The rivalry goes back quite a time, but it never gets nasty," says Bill Bruce, executive VP/executive creative director at BBDO New York. Bruce is referring to the competition between Pepsi and Coca-Cola, which spans back through the Pepsi Challenge commercials of the 1980s and began at the turn of the previous century. As one of the creatives in charge of the Pepsi campaign, Bruce knows from what he’s talking about.
The latest installment in the long-running soda war is "Trucks," a spot that gently pokes fun at the "older" Vanilla Coke as Pepsi-Cola launches its new rival flavor, Pepsi Vanilla. Directed by Chris Smith of Santa Monica-based Independent Media, the ad begins with two truck drivers stopped at a New York City intersection. One drives a Vanilla Coke truck, while the other’s vehicle is emblazoned with the Pepsi Vanilla logo.
Grinning smugly, the Vanilla Coke driver checks out the competition, then turns up the REO Speedwagon song playing on his truck radio. The Pepsi driver is clearly up for the challenge: He flicks a switch to reveal that his truck is a tricked-out low-rider, complete with retracting rims, shiny metal step boards and gigantic, previously hidden speakers. The truck then blasts hip-hop music, bouncing up and down to the beat as it drives off. "That was awesome," the Vanilla Coke driver admits. The tagline then appears: "The not-so-vanilla vanilla."
Since Vanilla Coke was already on the market when Pepsi Vanilla made its debut at the beginning of August, comparison was inevitable. "We needed to come up with a simple way to say, ‘This is a new and better vanilla,’ " relates Mike Boulia, associate creative director/art director at BBDO. "So, much like anything else, we just sat around and tossed ideas back and forth, and [associate creative director/copywriter] Brian [Donovan] threw that idea out."
The idea was one of many, but it seemed to resonate with the client. "It’s funny how the simplest [spots] get done, but there’s a lot of work to get there," says Donovan. "We presented quite a bit of other work—and killed quite a bit—to get to the point where we ended up."
"We were trying to think of ways to be a little competitive," Boulia adds. "Not nasty by any stretch; we wanted to do it in a humorous way."
Subtlety
In order for the humor to work, a subtle approach was key. "We didn’t want to show our hand early on," Bruce shares. "We wanted people to not really know where it was going right away, or which product the commercial was for. The Vanilla Coke driver, in a sense, takes the first shot, with his attitude and turning up the stereo like, ‘Isn’t this cool?’ And it was cool—in 1972. But these days, there are a lot of different beats, a lot of eclectic music."
Boulia says "Riding Out the Storm," the REO Speedwagon song chosen by executive music producer Loren Parkins, was perfect for the Vanilla Coke driver. "We wanted something that was a little bit dated, but not over-the-top," explains Boulia. "We didn’t want some extremely dorky song that would give everything away. But we were definitely trying to do a comparison there, with something a little more contemporary for Pepsi Vanilla." (The soundtrack blasting out of the Pepsi truck was an original composition from Crushing Music, New York.)
Though the creatives had never worked with Smith before, "We were big fans of his film work like American Movie," notes Boulia. "He obviously had a great reel, but I think what really sold it for us was talking to him. He was incredibly detail-oriented, very inclusive and just a really great guy."
When it came time to design the low-rider truck, Boulia notes, "We didn’t want to make it too James Bond-y. We wanted to make it look like, conceivably, this could be done."
With the help of Smith, the creatives questioned the experts. "Chris researched it, and he found some people in L.A. who actually [make cars into low-riders]," explains Boulia. "We had a conversation with Chris, and he reiterated what we had said to them. We basically said, ‘If you had the money to [make a low-rider out of] a truck, what would you do? That was their only directive, and they did an awesome job."
In casting the spot, the BBDO team strove for the same kind of realism. "I think the one thing we were hoping to get was truck drivers that actually looked their age," says executive producer Hyatt Choate. "We didn’t want to go for young guys in their twenties. We wanted a guy who actually had grown up listening to REO, and another guy who probably grew up listening to REO but moved on."
Instead of shooting "Trucks" on a back-lot, Smith and the team took to the streets of New York City. "We decided to shoot it on the Lower East Side because we wanted it to feel as real as possible," says Donovan. "We started shooting at seven in the morning, and worked all day."
Bruce says he was pleased with the results. "It’s not just about a pissing match between the two [soda companies]. It is really about what’s in the can," he points out. "The thought that runs throughout the spot is, we’re a more energized, hipper, better tasting vanilla."
Also helmed by Smith, the next Pepsi Vanilla spot, "Off And On," takes the rivalry one step further. "It’s about these two guys who really want to get to the Pepsi Vanilla, but there’s something blocking their way," Bruce says of the commercial, which broke during this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. "There’s a Vanilla Coke that’s easily accessible, but they continue to try and go for the Pepsi."
As for future ads, Bruce says nothing is in the works at the moment: "This is the initial push, and they’re putting a lot behind it, but it always depends on how things go."
Provided things do go well, there should be more Pepsi Vanilla commercials in the future—all in the same competitive vein. Perhaps even new Pepsi flavors as well. "They’re always looking for new product innovations," Bruce says, "and how to give consumers what they want."
