Pepsi Marketing Campaign Failure Analysis: Strategies and Solutions

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a failed marketing campaign undertaken by Pepsi, focusing on the reasons for its failure and offering recommendations for future campaigns. It begins with an introduction to the Pepsi brand and its market position, highlighting the importance of marketing strategies in sustaining organizational growth. The report then delves into the specifics of the unsuccessful campaign, particularly the Kendall Jenner advertisement, examining the selling techniques, target consumers, and the misinterpretation of the tagline "Live for now moments anthem." Key reasons for the failure include linguistic misinterpretations in different regions and perceptions of racial insensitivity. The report concludes with recommended actions, such as setting clear marketing objectives, improving the tagline based on target market understanding, implementing a cohesive marketing strategy, and avoiding politically or racially charged content. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the need for careful consideration of cultural nuances and consumer perceptions in global marketing efforts. Desklib provides students with access to past papers and solved assignments.

Running head: ADVERTISEMENTS
ADVERTISEMENTS
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1ADVERTISEMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report aims at understanding the different aspects of the marketing campaign that was
undertaken by Pepsi, in order to sustain their products in the market. The report enumerates the
marketing campaign that failed and thereby demonstrates the reasons for its failure. The report
also ensures the recommendations that might help the company in undertaking the marketing
campaign successfully.

2ADVERTISEMENTS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to the brand.............................................................................................................3
2. Persuasive campaign that failed...................................................................................................4
3. The Failed campaign....................................................................................................................5
3.1 Selling technique...................................................................................................................5
3.2 Target consumers...................................................................................................................6
3.3 Reasons for the failure...........................................................................................................7
4. Recommended actions.................................................................................................................7
4.1 Setting the objectives of the marketing campaign.................................................................8
4.2 Improving the tagline based on the target market.................................................................8
4.3 A Cohesive strategy...............................................................................................................8
4.4 Never to design a advertisement on the political and the racial grounds..............................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

3ADVERTISEMENTS
1. Introduction to the brand
The changes in the world and the change in the needs and requirements of the consumers
have made it an essential point for the multinationals to bring in modifications in their systems.
The gradual progress of the organization is based on the modifications based on the preferences
of the consumers. The processes undertaken by the organizations like production, distribution
and marketing helps in sustaining the organizations in the market. Proper marketing strategies
help in framing the availability of the products in the market. The proper placement of the
products has helped in undertaking the gradual progress of the organizations.
The concerned company for this report, Pepsi has undertaken steps in order to improve
the market availability of its products through marketing campaigns (Hafiz, 2015). One of such
campaigns framed by the organizations failed due to certain reasons. The analysis holds the
reasons that affected the campaign and caused a drop in the markets hares of the organization.
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is aimed at vitalizing the energy and thereby facilitates the
digestive abilities of the people. The company was first introduced as the “Brad’s Drink”, which
was founded by the Caleb Bradham in the year 1893. The drink was sold by the name Pepsi Cola
an afterwards changed it to Pepsi. The gradual growth of the company is based on the
modifications that are being undertaken by the organization in order to cope up with the
changing requirements of the consumers (Yeshin, 2012). The major competitor of the
organization was Coca Cola, which developed its products on the basis of the requirements of the
people. The marketing strategies that are being undertaken by the organization are based on the
requirements of the organization to cope up with the challenges and the competition in the
market. In order to make a gradual progress in the market, the company takes steps to promote

4ADVERTISEMENTS
and market the product for maintaining the sustenance of the product (Amine & Raizada, 2015).
While undertaking the marketing campaigns, the company made certain blunders, which affected
the marketing and promotion of their products. Therefore, it affected the availability of the
products manufactured by the organization in the market.
The report aims at determining the failure of the marketing campaign that is being
undertaken by the organization and thereby examines the reasons for the failure. It also helps in
the understanding of the recommended actions that the organization must have taken in order to
decrease the adversity of the failure on the placement of their products in the market.
2. Persuasive campaign that failed
The failure of the campaign is based on the content of the campaign that brought up
controversies. The advertisements that are being undertaken by the organization in order to make
the target consumers aware of the product modifications have worked differently on the people.
The company undertook the Kendall Jennifer advertisement as a persuasive method in order to
persuade the consumers to make a buy of their product. The misinterpretation of the
advertisement was the reason for its failure. The failure of the marketing campaign has affected
the market share held by the organization. It affected the availability of the products in the
market (Chao et al., 2012). The most important factor that affected the campaign is based on the
tagline that is being used by the organization to persuade the people to make a buy of their
products. The misinterpretation of the tagline has affected the efficiency of the campaign and
resulted to its subsequent failure.

