Pepsi. Thirsty for new consumers.

It feels like Pepsi is everywhere at the moment. With the recent launch of their Australian Hit Refresh campaign, their new branding can be found beaming from your local bus shelter, television set, the 7-11 on the corner and even your Twitter feed, should you so desire. 

Touted as one of the ‘heaviest weight outdoor campaigns in Australia’s History’ (read: the billboards got much bigger??), massive outdoor spend is only one component of Pepsi’s new campaign that follows their recent international re-branding. There’s also an affiliation with MTV (so that’s where Gen Y hangs out) as well as a social media-driven scavenger hunt implemented through online networks – follow clues from their Facebook and Twitter to secure a $250 refresh card. What the refresh card actually is still a little unclear, but the winners seem pretty stoked to have got their hands on one, don’t you think?

It’s good to see Pepsi engaging in the space, even if the concept is kinda like a poor man’s version of the Virgin America’s Day in the Cloud or the Levi’s Go Forth campaign. It’s a simple and straightforward attempt to engage and empower consumers, which is more than can be said for their US Refresh Everything campaign, which is pretty drab at best and mind dazzlingly convoluted at worst (but more on that later).

I’m giving Pepsi Australia an ’A’ for effort, but their 4,000 Facebook fans still don’t really pose a threat to Coke’s current domination of the social media space.

Conclusion: Fun and easy? Yes. Refreshing? Not particularly (we’ve had better). Good return on investment? Highly unlikely. But I only drink Sprite, so really, what would I know.