PepsiCo is one of the most prominent brands in the food and beverage industry globally. This marketing campaign plan will deeply analyze PepsiCo, going through its strategies and policies.
The campaign plan is inspired by a global and societal problem, namely, pollution. The main reason that backs up this campaign plan is the concerns about pollution on Pepsi’s plastic products, mainly beverages.
The campaign aims at countering the environmental concerns on Pepsi’s packaging. The company’s brand image will be enhanced, accordingly.
There have been several environmental concerns about Pepsi’s packaging. Therefore, this has contributed to pollution in several countries.
The brand topped the list of the world’s worst polluters in 2020 for three years in a row, along with Coca-Cola and Nestle (Iroegbu et al. 2021). Therefore, this shows the great need for PepsiCo to deal with its plastic waste problem. This is by recycling its bottles and creating biodegradable plastics for instance.
The pollution concerns have negatively affected the brand’s image. As a result, it is the company’s responsibility to promote its image and address its environmental issues.
This report will explore PepsiCo’s business landscape hence looking into its market, distribution, competition, and SWOT.
Through this analysis, I will be able to develop a campaign plan proposal that recommends the suitable media objectives, strategy, advertising plan, and advertising budget hence effectively enhancing PepsiCo’s brand image and also rebranding it.
This paper aims to create an advertising campaign plan that aims to tackle pollution and reduce global plastic usage .
Strategy
Products
Pricing
Market Promotion & Advertising
Market Place
Line-Up Review
Distribution Review
Market Competitors
Market Positioning
Pepsi Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Objectives
Advertising Media Objectives
Strategy
Advertising Campaign Strategies & Tactics Plan in advertising
Advertising Campaign Outlook & Plan Budget
The Market
PepsiCo is a well-known global brand that sells its products to more than 200 nations (Yadavalli, 2021 .2511). Moreover, the company is known for its marketing and promotions across the internet, thus being an excellent marketer, especially through social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube (Păvăloaia et al. 2019 .4459).
These sites have proved to be the best channels for marketing as well as customer engagement. The company uses its social media pages to expand its global presence as well as connect with its global audience.
PepsiCo mostly targets teens and young adults in its marketing campaigns, and its advertisements echo this (Jallow, 2021). The company ensures that its advertisements (ads) mirror its target audience’s appeals and wistfulness, hence incorporating creativity and various music elements and sports.
The marketing strategy embraces cool, hip ads to appeal to their target audience. By targeting 12-to 21-year-olds, the company is trying to get lifetime loyal customers to establish a strong consumer base.
PepsiCo has several different brands to its name. The company’s brands include Pepsi, Miranda, 7UP, Uncle Chipps, Kurkure, Lays, Doritos, and Quaker Oats. PepsiCo’s product mix includes soft drinks, energy drinks, rice snacks, sacks, breakfast bars, side dishes, sports nutrition, and bottled water (Rama et al. 2018).
The company is committed to offering healthier food and beverage choices for its consumers that will lead to a better future for both its customers and the planet.
Pepsi has also looked into critics concerns for sugar and fat composition in its products that have influenced the rising rates of diseases such as diabetes and obesity (Middelhoek, 2019).
The company reduced its fat composition by 50% in its potato chips back in the years between 2006 and 2009 while adding a new product of orange juice that used Stevia plant as a sweetener, thus reducing the calorie intake by a half (Middelhoek, 2019).
The company has also widened its product variation by adding lower-calorie options that are healthier for both children and adults. This is in a bid to end childhood obesity and enhance healthy food options. PepsiCo also bought Bare Foods, a company that made fruit and vegetable snacks, to expand its contributions towards a healthier future (Middelhoek, 2019).
PepsiCo has a wide range of prices due to its wide product mix attributable to its several brands and product lines globally. The company uses two main pricing approaches;
the market-oriented pricing strategy and the Hybrid Everyday Value strategy (Rezk, 2020). The majority of the company’s products are priced as per the market-orienting price strategy.
The main goal for PepsiCo’s pricing is to ensure that the products are competitive based on its competitor prices and the current market conditions. Conversely, the Hybrid Everyday Value strategy is mainly used for the company’s soft drinks (Rezk, 2020).
