When thinking of top Super Bowl advertisers, Pepsi is one of the first companies that comes to mind. Year after year they deliver, including new celebrities and creative scenes to market their product. However, in 2010, Pepsi looked to go another direction. With the $20 million Pepsi budgeted for the Super Bowl ad, they decided to launch the Pepsi Refresh Project, gifting grants to American citizens with dream of sparking change in communities. Their motto and website was called “Refresh Everything,” but the website has since been shut down. Grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 were awarded to those who received the most votes on their idea. Ideas were submitted via refresheverything.com, and must be listed in one of the following categories: health and fitness, arts and culture, food and shelter, neighborhoods, education, and the planet.

The Pepsi Optimism Project conducted research prior to launching the campaign, and found that according to Interaction Awards, 94% of Americans believe optimism is necessary to create lasting change in the world. They also found 66% of US citizens think the best ideas come from ordinary people rather than celebrities. The Pepsi Refresh Project works well with their research, giving anyone the opportunity and optimism to impact their community. The direct audience for the campaign are those who receive grants to make an impact, however Pepsi wants as much people as possible to see what they are doing. The project itself targets bright minds with an idea that can help others. These people are likely younger, since they may not already have proper funding to carry out their plan.  Some winning ideas include $250,000 for providing comfort items for wounded soldiers and a 14-year-old winning $25,000 which will help school buses go green. This goes to show really anyone can receive grants, from the smallest of individuals to the largest organizations.

Pepsi’s campaign started trending south when allegations arose about cheating in the voting system. People found ways to alter votes, misrepresenting the true number one project has received. Pepsi denied the allegations but stated they will investigate, however many didn’t like what was going on with the campaign. More claims came out that Pepsi was denying calls and e-mails relating to the fraudulent voting system they had in place. Amid the campaign, Pepsi was also overtaken as the second most popular soda, being replaced by Diet Coke. They suffered heavily, losing over $350 million in stock, and ultimately failing to successfully market their product.

I believe the Pepsi Refresh Project was unsuccessful because they invested lots of money to increase public relations, however this didn’t lead to more sales. Pepsi missed the mark, as they didn’t include enough of their branding into the project, rather assumed the memo of Pepsi doing community work would spread around the world. I respect Pepsi for trying something innovative by launching a digital advertising campaign not many have done before. They served as a model for other companies, who all watched how the consumers responded to Pepsi’s project. The Pepsi Refresh Project lasted a mere two years, and Pepsi returned to Super Bowl advertising, as they learned the hard way that these commercials increase sales.