Last week Pepsi announced it was not going to produce a Superbowl ad this year, but instead spend $20M US on what it’s calling “The Pepsi Refresh Project.” The initiative is to have people put forward proposals to improve their communities, and in return Pepsi hopes to generate buzz around its products.
As reported in Mashable, the move is epic as Pepsi always generated some of the more classic advertisements for the Superbowl. It’s also clear that more folks will have their laptops and iPhones open during the game, probably typing in any and all online mashups to advertisements, or checking out the banned version of the GoDaddy ads as they come up during the program.
Ever since the famous Victoria Secret website crash in 1999, the TV-Internet cross-over ads have been coming fast and furious. Now a major established brand has pointed the way; you don’t need to mash with television anymore, you can reach the masses on the Internet with equal or greater impact.
Tags: advertising, Market Campaigns, social media, TV