PepsiCo’s goal for using this policy is to close the price gap of regular and discounted holiday products. This approach ensures that the company’s consumers keep buying their products instead of only holiday purchases.
PepsiCo is well known for its promotions and advertisements through several media channels. To help the company reach a wider global audience, several types of advertisements are used.
These include print advertisement, broadcast advertisement, and outdoor advertisement (Chakravarthy et al. 2018 .4021). Print ads include printed commercials that are issued in magazines, flyers, newspapers and brochures.
This type of marketing is in an aim to reach both older and the younger generation that reads newspapers, magazines and the likes. Outdoor advertisements are infomercials that further market the products to a wider community.
The company displays its ads on billboards, bus stops, wall posters, vehicles, and landscape furniture among others (Chakravarthy et al. 2018 .4021). Broadcast advertisements includes ads on radios, television, and the internet (Păvăloaia et al. 2019 .4459). These forms of media are vital in informing consumers of information about new products or promotions.
Due to its global expansion, the company is separated into six main divisions: PepsiCo Beverages North America, Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods North America, Latin America, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia Africa and the Middle East.
However, the company’s main headquarters are in Purchase, New York City (Marquardt and Yeo, 2020 .63).
Line-Up Review
PepsiCo’s pricelist for beverages starts from $0.99-$8.99, depending on sizes and flavours. The more the flavours, the higher the price. The company’s snacks range from $1-$5
Since PepsiCo is a global company, it uses a worldwide distribution network to supply its products to its customers. Through a well-set distribution network, the company supplies its products to retailers and online merchandisers to over 200 countries (Laseter, 2017).
These networks depend on consumer needs, product attributes, and local trade practices. The company uses three distribution systems: direct store delivery, consumer warehouse, and foodservice and vending distribution networks (Laseter, 2017).
Through the D.S.D. System, PepsiCo and its bottlers and suppliers distribute beverages and snacks to retail stores around the world (Laseter, 2017). The products are then sold in retail stores as those are the best areas that offer maximum appeal and prominence.
This system is highly profitable as it allows the company’s restocking, product promotion, and merchandising. PepsiCo supplies some of its products from its main manufacturing plants to consumer and retail warehouses around the world (Laseter, 2017).
PepsiCo’s main competitor is Coca-Cola (Štofová and Kopčáková, 2020 .40). Coca-Cola is the world’s number one beverage company that targets all age groups.
The company is prominent in its drink brands such as Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, and Coca-Cola. Due to this reason, PepsiCo usually aims to deliver better products with a variety of flavours to keep and increase their audience.
Other competitors include Red Bull, Dr Pepper Snapple, Dabur Real Juice, Mondelez, General Mills, and Kellogg’s.
PepsiCo registered a 20.52% total revenue in the second quarter of 2021 (Suay-Pérez et al. 2021 .2). The company’s revenue growth is higher than its competitors who recorded mean revenue growth of around 15% during the same quarter.
However, PepsiCo recorded a 43% company income growth compared to its competitors that had a 177.44% income growth (Suay-Pérez et al. 2021 .2). This shows that PepsiCo is in business with highly competitive companies.
Pepsi’s products represent happiness and joyous moments while creating and protecting culture and embracing individuality. The company’s brand positioning is usually a refreshing drink for its consumers, especially the youth, since its target market is mainly children and young adults.
This is observed through one of its marketing campaigns; the company featured Kendall Jenner, a famous celebrity, to increase its brand awareness. The company’s campaign also features several artists, musicians, and stars.
This is in a bid to appeal their audience as they believe consumers would buy the products that their idols promote. Furthermore, celebrities increase the social approval of products, especially to their fans, increasing a company’s sales.
Also, the company likes to promote the need for people to be heard, hence incorporating loud singing and speaking in its advertisements.
Brand equity- the company is one of the most prominent brands globally in the food and beverage sector. PepsiCo is also known as the youth’s brand.
The company is highly ranked and has a very good reputation to point out. Moreover, its brand valuation is approximately $18.2 billion and is currently at #36 at Forbes’ 2021 list (Li et al. 2021 .120479).
Customer Loyalty- the company has a very loyal consumer base (Riaz et al. 2017, 132).
