The 3 Hidden Gems in the Pepsi Challenge

The Pepsi Challenge pushed the point that Pepsi “was as good as Coke” to an audience that thought Pepsi was unacceptable without straining their credibility among jaded consumers and without getting into a legal pie fight with Coca Cola. By not claiming superiority, Pepsi built what we’d call “source credibility” with its somewhat unfriendly local market – they argued against what many might call their self-interest, letting the viewer fill in the blanks. “The brilliance of the strategy was that they were filming these people when they were doing the test,” Sergio continued. “The thing that was creating the wow factor was that when you removed the box that was hiding the 2 cans, the Coke drinker, who looked like a Coke drinker, would say, Oh my God, I can’t believe it… and then, they had the great line which was, ‘Don’t take my word for it – let your taste decide.’”

Two things happened here, both of which are important to showcase. First, if you believe a picture tells a thousand stories, you know that a video clip showing unvarnished consumer reactions tells a million of them. Having a Coke-like consumer, talking in a Texan accent, saying that they never would believe they’d end up choosing a Pepsi, was pure marketing power. This is what we’d call “source similarity,” showing the viewer at home that many similar others – just like them – have made this comparison and found Pepsi acceptable. The hook is fully sunk with the line, “Don’t’ take my word for it – let your taste decide,” which again hits the “source credibility” point of arguing against your own perceived self-interest. This line builds instant credibility, putting control back in the hands of the viewer.

Gem #2:

The Pepsi Challenge showed the audience – with unvarnished video taken in the street of real people who looked and talked just like them – that people just like them were choosing Pepsi over Coke. How much more meaning is conveyed through the non-verbal cues we all give off when we speak – the facial expressions, the body language and the intonation of our words themselves?

Gem #3:

The in-store placement of Pepsi next to Coke reinforced the television commercial comparison itself. The consumer played out the commercial time and time again in their mind every time they walked into a supermarket and saw those two stacks of product next to each other. We can attach the trigger of vividness, first and foremost, to this in-store execution, noting that it is better to be vivid than valid. What is sticky is remembered. It also holds an element of the core psychological hunger of stimulation, giving the shopper a glimpse into the first-person experience that those people on camera had when they took the Challenge themselves. 

So you see, the Pepsi Challenge is about a whole lot more than “us versus them.” There is a world of nuance in this campaign that should give any marketer a lot to think about when they next turn their attention to competitive comparisons.