Pepsi pulls itself out of the Superbowl

After 23 years, Pepsi has finally decided to not advertise during the Superbowl and rather focus its advertising dollars online, while also launching a new program called the Pepsi Refresh Project. The company says that each of its brands has a “strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event”

With the new campaign, Pepsi is stepping into cause-related marketing. Pepsi has set aside $20 million of its ad dollars for grant money to be awarded for community projects proposed by consumers for the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Given that the cost of a :30 second Superbowl Spot cost $3 million in 2009 and the expected increase in 30 second spots for 2010, it is interesting to note that both Pepsi and FedEx(also did not have a 30 second spot in 2009) have decided to focus its advertising and marketing dollars in other efforts with online being a big push as Pepsi expects to spend 60% more in online advertising in 2010.

What other big brands are going to follow Pepsi and Fedex? Will online advertising dollars for brands continue to increase as traditional advertising is seen as less prominent?

Americans increase use of text messaging

This morning in the Los Angeles Times there is a great article on how text messaging in the United States is taking off and is even stating that Americans have gone text crazy. For examples in Dec 2007 Americans sent 48 billion text messages in that one month and in Dec 2008 that number increased almost three-fold with 110 billion text message being set that month.

It is interesting to note that from the article and as expected a majority of those sending text messages in the US are teens even though 61% of adults are now expected to be using text messaging. As noted in the article much of these text messages are private conversations, so it will be interesting to see how will mobile marketing companies continue to target this current and future market and what role will advertisers ultimately play? How will private text conversations among teens translate into monetization and increase revenues for companies involve in the text message/mobile business landscape. Furthermore, Google’s purchase of AdMob will only continue to harvest the interest in this industry.

How many text messages will be sent by Americans in Dec 2009? 250 Billion?

Gatorade Drops Tiger Woods

As a result of the fallout from the Tiger Woods accident and his stream of “transgressions” and affair accusations, the first major brand has decided to take steps to remove itself from Tiger. Gatorade has decided to pull its branded flavor from all stores, however Gatorade has said that this plan has been in the works for sometime now as they wanted more shelf space to release new products in 2010.

Gatorade reported has spent over $40 million in advertising fees to market the brand, however it has finished as one of the worst performing gatorade brands on today’s shelves.

What other major brands and endorsements will start to follow the same lead as Gatorade as we start to find out more information about Tiger Woods’ personal life?

Infiniti Own the Sky Campaign: SMS Mobile Marketing

Here is a campaign titled Own the Sky from Movoxx for their client, Infiniti, that is currently an OMMA award finalist in the Best Integration Cross Platform category.

This campaign was very unique and innovative in that Infiniti worked with Movoxx who used SMS alerts to promote the launch of Infiniti G convertible in addition to creating WAP Landing pages. Consumers that clicked on the Infinity link within the SMS could enter the “Own the Sky” contest, by typing in their mobile number and email address for the chance to win a Bose SoundDock system. In addition to brand engagement and generating awareness of the G Convertible product launch, Infiniti wanted to help consumers find their local Infiniti dealership in a convenient, unique way, with the ultimate goal of encouraging consumers to take a test drive and, hopefully, buy a car.

MoVoxx intelligently serves ads into mobile content that reaches over 25 million unique mobile users every month. Proprietary mobile analytics and optimization systems allow MoVoxx to deliver superior post-click conversion rates – true ROI drivers.

Founded in 2006, MoVoxx is backed by Greycroft Partners, Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital and BV Capital.

Reaching Your Audience Through Online Video

Just wanted to share a great video interview that I came across from AJ Vernet of Digital Broadcasting Group and his prespective of online video, the role of advertisers and the eventual shift of content and programming to online.

With the expanded presence and video capabilities of the iPhone, Google Android and Blackberry, it will be interesting to see how many brands/advertisers decide to invest more money in online advertising.

While a 30 second Superbowl spot still costs $3.5 million, how many advertisers will now want to do away with the 30 second ad and start thinking outside of the box with exciting video content that is actively engaging consumers and eventually will help lead to increase sales of a product?

Revisited: Zygna & Social Gaming

As you remember from the first article on social gaming along with the impact that it will have in 2009 and in the future, I introduced one of the major player, .

Well, Zygna and social gaming is back now in the spotlight as they are featured in the November 30th issue of Time magazine with the article “Troubling Rise of Facebook’s Top Game Company“. This article offers some very interesting insights about both the company and the social gaming environment. The is also an interesting tibit on how social gaming can have some security issues and flaws from an insider’s prespective.

It is interesting to note from the article that experiences and failure of founder of Mark Pincus, 43, and the work that is required to start a social gaming company. Also for Zynga, in terms of social gaming- Ads and virtual goods- bring in most of the revenue. But because people who play free games on the Internet like the free part, Zynga needed a third income stream–product come-ons. These offers are like ads, except that when you click on them, you’re agreeing to try and then buy a company’s service in exchange for game points. Read more