With its drinks having an iconic taste, most consumers find it hard to switch to other competitor brands.
Supply Chain- the company has a very good supply chain as its retail stores and consumer warehouses never run out of its products, ensuring product availability globally.
Strong Leadership- the company’s efficient and strong Leadership has enabled it to settle at the second position in the food and beverage sector.
Clear Target Audience- PepsiCo has had a clear target since its start, that is, the young generation. Therefore the company targets them through its advertisements and promotions.
Competition – Coca-Cola presents a very heavy competition to Pepsi in the soft drinks group. As a result, this leaves room for disloyal Pepsi consumers to switch brands.
Products alleged to be unhealthy – The company’s soft drinks are seen to contribute to diseases such as diabetes and obesity, especially to its frequent users.
Pollution- According to Statista, it is predicted that around 137,000 metric tons of mismanaged plastic waste that are enough to fill 22 stadiums a day is created by PepsiCo each year.
This waste is produced in six developing countries: Mexico, the Philippines, India, Brazil, Nigeria, and China for instance (Iroegbu et al. 2021).
Product dependence- the company heavily relies on its food and beverages products. In this case, PepsiCo should consider diversifying its portfolio for it to be a global leader.
Brand Ambassadors- PepsiCo also relies on celebrities to market its products. Thus an ill performance done by one of the celebrities may heavily damage the company’s reputation and brand.
Healthier Options- PepsiCo should look into innovating healthy food and beverages in its products. This is because some consumers and critics have been complaining about the health implications of the company’s products.
On the other hand, Diet Pepsi has proved to be a positive attempt towards the healthier direction (Quan, 2020 .162).
Sustainability – PepsiCo is looking to change its value chain to use its resources more resourcefully, reduce GHG emissions, improve their products, and enhance better change for the planet and its people through better packaging options (Purkayastha and Rao, 2017 .78).
Diversification- The company can diversify its products into different market sections and through acquisitions as it has the resources and talent at its disposal. This will increase the company’s overall profit margins.
Flavours- The company should add more flavours to its products like its rival company Paperboat that has grown over the years due to the incorporation of different products.
Competitors such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Kraft Foods are among the biggest threats to PepsiCo.
Health issues concerning their soft drinks has enabled its sales to decrease. This is because consumers are looking for better food options (Quan, 2020 .162).
The current pandemic, Coronavirus, has battered the global economy, consequently reducing the company’s sales.
Different norms and policies in other countries may be difficult to handle for the company due to compliance rules.
Advertising Media Objectives:
Creating a distinct advertising campaign focusing on environmental values to reduce pollution, offering consumers ways of disposing of plastics for reuse.
Luring in more consumers at the global scale and establishing an efficient communication strategy through the various advertisement channels.
Encouraging people on the importance of recycling and proper disposal methods in order to reduce global pollution.
To show the world that the company appreciates different consumers from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, thus encouraging inclusivity and condemning racism.
Appealing to consumers by showing them that the company is different from its competitors through the availability of healthier products and its degradable plastic packaging.
PepsiCo’s advertising campaign will indeed commit itself to produce products that come from 100% of its recycled plastics for its bottles.
This move will use up more than 800,000 metric tons of virgin fossil-fuel-based plastic each year. The campaign aims to encourage its consumers on the importance of using recycled bottles in particular. This will reduce global pollution, make the environment cleaner, and protect aquatic life altogether.
The campaign will attract interest from other brands and companies that use plastics. Therefore, positively start conversations that promote recycling and proper waste management.
The campaign will promote the use of recycled bottles and thus change many people’s perspectives regarding the use of plastics.
This move will reduce the amount of plastic that consumers use while recycling more plastics to keep the products circulating.
Also, the strategy will enable the reinvention of packaging materials and solutions for the greater good of planet earth while integrating innovation and cooperation through every stage of the company’s supply chain.
By showing the world the need for recycling, more people will adapt to it. Moreover, they will be willing to care for the environment by reusing and utilizing biodegradable plastics. The campaign will go through two main phases, and the duration will be 7 months in particular.
The advertisement will be a video featuring teenage friends from different races bonding, then one of them gets thirsty and removes a newly-in-market bottle of Pepsi from their bag and a pack of Doritos.
