{"id":21493,"date":"2024-05-13T11:08:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T11:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=21493"},"modified":"2024-05-13T11:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T11:10:47","slug":"pepsi-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/pepsi-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Success: Lessons from the Pepsi Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>TLDR:<\/strong> The \u201cPepsi Challenge\u201d saw Pepsi take Coca-Cola head-on and, in doing so, put their stamp on popular culture. This sip test became well-known for highlighting consumer reactions and preferences over marketing messaging.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So What?<\/strong> When the market is tight, you have to find a way to stand out. Pepsi\u2019s message that it won the \u201cPepsi Challenge\u201d showed that consumers preferred Pepsi over the two major brands in the cola wars.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>A few marketing campaigns stand out as cultural touchstones. These campaigns successfully capture the zeitgeist of the times, creating a historical moment in marketing.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cPepsi Challenge\u201d is one of those campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in 1975, the Pepsi Challenge was simple: at grocery stores and shopping malls across America, consumers would blind taste-test both Coca-Cola and Pepsi, then decide which brand they preferred.<\/p>\n<p>This campaign is a masterclass on how confidence in your product and a willingness to swing big can put a brand on the map. Here&#8217;s what marketers today can learn from this high-risk, high-reward national cola campaign.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T8d-q7rnTH0?si=qFeczUqqb6_amuKN\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Taking on the Competition<\/h2>\n<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, Coca-Cola was the cola brand that people knew. It was one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and one of the most ubiquitous products in supermarkets and restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>Pepsi-Cola wasn\u2019t a slouch in the beverage market, but Coca-Cola\u2019s revenues ($3.2 billion)were nearly double those of Pepsi ($1.8 billion). Pepsi\u2019s marketing team was looking for a way to take on Coke directly.<\/p>\n<p>This wasn\u2019t easy. Beyond the market gap, the truth was that Pepsi and Coke were remarkably similar products, albeit with different recipes, with long histories before and after World War II.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, both brands had quickly moved into new marketing venues, using different strategies: celebrity endorsements, sports sponsorships, and fast food partnerships. Coca-Cola was well-known for its wholesome image (with campaigns focusing on family events and Christmas) while Pepsi targeted younger consumers (with the infamous campaign featuring Michael Jackson).<\/p>\n<p>But, could Pepsi differentiate itself on taste? Was it possible that consumers would prefer the slightly sweeter, fruitier Pepsi formula in a blind taste test?<\/p>\n<p>There was risk involved: directly comparing products risks having people choose the competitor: not a good look. However, all Pepsi needed to do was win a majority, which would let them claim that \u201cmore people prefer Pepsi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pepsi&#8217;s willingness to take Coke head-on was daring, and the \u201cPepsi Challenge\u201d immediately put the soft drink at the forefront of consumers&#8217; minds. Much more than just brand recognition, the \u201cPepsi Challenge\u201d became a viral sensation \u2013 before viral marketing even existed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v7lw_vhxtNc?si=h8rGb5gYtdC-x9O3\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Following the success of this campaign, Coca-Cola started changing its products, including introducing Diet Coke in 1983 and the disastrous \u201cNew Coke\u201d formula in 1985.<\/p>\n<h2>Was the Pepsi Challenge Accurate?<\/h2>\n<p>By all accounts, it was a great marketing campaign: It got tons of PR, started the \u201cCola Wars,\u201d and forced Coke\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n<p>But was it accurate?<\/p>\n<p>There are reports that Pepsi purposefully served the two drinks at different temperatures so Coke&#8217;s flavor wouldn\u2019t be as pronounced as Pepsi&#8217;s. Also, cultural writer Malcolm Gladwell noted in his book Blink that a \u201csip test\u201d ultimately favored the sweeter Pepsi.<\/p>\n<p>That said, it\u2019s important to note that the Pepsi Challenge wasn\u2019t a scientific study or a recipe commentary. It\u2019s difficult to have a concrete reading on a large opinion, and the study&#8217;s criticisms rely on the fact that slight differences in presentation can change widespread opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, Pepsi <em>may<\/em> have had its thumbs on the scale to reduce risk\u2026 but they never made direct claims about Coke. They simply said that the people tasting the product during their tests preferred Pepsi.<\/p>\n<h2>Marketer\u2019s Takeaway<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes, when you have a product in a crowded market, you must take risks to meet the competition. In Pepsi\u2019s case, this meant creating a campaign that put them head-to-head (and then ahead) of their competitors.<\/p>\n<p>The Pepsi Challenge created a cultural identity that would carry the company through the 80s and 90s. It pushed their brand awareness to the next level and put them on the same shelf as one of the most well-known brands in the world.<\/p>\n<p>What can marketers take away from this campaign?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Don\u2019t be afraid to take risks.<\/strong> Pepsi\u2019s marketing team took on the risk that consumers would actually prefer Coke, but the risk paid off.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Do customer research. <\/strong>Great marketers take every opportunity to speak directly to consumers and listen to their feedback.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Set yourself apart.<\/strong> Having a unique value proposition doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum. Understand what differentiates you and emphasize it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Want to better understand your customers and their behavior? Try our AI-powered <a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/customer-journey-map-examples\/?__mscta=3317_100588_14882\">Customer Journey Map Assistant<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/customer-journey-map-examples\/?__mscta=3317_100588_14882\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21499 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/CTA-Your-Customer-Journey-genius-Try-the-tool.jpg\" alt=\"CTA Your Customer Journey genius - Try the tool\" width=\"680\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/CTA-Your-Customer-Journey-genius-Try-the-tool.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/CTA-Your-Customer-Journey-genius-Try-the-tool-300x106.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pepsi differentiated themselves from massive competitor Coke and became a cultural mainstay with the \u201cPepsi Challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":21494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21500,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21493\/revisions\/21500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}