Pepsi Stuff

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Pepsi Stuff catalog cover

Pepsi Stuff catalog page featuring Cindy Crawford

Pepsi Stuff refers to a landmark marketing strategy and global integrated campaign launched by PepsiCo, first in North America and then around the world, in the 1990s and continuing into the 2000s featuring merchandise that could be purchased with Pepsi Points.

There were two ways to acquire Pepsi Points:

Collect Points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups.
Purchase supplemental Points on the Pepsi Points redemption order form, for 10 cents per Point.

Pepsi Stuff re-conceptualized Pepsi trademark marketing strategy and created an effective ongoing brand-building assault in the Cola Wars. Points were distributed on billions of packages and cups and millions of consumers participated. According to some sources, the first Pepsi Stuff campaign significantly outperformed The Coca-Cola Company's much-anticipated Atlanta Olympics Summer with growth 3 times larger than Coca-Cola's and 2 points of share gained by Pepsi. Pepsi Stuff continued to run throughout North America due to consumer and bottler demand, and was eventually expanded to include Mountain Dew and other drinks, and into many international markets. In response to the campaign, The Coca-Cola Company accelerated and extended its discount pricing programs.

Pepsi Stuff was one of the first major consumer promotions to feature a dedicated interactive Web site. Celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears, Shaquille O'Neal, Deion Sanders, Shakira, Beyonce, David Beckham, Andre Agassi, Derek Jeter, John Lee Hooker, Jeff Gordon, and the Spice Girls appeared in TV, print, outdoor, in-store, Internet, and catalog advertising promoting Pepsi Stuff. Some were even featured on cans. PepsiCo produced over 200 million catalogs each year, billions of Pepsi points, and PepsiCo's line of top-quality free merchandise.

In 2006, a decade after Pepsi Stuff first launched nationwide, The Coca-Cola Company introduced a very similar program in which consumers collect points printed on packages titled, "My Coke Rewards."

One humorous television commercial promoting Pepsi Stuff showed a teenager acquiring various items with Pepsi points. Near the end of the commercial, he arrived at school in a Harrier jet as the words "Harrier jet: 7,000,000 Pepsi Points" appeared on screen. In 1996, John D.R. Leonard attempted to buy the Harrier jet with 15 Pepsi Points and a check for $700,008.50. This amount of money was to cover the remaining Pepsi Points, which could be bought for $0.10 per point, and the $10 shipping and handling fee. Pepsi however refused to process the transaction. Leonard subsequently filed a suit [link]. In 1999, US District Judge Kimba Wood, presiding over Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc., ruled in favor of Pepsi, stating that "No objective person could reasonably have concluded that the commercial actually offered consumers a Harrier jet." [link]

The Pentagon stated that if Pepsi were to lose the suit, it would still not be able to buy one of its jets [link].

References

[Promo Magazine Lauds Pepsi Stuff]
[Pepsi Stuff named one of "The Most Significant Promotions of The Last 15 Years" by Promo Magazine]
[Danieli Consulting] Principal is [the originator of Pepsi Stuff.]
[New York Times - First Nationwide Pepsi Stuff Announced]
Jerry Yang announces Yahoo! [partnership with popular Pepsi Stuff program in its 5th year.]
[Pepsi Stuff partners with Yahoo!]
[Pepsi's Harrier Jet Ad Was a Joke, NY Court Rules], October, 1999
[Promo Magazine lists 16 "Ageless Wonders" campaigns that "helped redefine promotion marketing."] Included for 2002 is Pepsi Stuff (started 1996).

Pepsi Stuff

References

See also