SATELLITE & CABLE: Pepsi's Star Wars promotion gets special treatment

In Singapore, Pepsi-Cola International was one of the sponsors of the movie, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. The Challenge facing MindShare Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Pepsi's Star Wars Episode 1 consumer promotion (to win Star Wars collectibles from Pepsi) was delayed, and would only kick-off a month later after the launch of the movie in Singapore on June 3, 1999. MindShare had to help build quick association and awareness of Pepsi with the movie during this interim period, prior to Pepsi's consumer promotion. The key marketing objective To capitalise and maximise on Pepsi's worldwide association with Lucas Films/Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Communications materials At that point in time, only print materials were approved by Lucas Films, produced by Pepsi-Cola International, and adapted locally. The Media Strategy The following key elements were taken into consideration: 1) Target audience Pepsi is targeted at people aged 15-39 years; however, the core of the business is very much focused on teenagers. 2) Scheduling Even though Pepsi's consumer promotion was going to be a month late, it was very important to ride on the hype of Star Wars Episode 1, and to create awareness of Pepsi's brand during the launch of the movie. 3) Creative consideration Only full-colour print materials were available. Relevant editorial environment that reflected the interest and lifestyle of Pepsi's target audience would be sought. Evaluation and analysis concluded that weekly magazine 8-Days surpassed the rest of the publications in meeting the communication objective. The creative media solution The idea was to do something loud, innovative, original and impactful in execution, so as to build Pepsi's association with Star Wars Episode 1. 8-Days' editorial includes news update on TV, music, movie and the entertainment industry, which was the right fit for this brand. 8-Days created a collector's issue, highlighting four characters from the movie, each on a different cover: Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. And on the same cover fold, a half-page, full-colour flap for Pepsi was devised. The editor got Lucas Films' final approval and printed 85,000 copies of this special issue, an additional 10,000 copies above the regular print run. This 14 per cent increase was in anticipation of the popularity of the special issue. No additional cost was incurred by Pepsi-Cola or MindShare for this execution. 8-Days also bought spots on Channel 5 to promote the special edition. The result Word-of-mouth on the special edition was extremely positive. The challenge faced by MindShare was successfully carried out in the above scenario. In terms of creative media idea and usage by MindShare to help build Pepsi's association and hype in a-never-before creative execution in Singapore. * This ongoing National Geographic Showcase series features selected material from winners and other entries in the Best Use of Media category in MEDIA's Agency of the Year Awards 1999.

Sign In

Trouble signing in?

Reset Password: Click here

Contact Customer Support at

Customerservice@campaignasia.com