It’s clear that Pepsi occupies a special place on BBDO New York’s impressive roster of clients—the account has been with the agency since 1960, which is a remarkably long time in the ever-changing world of advertising.
For BBDO, the account presents different challenges than it did four decades ago. Today, the shop must come up with creative for a wide variety of soft drink products under the Pepsi banner, each with its own distinct brand image. BBDO creates ads for Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi ONE, Pepsi Blue, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, Code Red and Sierra Mist, as well as several other beverages.
Bill Bruce, executive VP/executive creative director at the agency, compares the soft drink explosion of the last decade to the proliferation of television stations. "Ten years ago, there were three or four TV stations, and just a handful of soft drinks," he says. "Now, there are two hundred channels, and it seems like there are two hundred drinks out there."
"Pepsi has as many products as a hardware store," says Hyatt Choate, an executive producer at the agency, who often teams up with Bruce on jobs, and has produced commercials for Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi ONE, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist and Pepsi Blue.
No Pepsi product ad stood out more in the past year than "Now & Then," directed by Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA. The dazzling: 90, which stars pop diva Britney Spears, premiered during the ’02 Super Bowl broadcast. In the ad, Spears time-travels from the ’50s to the present, singing Pepsi tunes from each era. "I grew up loving those old jingles and thought Britney would be as cute as a button recreating them," says Michael Patti, vice chairman/ senior executive creative director at BBDO. "She’s young, fresh and a little controversial, just like Pepsi itself," says Patti. "So if you do a spot with her, it’s instant water cooler talk the next day."
"[‘Now & Then’] was an amazing production to be a part of," says Regina Ebel, executive VP/director of television production. "We had to create five period pieces—and the new Pepsi era—in just three shooting days. This is when the relationship between Pytka, BBDO and Pepsi really makes a project work."
Patti and Ebel also worked on Diet Pepsi’s "Easy Rider" and "2 More Kids," both directed by Pytka. The commercials for the diet drink are more skewed toward an older demographic than some of the company’s other products, and the advertising reflects that.
"Easy Rider" shows a middle-aged commuter fantasizing about riding choppers with Peter Fonda in the classic ’69 biker flick directed by Fonda’s co-star, Dennis Hopper. "For the boomer generation, Easy Rider was a seminal picture," says Patti. "Everyone wanted to be as cool as Peter Fonda or Dennis Hopper. So if Diet Pepsi is for those ‘who think young,’ [we wanted to] show boomers how it would be to star in their favorite movie today."
Meanwhile, in "2 More Kids," Cindy Crawford reprises her role from a ’91 spot for regular Pepsi in which two young boys appear to be ogling the supermodel, but are actually entranced by a new Pepsi can. In the updated Diet Pepsi version, the preteens are once again mesmerized by a new can, but this time Crawford has two kids in the backseat of her car and she’s drinking Diet Pepsi, rather than regular Pepsi.
Patti doesn’t look far when he needs a helmer for Pepsi spots. "I look under ‘P’ for Pytka," he states. "There are a lot of great directors out there, but when it comes to understanding the size, the scope, the humor and how to get performances out of celebrities, Pepsi and Joe Pytka have a unique history together."
Patti has been working on the Pepsi account since the mid-’80s, and Don Schneider, senior creative director at BBDO, has been working on Pepsi for over 20 years. How do they and BBDO maintain their longtime relationship with the soft drink outfit? "By being honest with [Pepsi] and telling them what I feel is creatively right in my gut," says Patti. "They haven’t always followed my advice, and I could never claim to have been right one hundred percent of the time, but if you look up our average of successes together, I believe we can hold our heads high."
"It’s based on respect and you do have to earn it everyday," says Schneider. "Successes breed more respect and the ability to do better work. We never forget that. That’s how we operate with Pepsi and it seems to work great."
The creatives at BBDO note that it’s not difficult to keep the advertising fresh. "It’s Pepsi. It’s one of the all-time great products and clients to work for," relates Patti. "They’re on the Super Bowl, the Academy Awards—and they want great work. If that doesn’t keep your creative juices flowing, you should have been an accountant."
