Promotional advertising is a pivotal part of a consumer good product’s go to market strategy. In recent years, digital media has acquired a larger share of those budgets. Pepsi and Coca-Cola have both stepped up their online efforts to include social media.
The way in which each brand integrates social media efforts with promotional advertising and public relations say a lot about the personality of the company and its culture.
The Pepsi challenge
Of the two giant beverage brands, Pepsi is the one that seems to have had the greater identity transformation, although, seen side by side, they seem to have borrowed significantly from each other. Pepsi’s logo is perceived to have changed more dramatically over the years. Thanks to brand new, you can see how the earlier chart that was making the rounds spoke to perception.
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The six social media trends for 2010 Dave Armano wrote about at HBR are by and large taking place today. With the increased emphasis on business as unusual, companies are starting to feel the real pressure of the permanent nature of customers’ new buying habits and decision making patterns.
Add to that a general trend towards social network fatigue, and what seemed like the salvation to boost many companies’ existing marketing programs, albeit more people-intensive, now seems to be a moving target for many brands.
In a research study dated last Fall, Forrester analyst Lisa Bradner discussed what’s next for modern brand management. She writes about the old model’s inability to handle the world of “always on” marketing social brought to the fore. Dubbed Adaptive Brand Marketing, the study makes a case for the shift from the classic four P’s — now table stakes rather than differentiators — to the addition of permission, proximity, perception, and participation, the four new P’s when it comes to social commerce for brands.
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