| Communicating Customer Value: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy 433

Chapter 14 | Communicating Customer Value: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy 433

people through GPS in real time. Foursquare members are directed sales of its core brand, PepsiCo will no doubt abandon its innova- to Pepsi retailers and given offers as an incentive for them to visit.

tive promotion efforts and return to its old ways. As one social marketer states, “This is big, new, getting a lot of attention. It’s

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD

impactful; it’s innovative. What the industry is talking about now Despite the growth of cause-related marketing, PepsiCo’s effort is

is, is this a gamble that was worth taking, in terms of a lift in sales? perhaps the first example of a major brand making social responsi-

That’s the holy grail.”

bility the main theme of its campaign, rather than an add-on. This But PepsiCo remains extremely optimistic. In the first few does not downplay the efforts of companies like Target, which has

months of the campaign, the number of Facebook fans doubled. given $273 million to local schools since 1997 through its RedCard

The company formerly got a Twitter tweet every five minutes or program. But PepsiCo’s effort is built around a theme that drives

so. Now, it receives more tweets per minute than a person can the concept of “doing good” as much as it drives the brand. Coca-

read. But just what is the value of a Facebook or a Twitter fan? Al- Cola’s response to Pepsi Refresh, donating a dollar to Boys and Girls

though many advocates of social networking say questions like Clubs of America each time a visitor to Coke’s Facebook page

that are irrelevant, budget-strapped chief marketing officers want shares a virtual Coke gift, illustrates how most advertiser’s cause-

to see return on investment. That’s why Bough and his team have related marketing efforts are peripheral to other advertising activities.

developed a scorecard that ties different elements of the Pepsi Re- Nooyi brings the centrality of Pepsi’s socially responsible mes-

fresh campaign back to the health of the brand. Using standard sage into perspective.

research methods, PepsiCo will be measuring whether or not this campaign merits the expense.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is a platform, but at the end of the day, Pass or fail, many observers inside and outside PepsiCo will what we are doing is awarding the grants, we are enabling con-

learn much from this first-of-its-kind social media and social re- nections. It’s having a catalytic effect on people who are actu-

sponsibility campaign. Ana Maria Irazabal, director of marketing ally embracing these organizations. So, we’re not only

for PepsiCo, wants this campaign to become the model of the fu- benefiting the person who received the grant, we’re benefiting

ture. “We want people to be aware that every time you drink a the people who are the recipients of the outcome of that idea.

Pepsi you are actually supporting the Pepsi Refresh Project and With schools, for instance, it’s not just one classroom that’s ben-

ideas that are going to move this country forward. We may be the efited. It’s all the kids who will be able to go to that classroom.

first to do something like this, but hopefully, we’re not the last.” And there have been people who have worked so hard to get

this money that others have stepped in and matched the money they receive.

Questions for Discussion