Whereas, it is not clear if this category of cola drinkers gave Pepsi its current edge, its recent advertising centred around its global brand ambassador, pop superstar and glamour girl, Beyonce is enjoyed popular acclaim. And the global cola drink maker is not only moving to create new advertising around her, it is sprinting to enlist other music stars in local markets with strong youth appeal.
In Nigeria, huge Pepsi billboards with big pictures of Nigerian female pop singer, Tiwa Savage paired with youthful male singer, Whizkid began appearing at prominent locations in Lagos, few weeks ago. The quite popular musical duo have just been enlisted as Pepsi’s brand ambassadors in the Nigeria market.
The cola brand has once again, focused its marketing on music with Live for Now, its first global campaign for Pepsi, starring Nicki Minaj. That started it, but Pepsi is running with a new magical global Beyonce TV campaign,which is supported in various local markets by popular local artistes such as Tiwa Savage. Last week, at the grand finale of Pepsi Music Challenge held at the University of Lagos, UNILAG both Savage and Whizkid were not only performed at the occasion, they were also on the panel of judges.
Latest results for 2012 show that Pepsi co’s soft drinks out performed Coca cola in the UK market, according to the latest Britvic Soft Drinks Report. Sales of Pepsi variants - Pepsi and Pepsi Max - registered a sales increase of 7.4 per cent to £352.2m while volume sales increased 10 per cent. Whereas, sales of all variants of Coca-Cola - the master brand, Coke Zero and Diet Coke - in the grocery, convenience and impulse market increased just 0.8 per cent to £1.15bn last year, compared with a 7 per cent uplift the previous year. Cola cola’s volume sales also fell 3.3 per cent during the year.
Although Norden Thurston Seven Up Nigeria’s marketing manager could not be reached for his comments (Seven Up Nigeria is the Pepsi franchise holder in the country),Mike Nzeagwu, head consultant of Metro-Media, the company’s PR agency says that he is not aware of any scheduled performances or promos for Savage and Whizkid by the Pepsi brand.” But the two brand ambassadors can be called up at any time for Pepsi events just as it was last week when they were actively involved in the Pepsi Musical challenge finale at UNILAG” he says.