Pepsi vs Coke: How it all started
The existence of product substitutes inevitably leads to competition. It’s one of the driving forces of commerce. But every once in awhile a competition arises that is so big it turns in to an all-out war. This is what happened when Pepsi came out with its unforgettable Pepsi challenge campaign in the 1970s.
In a series of advertisements, Pepsi showed real customers choosing Pepsi over Coca-Cola in blind taste tests. These advertisements threatened Coke’s status as the king of Cola and helped level the playing field for the two companies.
In this blog, I will analyze one of Pepsi’s advertisements and explain why it was so effective at disrupting the reign of Coke and fueling the Cola war fire.
Why this advertisement works
1. Celebrity endorser
For you young readers out there like me you probably didn’t notice that the narrator in the commercial was actually a popular celebrity at the time. Gabe Kaplan is an American comedian best known for his role on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, which also starred John Travolta. Kaplan’s presence in this commercial was a strategic decision for Pepsi.
There has been research and criticism about celebrity endorsers for products saying that people know they are being paid off so it doesn’t seem truthful. In this advertisement though, Kaplan is not just saying he likes the product so you should buy it, he is walking you through the scenes of real people like you vouching for the superior taste of Pepsi.
2. The use of humor
On top of Gabe Kaplan lending a familiar face to the commercial to make it more memorable, he also adds the humor. The attention of the viewers will not be held by a narrator who walks them through the commercial in a monotonous way. Kaplan’s humorous and playful attitude holds the attention of the viewer while the commercial changes their perceptions of Pepsi.
Humor in advertisements has also been shown to associate positive emotions elicited from the advertisement with the product and make long-lasting impressions on the viewers.
3. Testimonials from real people
Testimonials from consumers are a great advertising strategy. It is an effective way for a brand to show the benefits of a product that doesn’t give the viewer the impression that an actor is being paid to read a script.
The father of modern advertising, Claude Hopkins, was adamant about the redirecting the focus of advertising back to the “common people.” With an everyday consumer good like cola, you don’t want to advertise to a small percentage of wealthy people, you want to advertise to the millions of regular people who will need to decide between Coke or Pepsi the next time they go to the corner store.
Pepsi’s use of volunteer firefighters, regular old community members, as their experiment group, represents the millions of viewers watching the commercial.
4. Take the Pepsi challenge
The slogan that caps off the commercial is “take the Pepsi challenge, let your taste decide.”
I grew up in the age of the ice bucket challenge and the countless tik tok promotional challenges circulating today, but I did not hear about the Pepsi challenge until I started my research.
I decided to call up my mom and ask her if she recalls the Pepsi challenge from her youth in the ’80s. She recounted memories of doing the challenge at birthday parties and with friend groups. And she went on to recall the intensity of the great American cola wars that followed.
Like a viral social media challenge today, the Pepsi challenge raised brand awareness for Pepsi on an unprecedented level and convinced consumers to try the product themselves instead of taking the companies word for it.
Final thoughts
The Pepsi challenge commercials were an effective way of pushing Pepsi into the spotlight and giving Coke a well-needed challenge. The blending of traditional advertising strategies such as using a celebrity, using tasteful humor, and including real people with the powerful and hard-to-achieve use of a viral challenge made Pepsi the household name it is today.
About the author
Colin Young is a copywriter at Copper Sun Creative. He specializes in writing advertising and branding content. When he is not blogging or working to complete his bachelor’s degree in Marketing he enjoys doing anything outdoors.