Brilliant Ideas – Pepsi and the Business of Social Innovation

Charmian Love

February 11, 2010

I was impressed to see Pepsi taking on a new kind of challenge – looking for ways to catalyze social innovation through their Refresh Everything Campaign. Social innovation is about implementing solutions that improve social and environmental conditions around the world – a grand challenge, but one that more and more companies seem to be stepping up to.
A friend of mine at IDEO tweeted a fantastic blog entry about Pepsi’s decision to NOT spend the big bucks on a 30 sec advertisement that would be aired during the Superbowl, but rather to find a different way of doing good and building their brand.
For anyone not familiar with the Superbowl, it is an annual event which happens every January and captures the viewing attention of a large population of North America. Often it is a sensational affair – from big celebrity concerts during halftime to wardrobe malfunctions and even a little bit of football thrown in for fun.
But many people watch the Superbowl for what happens between the plays – the advertisements.
Interestingly, a study by ad agency Venables, Bell & Partners showed that 66% of viewers remember their favorite advertiser from the 2009 Superbowl and only 39% recall which team actually WON the game.
So in an increasingly expensive and noisy time for high glamour marketing, Pepsi decided to invest the money they would otherwise spent on captivating viewers with an advertisement, and instead created a $20 million fund. This fund is designed to invest in people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact on US communities. Grants will be allocated based on an open vote – where posted ideas are considered and ranked by members of the public. Those with the highest number of votes will win grants between $5k and $250k.
As stated on the Weiji Blog ‘Moving away from the norm seems to have worked, in a recent survey by Nielsen, Pepsi’s ‘Refresh Everything’ campaign accounted for more than 21% of the media coverage and online buzz around Superbowl advertising. Given that PepsiCo usually spends in the region of $30m on Superbowl advertising breaking away from the norm seems to have paid off.’
Thanks Tom for highlighting this great example of social innovation at work!