5ADVERTISEMENTS
3. The Failed campaign
The marketing campaign that was undertaken by the organization in the 2017 has
affected the progress of the company. The tagline that was framed by the organization has
resulted to various misinterpretations. On the other hand, the actions undertaken by the campaign
is thought to be free from all sorts of racisms, which was not accepted by the consumers and the
people at large. The limitation of the campaign that was undertaken by the organization in order
to cope up with the competition is based on the factors that are being discussed in this section of
the report. It aims at undertaking steps in order to have a clear insight of the issues that was faced
by the organization while undertaking the marketing campaign and the effects of the campaign
on the organizational growth (Blakeman, 2014).
3.1 Selling technique
The persuasive selling technique that is being adhered by the concerned organization is
based on the requirements of the organization to make their product available in the market. The
tag line that was used by the organization was to attract the attention of the consumers of the
brand. It has helped in undertaking steps in order to ensure the flexibility of the operations
undertaken by the organization. The commercial that hit the market was based on the brands
nature of persuasive attributes, which was supposed to be helpful for making the target
consumers aware of the modifications undertaken by the organization (Veríssimo, 2013). On the
other hand, the steps and the procedures undertaken by the organization to persuade its target
consumers have affected the marketing strategies. The failure of the strategy due to the
misinterpretation of the tagline created a havoc downfall in the market structures of the company
(Jankovic, 2012). The persuasive selling that is being undertaken by the organization to cope up
with the market competition had its negative impacts on the growth of the organization.

6ADVERTISEMENTS
3.2 Target consumers
The target consumers of the brand and the product have created a serious impact on the
availability of the product in the market. Therefore, the company aimed at persuading the target
consumers, in order to increase the volumes of the sales (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015). The
most important factor that is being supported by the organization in order to market the products
is based on the relative designs and the application of the taglines which were supposed to attract
not only the target consumers but also attract the people who were not aware of the undertakings
of the organization. The organization operated globally and the demography of the nations never
affected the productivity of the organization (Grifoni, D’Andrea & Ferri, 2012). Although in the
developing stages of the organization, demography played a major role in determining the
demand for the products that are being prepared by the organization. However, in the later years,
the organization faced little constraints relating to their developments based on the demands of
the products. The balanced markets of the organization helped in undertaking steps in order to
bring in differences in the organizational structure.
The basic consideration that was being undertaken by the organization was based on the
different aspects of holding the target consumers and retaining the brand loyalty through the
persuasive marketing strategy. In this case, the target market of the organization did pose a
serious impact on the failure of the marketing campaign that was raised by the organization. the
misinterpretation based on the language differences has caused the failure of the marketing
campaign (Parente & Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, 2014). The most important steps that were
undertaken by the organization was to make the target consumers aware of the modifications that
are being brought about by the organizations. The misinterpretation that was being undertaken by
the target consumers affected the planned growth of the organization.

7ADVERTISEMENTS
3.3 Reasons for the failure
The marketing campaign that was being undertaken by the organization failed to bring in
positive results for the growth of the organization. The misinterpretation of the tagline affected
the discourse of the organization largely. “Live for now moments anthem.” is the tagline that
was being used in the marketing campaign of the organization (Davila, Epstein & Shelton,
2012). The tagline was misinterpreted in the other regions based on their difference in the
dialects. Mandarin, Cantonese, Thais, and German had misinterpreted the slogan that was used
by the organization in the campaign. On the other hand, the racial backdrop of the advertisement
with the portrayal of negating the different sorts of ‘-isms’ is being considered to be another fatal
reason for the failure of the campaign. It was due to the slight differences in the phrases and the
mentality that were used in the languages that differed from the usage of the dialects in English.
The company had to apologize for portraying grounds of such racisms, which dropped the sales
of the cola (Yuece, 2012). The Coca Cola Company took the advantage of Pepsi’s failure in the
marketing campaign and grabbed over the market of the organization.
4. Recommended actions
The actions that the organization could have taken in order to improve their situation in
the market were to consider the change requirements of the people and thereby implement the
changes in the organizational structure. Moreover, a careful selection of the slogan based on the
languages where the organization operated should have helped the organization in taking steps to
bring in the improvements in the organization (Farazuddin, Ahmed & Maddali, 2016). The
recommended actions that the organization could have undertaken in order to facilitate the
marketing of their product in a flawless manner is being discussed in this section of the analysis.

