Introduction
The primary purpose of any for-profit organization is to make a profit. However, an increase in revenue is not easily attained. There are numerous factors that play a role to ensure that profit is attained. One of the most important factors is marketing. Marketing plays a critical role in the transfer, exchange, and movement of goods and services. The main objectives of marketing are usually to grasp the attention of the targeted consumers, influence the decision-making process among the targeted markets through informing and educating. Even though the process and significance of marketing are known by all organizations, there are moments when marketing campaigns fail. A major cause of failed marketing activities is miscommunication. This essay examines a case of failed marketing activity involving PepsiCo. The essay provides a background of the company and the specific marketing campaign that failed. Moreover, the reasons or the campaign failure will be detailed in the easy. In addition to this, the seven components of a marketing mix; 7Ps will be presented. A discussion section is also provided showcasing why the advert by Pepsi was not successful while drawing references from the 7Ps model.
Background and the Failure Case
PepsiCo, Inc. is a multinational American company that deals in myriad kinds of products ranging from food, snack, and beverage. Its headquarters is in Harrison, New York. It was established in the year 1965 and since then it has developed into becoming a global company with its bestselling product being Pepsi, a soft drink. The company is among the leading brands in the soda industry. The company spends a lot of money and resources on marketing. It often uses different social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for promotions and running marketing campaigns (Dozé, 2018).
In April 2017, the company suffered great financial loss and tarnished brand image due to a failed advertising campaign. The marketing campaign termed “Live for Now” featured Kendall Jenner and Skip Marley’s song “Lions.” It failed to serve its purpose after receiving online backlash. The advertisement showed young people with milquetoast signs (Dozé, 2018). The protestors were happily smiling and laughing. In the advert, a police officer accepts a Pepsi drink from a white woman; Kendall Jenner. The tone of the advert is what made it fail, many people went on social media to criticize the company for encouraging and mocking protests. Also, the notion of a white woman and a black police officer was interpreted that the company was making fun of Black Lives Matter. The company quickly pulled down the advert but their reputation was severely tainted. Marzilli (2018) notes that it took Pepsi nine months for their brand to fully recover. The author notes that the recovery did not do much to stop a long duration purchase consideration slide with the millennials who make up a key metric of probable sales. The advert brought the company’s purchase consideration score among the millennials from 27% to 24 within three months. However, by November, the company has recovered its purchase consideration score (Marzilli, 2018).
Literature Review
Marketing is an essential part of every business. The success or failure of a business can be largely determined by its marketing strategy and its effectiveness. For marketing to be effective, businesses usually have to develop an effective and efficient marketing mix. The term marketing mix refers to a combination of different factors that can be controlled by a business to influence customers into purchasing its goods or services. The 7Ps of the marketing mix is an adapted theory of marketing mix that is used to evaluate and reevaluate business activities. The 7Ps encompass product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people. Since there is a constant and rapid change among customers, products, needs and markets, it is essential to review the 7Ps regularly to ensure that the business, product, or services are updated to attain the maximum outcome within the industry (Green et al. 2019).
Product
The first P stands for product which entails goods or services that satisfy the wants or needs of a particular target market. Therefore, it is the solution to the problems existing in a specific market. Išoraitė (2016) notes that it is essential for a company to ensure that a product fits the needs or wants of the consumers. In this way, the product will have the capability of satisfying the needs and wants of the targeted market.
Price
Price entails what consumers give for them to receive a product. In other terms, it is a measure of the value that has been assigned or a product by both the seller and the buyer. Price is one of the most essential components in marketing since it communicates the value of a product. Also, it one of the factors that has a direct impact on the product, the business, and the customers. Do & Vu (2020) assert that the price should portray a convincing value for the product offered.
Promotion
Promotion entails the communication actions performed by businesses or organizations in an effort to inform their target market. The modes of promotion used to market a product should display messages in a manner that the target market will like to hear. Therefore, it is important to consider things such as culture and norms within a particular society in which the product is being sold (Išoraitė, 2016).
