Pepsi Squanders Grammys Opportunity

via forbes.com

I don’t often write about advertising I don’t like. I’d rather focus on the positive. But I’m making an exception today. Did you see the Pepsi ad that ran on the Grammys on Sunday? I did, and I couldn’t believe what a pile of gratuitous mush I was seeing. Here it is in case you missed it:


But let me start with what I liked. It was a brilliant idea to create a half-time show for the Grammys, as a tribute to all the half-time shows musicians have created for the NFL. I’m not really sure why it’s a good idea from the Pepsi brand, other than they are sponsoring the half-time show of the actual Super Bowl (that’s a media idea, not a creative one), but the “half-time at the Grammys” angle was still an interesting start.

Then the creative happens.

The creative presentation.

Before my analysis as to exactly why I think the creative is off, and judging solely on the execution, let’s reverse-engineer the creative presentation from last fall. Pure speculation, I admit, but here goes.
The creative team was confident, armed and ready. They had five big ideas for the Grammys buy boarded up. And five more ideas behind that in case the meeting goes south. And then about twenty more half-baked concepts that were un-boarded, but available if utterly desperate.
The team presents the first five. Nothing. Client isn’t buying. So they reach a little deeper into the portfolio for the five back-ups and present those. Nothing. Now, the lead account guy is getting nervous. He gives the nod to go to the well of tissues, scribbles, and notes.

Nothing.

And then after a painful silence in the room the lead creative stands up and just starts talking. He says something about Deion Sanders and Terry Bradshaw maybe sparring in song at a mocked up Grammys event. Hey, look, the client’s listening. And then, um, and then Shannon Sharpe, that’s it, he starts rapping. Client is leaning in now. Two other NFL players are DJ’s and then…and then…(the creative director, empty of improv, looks around at his team for a big finish). A junior creative in the back says, “Ditka comes in on a wrecking football!”

Sold.

It probably didn’t go down that way. But the execution certainly made it seem like it was being made up as it went along.

The breakdown.

Several problems with the creative, if you ask me.

1. Empty awareness. What did this execution say to us? That Pepsi has so much money that it can outspend anyone? That Pepsi is “in” with NFL celebs? Yes, there’s the idea of a “half-time show” for the Grammys, but what does that say about Pepsi? This ad was an enormously expensive purchase of empty awareness.
2. The use of celebrities does not cover up the lack of a message. This spot is a great example of the gratuitous use of celebrities. When you don’t have an idea, sometimes advertisers think they can get around that with big names. That’s a fallacy, as you can plainly see above.
3. It’s corny. These football legends try, they really do. I give them all credit for trying their best to pull this off. But the whole thing just comes off as corny to me, and beneath these legends of the NFL. Now we have no message, a bunch of celebs used gratuitously, and a script that doesn’t have the wit necessary to pull it off.
4. There is no brand idea behind it. This is the biggie. I do not get a sense from this spot who Pepsi is, what they stand for, why they exist, nor what their perspective on the world is. Coke is all about happiness (I didn’t even have to look that up). What is Pepsi about? As much as it appears Pepsi would like to teach the world to sing, they first need a brand idea to sing about.

I think Pepsi, with all its resources, can do much better than this. But maybe it’s just me.
After the spot came on, I looked at my teenage son and daughter and their mouths were open in disbelief, as was mine. My son said, “That was awful!”

And he’s the new generation.