Pepsi dribble drive takes a kick at Coke

Pepsi launched a campaign this month to engage fans of the country’s most popular sport at a local level.

Edwin Africa, marketing director of PepsiCo Malaysia, said that the initiative was based on the insight that Malaysians love to play and watch the sport, and will run as excitement surrounding Euro 2008 begins to build.

With a small budget of only US$12,000, Pepsi launched an activation campaign centred around an event to create Malaysia’s longest dribble with a football.

The 12-hour event covered 86 kilometres and entered the Malaysian record books. The event attracted 850 participants who each maneouvered a football around a 100-metre area before passing it on to the next dribbler. Participants were enrolled from colleges, universities and gyms. Online channels, such as Facebook and e-mail blasts, were used to encourage people to join in.

Africa said: “While our competitor is a global sponsor of Euro 2008, no one really understands football like the fans.

“We look at football differently in the sense that we are about participation, engagement and providing a platform for consumers to express themselves.

“In Malaysia, Pepsi stands for possibilities. We recognise that youth is in control and don’t want to be spoken down to by brands.”

Ronald Ng, executive creative director of BBDO Proximity, the agency behind the campaign, said: “Celebrities and ministers supported the event as they saw it as a positive activity for Malaysian youth.”

He argued that the purpose of the event was to generate greater public relations coverage than Coke.
The campaign, which is also linked to a television, print, outdoor and digital campaign that broke in April, targeted Malaysians aged between 16 and 25 years.

Pepsi has 25 per cent market share in the cola market in Malaysia. However, it is still far behind Coca-Cola, which is the market leader with 55 per cent market share.