Preemptive Advertising
June 29, 2006
Coke Zero launches in the UK in a couple of days. In Australia it overtook Pepsi Max in market share in 4 weeks - despite the 5 years headstart.
Pepsi have clearly learnt from this and decided to launch a preemptive strike to attempt to mitigate the effect of the launch in this market. So far so good - gain some ground while you've still got the clear playing field.
They're running posters on the London Underground. Again, I'm with you on that - the tube in summer is horrible - too hot to breathe - and a great place to remind people about refreshment. Point of need and all that.
And then we come to the ad itself: well tasty.
UPDATE: I've been informed that they have been sampling Pepsi Max as well. That's more like it: show them don't tell them.
UPDATE 2: Pepsi Max were sampling all over Brick Lane this weekend - targeting those opinion former types I imagine - with promotional material proclaiming that there was NO SUBSTITUTE. Guess we'll see.