8ADVERTISEMENTS
4.1 Setting the objectives of the marketing campaign
The marketing campaign that was undertaken by the organization could have been
improved through the setting of the objectives for undertaking the campaign. It is simply to
determine the needs and the requirements of the organization in order to make their progress in
their markets. The most important steps that are being undertaken by the organization is based on
the objectives that are being set by the organization (CharlEBoiS et al., 2015). The concerned
company for this report was undertaking the campaign in order to make the people aware of the
modifications in the product that was made by them. It was a reintroduction procedure that the
organization undertook, which required the company to reach out to its target consumers.
4.2 Improving the tagline based on the target market
The improvement in the tagline was the most important consideration for the organization
in order to bring in difference in the market structure. The difference in the languages had
created the issues in the marketing of Pepsi. In order to reduce the differences, the company
should have taken steps in order to understand the operating market and thereby determine the
requirements of the structure (Smith, 2013). After determining the needs, the company should
have taken steps in order to improve the tag line, which could have been used universally. The
company should have analyzed the market and thereby framed the campaign to bring out positive
results based on the requirements of the organization.
4.3 A Cohesive strategy
A cohesive strategy would have helped the organization in taking steps based on the
improvements that were required by the organization. Strategy helps organizations in making the
most of the organizational progress in the market (Boone & Kurtz, 2013). Therefore, the
continuous framing of the strategies would have helped the company in bringing changes in the

9ADVERTISEMENTS
structure and the campaigns that were undertaken by the organization. The company’s success is
based on the awareness and the persuasive strategies that are being planned. The campaign that
was undertaken by the organization would have helped the organization in bringing in subtle
changes and modifications that would have helped the organization to undertake its progress.
The strategy helps the organization in making the progress of the organization. Formation of the
strategies helps the organization by implementing the probable steps that might be beneficial for
the growth of the organization in the markets.
4.4 Never to design a advertisement on the political and the racial grounds
The blunder that the company made while framing the campaign was based on the
content of the advertisement. There were traces of political and the racial backdrops in the
advertisement where the model Kendall approaches the cops for delivering the canned soda. It
offended the sentiments of the people based o their racial backgrounds. Therefore, the company
must take steps to revise the content before implementing them on the campaign as political and
social matters like racism and the like is not encouraged by the societies. It will help the
company in undertaking the changes in the market situations.

10ADVERTISEMENTS
References
Amine, L. S., & Raizada, D. (2015). Market Entry into the Newly Opened Indian Market: Recent
Experiences of US Companies in the Soft drinks Industry. In Proceedings of the 1995
Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 287-292). Springer
International Publishing.
Blakeman, R. (2014). Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. (2013). Contemporary marketing. Cengage learning.
Chao, H., Indrani, M., Vondran, G., Lin, X., Joshi, P. M., Beyer, D. M., ... & Zhang, A. X.
(2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,090,612. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
CharlEBoiS, S., DimiTropouloS, K., Haskins, C., & Foller-Carroll, A. (2015). Focus on Better
Together: How co-branding can create strong synergies within a global company. Journal
of Brand Strategy, 4(4), 388-402.
Davila, T., Epstein, M., & Shelton, R. (2012). Making innovation work: How to manage it,
measure it, and profit from it. FT press.
Farazuddin, S., Ahmed, F., & Maddali, A. (2016). Article on Pepsi’s Promotional
Strategies. Journal of Management Research and Analysis, 3(1), 56-58.
Grifoni, P., D’Andrea, A., & Ferri, F. (2012). An integrated framework for on-line viral
marketing campaign planning. International business research, 6(1), 22.

11ADVERTISEMENTS
Hafiz, R. (2015). Rethinking Brand Identity to Become an Iconic Brand-A Study on Pepsi. Asian
Business Review, 5(3), 97-102.
Jankovic, M. (2012). Integrated Marketing Communications and Brand Identity
Development. Management (1820-0222), (63).
Luxton, S., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2015). Integrated marketing communication capability
and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 37-46.
Parente, D., & Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, K. (2014). Advertising campaign strategy: A guide to
marketing communication plans. Cengage Learning.
Smith, R. D. (2013). Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.
Veríssimo, D. (2013). Influencing human behaviour: an underutilised tool for biodiversity
management. Conservation Evidence, 10, 29-31.
Yeshin, T. (2012). Integrated marketing communications. Routledge.
Yuece, I. (2012). Impact and Role of Market Research in New Product Launch Process. GRIN
Verlag.