At BlogHer Confab, Marketers Show Moms Some Love†

Pepsi, P&G, Walmart, Kodak, Others Look to Learn Lessons of Social Media While Feting Moms With Luncheons, Gift Bags

Advertising Age, July 27, 2009 — If you were wondering where the media budgets have gone, you might have tried looking around Chicago late last Thursday through Saturday, or maybe even check out one of the city's pawn shops this week.

At the BlogHer '09 conference in Chicago marketers were lining up to woo around 1,500 mommy bloggers with swag, celebrity appearances, shopping sprees and lavish entertainment of the sort that seems part of a bygone era to most of the marketing world.

Blowing Up Pepsi

PepsiCo Americas CEO Massimo d'Amore has been rebranding Pepsi's core products top to bottom. Creative destruction—or just destruction?

BusinessWeek, April 16, 2009 — In 14 years at PepsiCo (PEP), Massimo F. d'Amore has muscled through his share of tough jobs. In New York in 2000 he marshaled PepsiCo's successful takeover battle for Gatorade's parent company, Quaker Oats. In 2002 he boosted PepsiCo's sales and profits in Latin America even as the Argentine economy disintegrated. In the following years the Latin America operations grew faster than Coca-Cola's (KO).

Now, d'Amore (pronounced da-more-ay) is tackling his biggest challenge yet: shoring up PepsiCo's North American beverage business.

Warm and Fuzzy Makes a Comeback

New York Times, April 7, 2009 — IF music hath charm to soothe the savage breast, what can calm worried consumers during an economic crisis? Madison Avenue believes one answer is nostalgia.

Coke Still No. 1, Starbucks Slips in Brand Index†

CoreBrand's Survey Also Finds Pepsi, Microsoft Sliding Down Standings While Apple Gains

Advertising Age, March 19, 2009 — Watch out, Starbucks, Pepsi and Microsoft: Your brand power is waning.

So concludes CoreBrand's Brand Power Index, which ranks 100 corporate brands in terms of market reputation and awareness. The annual ranking is conducted by surveying 400 corporate executives across 1,200 companies and 49 industries, with financial performance, perception of management and investment potential taken into account.

Coke: Buy 1 Rival, Get Our Brand Free†

Soft-Drink Giant's Vault Takes on Mtn Dew With Unusually Aggressive Offer

Advertising Age, March 9, 2009 — In an audacious and quite possibly unprecedented move likely to resonate with recession-weary consumers, Coca-Cola will give away a free sample of its Vault brand to anyone who buys PepsiCo's Mtn Dew.

Pepsi Tries Throwback Branding -- with a Premium Price

Fast Company, March 5, 2009 — Marketers are dead certain that consumers always want something fresh and new; meanwhile, consumers often seem to hate big changes—as Pepsi's and Tropicana's disastrous rebrandings just proved. But for some reason, everyone loves throwback branding.

Several brands will be trying the strategy out in the upcoming weeks: General Mills is marketing "vintage" cereal boxes through March 21st at Target; Pepsi and Mountain Dew will be releasing throwback brands in April, at a significant price premium.

Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging

IT took 24 years, but PepsiCo now has its own version of New Coke.

New York Times, February 22, 2009 — The PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo is bowing to public demand and scrapping the changes made to a flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Redesigned packaging that was introduced in early January is being discontinued, executives plan to announce on Monday, and the previous version will be brought back in the next month.

'Breathtaking' Is One Word for Purported Arnell Pepsi Doc†

Mad Ave Buzzing About the Deep Thinking That Supposedly Went Into Brand Logo Redesign

Advertising Age, February 11, 2009 — Over the past 24 hours, adland has been abuzz about "Breathtaking," a 27-page document purported to be the thinking behind Arnell Group's recent revamping of Pepsi-Cola's logo. Littered as it is with marketing jargon, images of yin-yangs, mobius strips and Da Vinci's Vitruvian man, you'll maybe wonder whether Michael Phelps wasn't the only one hitting that bong.

Pepsi, Coke Bowl Buys Pay Off in Online Buzz†

Heaviest Spender Generated Most Chatter, but Big Bucks Don't Mean Positive Feedback

Advertising Age, February 2, 2009 — Who says you can't buy buzz? In the end, the marketer that bought the most ad time ended up reaping the most chatter among the Twitterers, bloggers and online talkers.

Pepsi Goes to Washington†

Brings Its Optimism Message to Capital for Inauguration Events

Advertising Age, January 14, 2009 — Since the roll out of Pepsi-Cola's new smiley-face-type logo and optimistic-themed campaign, plenty have drawn comparisons between it and President-elect Barack Obama's message. The soft-drink giant will solidify that connection with a major presence in Washington during next week's inauguration festivities