via your classmate Amanda:
In honour of recent National Burger Day (May 27), Pepsi found a way to turn the heat up on its beef with rival Coke in a new social media campaign. Pepsi tweeted a series of photos featuring McDonald’s, Wendys, and Burger King’s take-out bags, each seeming to uncover a hidden Pepsi logo on the bags. The tweets were captioned: “ALL burgers go #BetterWithPepsi…even when we’re not on the menu, we’re always in the picture.”
This is a direct dig at the fact that each of those restaurants features Coca-Cola beverages in their drink menus and in-store fountains. Before this campaign, I did not realize that Coca-Cola dominates the fast-food drink industry so completely. For example, the only fast-food restaurant that I can think of that is partnered with Pepsi is Harvey’s. This campaign challenges the restaurants and their agreements with Coca-Cola while also bringing awareness to the consumer. This is a strategic move in that Pepsi undoubtedly wants more market share in the fast-food drink industry. It’s an area in which they are lacking behind their main competition.
I think this campaign was bold and beefy. It demonstrates the strategic direction of Pepsi of wanting a bigger piece of the fast-food market. I would consider this a win for Pepsi due to all the attention and press that it received. Who knows, maybe in the next few years you’ll be asked “Is Pepsi ok?” when you order a Coke at your local drive-thru.
campaignforrealbranding 
Hi Amanda!
This was a great read and insightful as I didn’t know how dominant Coca-Cola is in the fast-food industry (I also liked how you included the the pun “bold and beefy”).
I thought this ad was brilliant and extremely creative because Coca-Cola is so prominent in restaurants that it has become the norm. I personally love Pepsi and it is music to my ears when a worker says “Is Pepsi okay?. This reminds me of the Pepsi commercial we saw in class where people need to own it and say “Pepsi is okay”. I feel like when viewers encounter this ad, they will be constantly on the lookout to see if the bags truly make a Pepsi logo which would indicate that this campaign was successful as it is in the minds of consumers.
Pepsi in my opinion is years away from being the norm in other fast-food restaurants however if they continue to create these campaigns, I will not be surprised if I get asked “Is Coca-Cola okay” in the future.
Hi Amanda,
Great post! It was a very interesting read considering the Pepsi vs Coca-Cola discussion we had in class a couple weeks ago. One of my favourite fast food places is Taco Bell (gross I know haha), however, every time they ask me “Is Pepsi okay?” my heart breaks a little. I have always been a Coca-Cola fan. If someone was to ask me to do a blind taste test, I probably could not tell the difference in the quality or taste. However, growing up in a family where our pantries were always stocked with Coca-Cola, I feel like I am cheating when I drink Pepsi. I feel like I have just been conditioned to love one over the other due to my history and experiences. However, as Ramandeep was saying, I do agree it is years before Pepsi will be the norm in the fast-food industry. Many restaurants have long-lasting ties with Coca-Cola, similar to my story of growing up with the brand. It takes a lot for people to change.
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for posting about this! Just looking at these pictures of the ads, I think this is such a cool idea. It never ceases to amaze me how creative marketers can be! I think it will definitely make consumers consider drinking Pepsi over Coke with their fast food, just due how snarky the ad is. However, I’m sure that Coke doesn’t appreciate the constant jabs, so the competition continues…
Thanks,
Allison
Amanda, I hope this comment finds you well. I found this post is very interesting as I as well have no idea majority of the fast food chains have partnership with Coca-Cola. This has been for sure an issue for Pepsi to raise more awareness and ingrain in the consumers’ mind due to less exposure, compared to its direct competitor. However, I also agree that this move from Pepsi from the post is absolutely a smart move to increase the brand awareness. In my opinion, it is quite creative from PepSi to come up with this brilliant idea of “always finding Pepsi in Coca Cola’s partners’ logo”. Even though, in real life, Coca Cola still partners with these companies and have space in these fast food chains, what Pepsi is trying to do here is to leave a mental impact on consumers’ mind through this “bold and beefy” campaign. By being bold and clever with this campaign, Pepsi generated a surprise to the consumers’ mind which might positively contribute to the goal of raising awareness.