Ignited: Don't put your brand portfolio strategy on a billboard

Don't put your brand portfolio strategy on a billboard
05/13/2009
by Julia Robertson
Knows what consumers are thinking before they do

Don’t put your brand portfolio strategy on a billboard

Before the introduction of Pepsi Max to the UK, my brother and I would jointly guzzle from the same 12-pack of Diet Coke, during those occasions when we separately ventured to the home of our parents.

This happened, even though my brother regarded the word “diet” as:

DIET = GIRLY

DIET = PROFANITY

DIET = ABSOLUTELY NO FUN WHATSOEVER

DIET = TASTES LIKE DUST

But then, fifteen-years ago, the clouds opened and my brother was sent Pepsi Max. No more sharing with his sister. My mother had to buy two 12-packs at the supermarket. And with Pepsi Max’s blue and black can with its graffiti font; the word “diet” obliterated from its’ vocabulary, and a phallic rollercoaster named after it – well, it was the brand for him. He even endured the, “at first,” questionable taste sensation until his brain and palate synched up to think, “Ahhh!” (Burp).

However, the romance didn’t last.

Pepsi Max so aggressively coveted young “dudes” in the UK (come on, give me a gangster hand-sign) that when Coke Zero appeared he leapt. The brand just didn’t appear to be interested in anyone over the age of 29, or anyone who didn’t covet a skateboard.

And now we step in our transporter and we land next to the billboard on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. The date is today. The billboard features a can of Pepsi Max that looks as though it has been gently “crushed” by a weakling, with the tagline: “The first diet cola for men.”

Placing a consumer hat on my head for a moment, what am I supposed to think? (And ever since the Super Bowl TV spots, public opinion on this campaign has been less than amorous. After all, how many 20-something men do you know who are popping off to play a cheeky round of golf?)

Firstly it’s highly questionable whether I would care. Yes, many brands clamor for innovation status (and there are many compelling ways to communicate this story) but “The first diet cola for men?” Really?

And then you might ask, was it?

Well, maybe if you take the date of the UK variant that has a different recipe, because:

Coke Zero launched in the US in 2004, and Diet Pepsi Max was launched in the US in 2007 (and then the name changed this year)…Umm, I’m becoming confused…

Which brings up another oddity…

Why drop “diet” from the name, only to punt it straight into a massive tagline that is staring at me from this billboard? Are we happy with word “diet”? Are we hedging our bets because “research” results are split?

And then, there is the blatant “gendering” of the beverage. The explicit one-way communication from PepsiCo corporate that states it’s “for men”, as in the hair color, “Just for….” This sends me reeling back to the early 1980s. Haven’t we evolved beyond crass dualism? Can I, as a consumer, be permitted to make up my own mind regarding whom a product is for, and how I’d like to engage with it?

So, while the business objective of Pepsi Max within the portfolio is to be the diet cola ‘beverage of choice’ for men (and with no humor) and while it might have been the first, this isn’t a consumer message.

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