His friends seeing this will also want a share of which he will give them and also remove an extra pack of Doritos from his bag. Since the drink is not enough, he suggests that they should enter the nearby shopping mall and each purchase the Pepsi drink and Doritos as the prices are very pocket friendly.
The teenagers then enthusiastically enter the mall and start purchasing the different variety of Pepsi drinks and snacks. One of the acting mall attendants will explain to them that the bottles used in the drinks are recycled for environmental purposes and will also advise them to choose better packaging options as well as utilizing the proper waste management methods of disposal.
The advertisement will end by showing that both the people and environment, including animals and plants, are happy due to zero waste in the vicinity and clean air. There will also be pictures that illustrate the importance of using plastic packaging.
Pepsi will be collaborating with celebrities such as musicians, models, sports icons, and influencers to promote their products, especially soft drinks, through broadcasting.
This move is in an aim to increase its beverage sales and beat their competition Coca-Cola. Collaborating with models for healthier drinks like Diet Pepsi will also boost its sales and convince a wider audience that the company’s products are safe and healthy for consumption.
The celebrities will also explain the importance of using recyclable and biodegradable packaging while advising consumers on the proper ways of waste management to help reduce global pollution.
The advertisement will run through Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook will be the main channels for advertisements through paid ads, influencers to promote the ads to their audience in each of their social media sites and post via the company’s main social handles (Păvăloaia et al. 2019 .4459).
This will enable the campaign to reach greater audiences all over the world.
Instagram: The campaign video will be promoted daily through paid ads in Instagram stories and feeds; hence, 30 content will be promoted daily for eight months.
Additionally, PepsiCo’s main Instagram feed will be promoting the video and pictures in its feeds and stories 5 times a week for the entire campaign period. Well-known influencers from 9 countries (U.S.A., Britain, South Africa, China, Mexico, Philippines, India, Brazil, and Nigeria) will be used to market the video and pictures in their feeds. The influencers will be posting these videos 4 days a week for 6 months.
This is because PepsiCo has a wider range of audiences on Instagram compared to Facebook; thus the platform will be effective for engaging with consumers who are mostly teenagers and youths.
YouTube: The video will be posted through the company’s main handle on January. The company will also utilize paid ads to further market their packaging to a wider audience. This will be done every day for 6 months (January to June).
Since Youtube is being used daily by millions of users, the ads will boost sales and raise global awareness for using recyclable plastic products.
Twitter and Facebook: Since PepsiCo has a smaller audience here, the company will use influencers and paid ads to market its product and show off its packaging. This will be done thrice a week for the whole campaign period.
Phase II will utilize celebrities for marketing. In this case, it will include two well-known models (Bella Hadid and Georgina Rodriguez), two celebrity singers (Saweetie and 6lack), three sports Icons (Jame LeBron, Paul Pogba, and Usain Bolt), and three well-known influencers.
The celebrities will be posting videos explaining and inspiring their audience on the advantages of using recyclable packaging on their main social media sites, specifically Instagram and Twitter.
The celebrities will post twice every week for two months (July and August). This move will increase social media awareness and promote PepsiCo’s sales accordingly.
Instagram stories and feeds; 30 content promoted daily for 8 months
Estimation for ad clicks per day 4000 clicks * $4= $16,000
Thus, $16,000 * 30 days * 8 months = $3,840,000
9 famous influencers from different countries * 4 days a week * 4 weeks * 6 months * $15,000 per post= $11,232,000
You Tube ads 30 days * 6 months * $6000 ad clicks = $1,080,000
Twitter & Facebook influencers (approx. 20 people) * 3 days a week * 4 weeks * 8 months * $500 per post = $960,000
Total amount: $17,112,000
2 models * 2 days * 4 weeks * 2 months * $25,000 per post = $800,000
Two celebrity singers * 2 days * 4 weeks * 2 months * $35,000 per post = $1,120,000
Three sports Icons * 2 days * 4 weeks * 2 months * $45,000 per post =$2,160,000
Three well-known influencers * 2 days * 4 weeks * 2 months * $25,000 per post =$1,200,000
Total amount: $5,280,000
Total Campaign Amount= $5,280,000 + $17,112,000
=$22,392,000
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