Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A Marketer's Homage To The Soda Can

PepsiCo recently announced that it will add an additional $500 million to $600 million to its roughly $2 billion advertising budget to support its soda brands in 2012, in an attempt to catch up with the heavy spending (and sales gains) of archrival Coca-Cola. Meanwhile, Dr Pepper Snapple Group recently upped its $445 million ad budget by $25 million to $30 million, having gained market share by raising spending by double digits during the recession. If there’s one thing Big Soda understands, it’s that advertising works.

Brands such as Coke, Pepsi, and Dr Pepper gain attention for big-budget television spots in high-profile programming such as NFL games and the Oscars, and there have been many famous commercials through the years, from Mean Joe Greene’s star turn for Coke to Cindy Crawford’s head-turning spot for Pepsi. But no matter how big a hit they score with their ads, nothing is more important to the marketers at Coke, Pepsi, 7-UP, Mountain Dew, and every other soda maker as their packaging.

Think about it. PepsiCo benefits from 1 billion packaging impressions (jargon for exposure to marketing messages) per day—that’s how many snacks and beverages the company sells around the world. Coca-Cola’s numbers are even more impressive, serving 1.7 billion bottles, cups, or cans of The Real Thing per day. Even if each impression is worth as little as a penny, that’s a marketing value in the tens of millions of dollars. Every. Single. Day.

To reap those benefits, however, each brands’ packaging has to compete at the grocery shelf (or vending machine) with dozens of others, all contending for the attention of shoppers. A soda can is the last opportunity a company has to persuade shoppers to tip its brand into their shopping carts. And it’s the single most frequent exposure consumers have to the brand, not only at the supermarket but in their refrigerators, at their desks, and on their countertops.

Read Full Article Here: http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-12/a-marketers-homage-to-the-soda-can

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