Is Pepsi becoming the new Redbull?

 

As a Brand matures, they begin to diversify. The brand architecture becomes less about corporate colors and identity, and more about a brand experience and lifestyle.  Pepsi has been embracing this strategy with its “Max” line, proudly encouraging fans to carpe diem.

Damien Walters has been a youtube sensation for a few years now. Below is his 2011 showreel.  He has bee a figurehead in the freerunning and pakour community for quite some time.

In addition to seeing Pepsi continue to evolve as a brand, the other thing worth mentioning here is how they are using celebrity talent for brand transference.  Youtube is rapidly becoming a place for talent discovery and recruitment.  As the web has given a voice to everyman, talent and quality content is accessible to all. Some brands like Pepsi have moved into content creation using youtube sensations to draw a larger buzz on social media.

I think this campaign is a win-win.  Damien Walters gets to showcase his amazing talent to a larger audience, and Pepsi continues to expand its social capital to a younger generation with an exciting new ad campaign.  This campaign speaks to the future of brands becoming their own syndication channels of user curated talent.

-pd

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Masterchef as an optimized TV show

Here is an amazing formula for content:

3 celebrity judges

20 skilled artists

+ A season of creative content generation with storytelling engagement.

multiple episodes featuring product placement, great entertainment, and a parallel webisode to engage people in transmedia.  The final product of 12-20 episodes of quality television, a cookbook that I can buy and a call to action for next seasons show.  This is overlooking the obvious ad spends, and endorsement deals.

I love this show.  I think its great content. I get exposed to great recipes, I am entertained, and the filmmaking of the show itself is both entertaining and informative. I dont even mind the fact that I am watching a giant ad.

Reality TV has become a great investment for brands and channels.  Skilled labor becomes subsidized for the shot at a dream of the story of “Everyman.” A hero emerges, and the curators of amazing content and brands all rise in engagement levels and customer satisfaction.  I am curious to see how this format continues to grow.

-pd

 

Everyone loved House of Cards. It was nominated for an Emmy, which is historical.  New programming series on Netflix and webisodes across the interwebs are challenging the viewing formats we take for granted. However, our obsession with binge consumption of media only works if a few media properties do this.  In order for these new series to be successful, there must be enough original programming that is time released.  If every show and movie was released on Jan 1st, people would go nuts by March. Or would they?

My hypothesis is that people need some temporal benchmarks to enjoy certain programming in a communal way. If every show was released in full on one day, the system would implode. 

The larger question is how have those communities splintered off into smaller subgroups vs. popular mass groups needed for advertising?  Would advertising that fuels TV be happy if all on demand content replaced mass cable?  Where does the psychological impact of scarcity of media overlap with the politics & business of ad buys?  Many households already only do streaming content. Other households have streaming services in addition to core cable programming. But, the system has to change – technology and the pull of consumers is moving faster then cable companies want to go.  It will be interesting to see how this ecosystem changes in the next 5 years.

-Patrick

 

 

netflix programming