Donnelly
December 21st, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Coach: I’d like to go with your pun, but unfortunately, Chris is right: it’s a typo. Though it fits.
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
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December 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I’ve always been a little stumped by the all-out efforts of these mega-brands to pay through the nose for 30 seconds of Super Bowl glory. Unless you absolutely need a huge, single burst of exposure, I don’t really see what it does for you. Brand-wise…well, at this point we know who Pepsi is, and either we’re drinking it or we’re not. It’s true that Super Bowl commercials attract tons of viewers because of their reputation for cleverness, but in a lot of those cases, the commercial is so busy being cute that the product itself goes unnoticed.
I guess it’s a confirmation of one’s robust financial health to be there with the big boys at halftime. But these days, smart business is all about running leaner and meaner, and Super Bowl advertising seems to me to be neither.
December 29th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I think Pepsi did the right thing. Spending millions on a 30 second ad is a waste of money in a world dominated by Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedin, etc. I think Pepsi finally woke up that the era of the grand slam home run is over.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor and President
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
December 30th, 2009 at 5:46 am
I already know what the headline for my next lead gen campaign will be…
… thanks bly.
P.S.: I think all the big boys should keep doing what they’re doing. Spend millions of dollars to entertain us with super bowl commercials, I love those commercials!
December 31st, 2009 at 7:33 am
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January 7th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Yes! I do think that is a good idea.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:14 am
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January 11th, 2010 at 4:53 am
I think that’s a good move for Pepsi. In this way, they can allocate the excess funds to support the other divisions.
January 15th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Here in Japan, I regularly see tech companies with global brands run commercials for “ecommerce infra” and other blandness at peak times.
Imagine… you’re virtually comatose from 15 mins viewing a talent / comedy show where the main idea is to ‘sing’ popular songs out of tune… and then appears a 30 second mash from deep in the digital intestines of a data center.
The voice-over is proclaiming the value of server security something or other. Mercifully, we are moved swiftly on to some summertime beach volleyball ad where drinking beer ‘x’ is the new cool.
How in the name of marketing can anyone spend dollars / Yen on that, and expect a return?
Perhaps it’s all subliminal and beer + comedy + high-end servers has execs signing off on purchase orders after 10 exposure to such productions?
January 21st, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I believe that Pepsi is making necessary adjustments to stay with the trends. Creative marketing on line can certainly capture the attention of more people. Not everyone watches the Super Bowl on TV anymore. My teens will be watching it on their laptops sitting in front of the TV…go figure. So…advertising on the net would be lucrative for Pepsi in that respect. Heck, how about a text message to be sent during the commercial breaks. Something subliminal like “Go to the fridge and get me a Pepsi dude”….my kid wouldn’t flinch and then do it.