Place
The term place refers to the movement or rather distribution of products from the seller to the buyer. It can also be defined as the point of sale. It is made up of everything within the circumference of product distribution. Therefore, some of the things encompassed within the place are distribution channels, location, inventory, transportation and logistics. Regarding the place, Išoraitė (2016) recommends that it is important for customers to have ease when it comes to accessing a product.
Packaging
Packaging entails the outside appearance of a product. It also refers to the outward look of the organization and its staff. Generally, it is the outlook of the business’s visual elements. All visual elements should be analyzed from a critical prospect to ensure that the packaging creates a good impression (Do & Vu 2020).
Positioning
The term positioning refers to the way the company has branded itself within a specific market. It majorly entails how the consumers perceive an organization, brand or product. Companies ought to ensure that they develop a positive image that can be attained by providing the best goods or services just as advertised (Do & Vu 2020).
People
Within the marketing mix context, people refer to all the stakeholders of an organization. However, customers centric employees of an organization are at the center of this p. it is essential for the company to ensure that it has the right people to drive the performance of the business (Do & Vu 2020).
Discussion
Drawing from the 7Ps of the marketing mix, the Pepsi case can be examined and the reason for the marketing campaign failure identified. However, the most relevant P is promotion although the other Ps still play a role. The initial purpose of the campaign was to reach the millennials and deliver a message of the significance of unity, understanding and peace. Conversely, the advertisement failed to pass the message and it was misunderstood. Drawing from the literature review, it is important that when creating a marketing campaign, companies should consider the culture and the norms in society. Even though Pepsi tried to relate its advertisement to the things that were going around the society, they failed to provide clarity in the message they were portraying. Some critics stated that the protest depicted in the advert did not showcase what the protestors were protesting. This notion is highly stated to be the main course as to why many people, especially on social media failed to understand the message that was being conveyed by Pepsi. In many ways, the advert seemed to be trivializing the blacks which is something highly disregarded. Therefore, among the 7Ps of marketing, Pepsi Company failed in its promotion strategy by creating content that did not have a positive impression among the target market.
Another relevant P in the provided case is people. The choice of the people in the “Live for Now” advert was instrumental in making the campaign a failure. The main characters who were highlighted in the campaign by both the company and the consumers are Jenner and the police. Jenner in advert was portrayed to represent the blacks while the police officer represented the black. In the advert, Jenner solves serious societal issues just by handing the police officer a can of Pepsi. This was highly discriminating and belittling the struggles faced by blacks in the United States. Many people complained that Pepsi is making fun of the blacks by insinuating that their problems, particularly with the whites can be simply solved by a can of Pepsi. When choosing the people to represent a company, it is important that businesses put into consideration how the images of the chosen employees will be perceived by the target. The choice of people is an aspect that Pepsi failed to use in passing its message.
References
Do, Q., & Vu, T. (2020). Understanding consumer satisfaction with railway transportation service: An application of 7Ps marketing mix. Management Science Letters, 10(6), 1341-1350.
Dozé, M. (2018). Kendall Jenner and Pepsi. Young Scholars in Writing, 15, 116-122.
Green, K. M., Crawford, B. A., Williamson, K. A., & DeWan, A. A. (2019). A meta-analysis of social marketing campaigns to improve global conservation outcomes. Social Marketing Quarterly, 25(1), 69-87.
Išoraitė, M. (2016). Marketing mix theoretical aspects. International journal of research granthaalayah, 4(6), 25-37.
Marzilli, T. (2018). One year after Jenner ad crisis, Pepsi recovers but purchase consideration hasn’t | YouGov. Retrieved 18 July 2020, from https://today.yougov.com/topics/food/articles-reports/2018/04/17/one-year-after-jenner-ad-crisis-pepsi-recovers
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