Dewing it
In the early ’90s, Bruce brought a new energy to Mountain Dew advertising with spots like Diet Mountain Dew’s "Done That," helmed by David Kellogg via now defunct Propaganda Films. (Kellogg is now with bicoastal Anonymous Content.) Bruce wanted to bring the excitement of grunge music and alternative sports (like snowboarding and rollerblading) to the brand. "Alternative sports upped the whole ante," he says. "In order to show that Dew is unique and different from everything else, we thought, ‘Let’s up the ante for that as well.’ "
Bruce, who also works on ads for Diet Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist and Pepsi Blue, points out that ads for many other products jumped on the alternative sports bandwagon in the wake of the Mountain Dew campaign, which featured a coterie of Gen X guys, known as the Dew Dudes. This led Bruce and his creative team to craft spots that took a different approach to selling the soft drink. "We had to look deeper into what the product was about," he says. "We’ve always considered it this exhilarating beverage. The personality of it is irreverent, adventurous, daring—there’s a whole bunch of descriptors that we utilize to give it life. Given that context, I think you can jump to ‘Davey and Goliath.’ "
Bruce is referring to the stop-motion animated spot helmed by Michael Bannon, director/creative director at Wreckless Abandon Studios, East Granby, Conn. "Davey and Goliath" riffs on the early ’60s TV show of the same name, which was sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. In the show, Davey and his dog, Goliath, always learned important life lessons.
Fast-forward a few decades, and you have "Davey and Goliath" the commercial, which takes place in an all-American suburban backyard. Two boys, Davey and his friend, Tommy, are fighting for a can of Mountain Dew. Davey’s father comes out to investigate the ruckus, takes the can of Dew and drinks it, then says to the boys, "Ahh, let that be a lesson to you." Tommy asks Davey, "What just happened here?" and Davey responds, "We got hosed, Tommy. We got hosed." Bruce decided to use the innocent characters to irreverently show a love of the product. The creative and his associates wanted "to have a little fun with that and show another lesson being taught to these kids."
In "Drive," directed by Kinka Usher of House of Usher Films, Santa Monica, a guy performs a series of death-defying driving stunts to retrieve a Mountain Dew can he left behind. Other Mountain Dew spots include "Golf"—for the diet version of the drink—which features a golf cart flying over a putting green. The ad, directed by Dayton/ Faris (Jonathan and Valerie, respectively) of bicoastal Bob Industries, was part of a re-launch of Diet Mountain Dew, which is seeking an older target audience.
"Nothing is reverential," says Bruce. "Whether it’s in the form of this very early stop-action animation or if it’s a guy who’s forgotten his can, hopefully there’s some excitement that’s built into each one of those stories."
The Blues
In an innovative approach to cross-promotion, Pepsi, Universal Music Group and BBDO recently partnered to produce Pepsi Blue spots and music videos that shared locations and musical recording artists. Bruce says the idea was to "shoot a commercial, have the musical artist in the commercial interacting with the product and to shoot a music video for the song that would also be in the commercial."
"There’s a Pavlovian response when the kids see the video after they’ve seen the commercial," says Bruce. "It becomes a much bigger way to get the message out there and to set a brand image fairly quickly."
Pepsi Blue’s "Sev/Monk Remix," directed by Usher, features a remix of Sev’s "Same Old Song" that incorporates Gregorian chants. Bruce points out that the mix of rock and chant is analogous to the soft drink’s mix of berry and cola flavors. The remixed version is airing on the radio and the group is including the track on a re-release of their album, All These Dreams. (Usher also helmed a clip for the band at the same time.)
Similarly, Samuel Bayer of bicoastal Mars Media, directed Pepsi Blue’s "Car Stereo," featuring the Papa Roach song, "Time and Time Again." As with "Sev/Monk Remix," Bayer also helmed a music video for the track. Additionally, Bayer directed "Slam Poet" for Pepsi Blue, which featured the sounds of Timbaland, a hip-hop producer and artist.
"They’ve always encouraged us to stretch and push," says Bruce of Pepsi. "Unlike other clients, who expect to see only the boards they’ve seen, they want to see it evolve into something even better."
