Pepsi is at the forefront of corporations undergoing entrepreneurial change to utilize Twitter as a marketing scheme and a direct-to-consumer tool. When big time corporations are taking their gloves off to start thinking within the Twittersphere, it’s certainly becoming more and more difficult to brand it as a fad.

Positive Twitter Use

June 2009 saw Pepsi launch its new Pepsi Raw (UK only) product with a ‘tell us what you think’ slogan followed by @twitter.com/pepsiraw to engage consumers in product conversation. Having just hit 1000 followers and counting, the account offers insight into Raw’s involvement with marketing campaigns, music videos, limited offers (RT @nondisbeliever: Pepsi Raw is on offer in Tesco at the mo – £1.50 for 4 cans. Well worth it, as it’s yummy) and replies to customer comments.

Pepsi also embarked on a South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) Twitter campaign in March this year to showcase its involvement in what’s being hailed as the social media capital of the world. The company also launched a complementary website called Pepsi Zeitgeist to track the action.

If people needed an indication of Twitter’s possible use outside of micro-blogging between friends, this is it. Shot into powerhouse status, such a ubiquitous tool becomes a service of mainstream basic utility, unavoidable and used by us all. Hell, it has the potential to become an individual or organisational identifier as much as phone numbers, emails or web addresses, and it’s arguably already embarked on that journey.

Not-So-Positive Twitter Use

Working together with AMP in October 2009, both it and Pepsi were lambasted for an ad campaign – a “before you score” play on modern chivalry – that urged a response out of parent company PepsiCo. They used Twitter to elaborate on their reasoning behind the campaign and apologize to anyone offended:

Naturally, the #pepsifail hashtag captures attention. Does any corporation really want ‘fail’ associated with their official brand? It’s either an immediate indication of self-assuredness or a cheeky attempt to deem the brand not just tech-savvy, but willing to adopt hip social idioms for the sake of it. I suppose the upside in some cases includes heightened media exposure and easy searching for some observers interested in the issue, but it’s asking for trouble.

Success in the above case is based on the assumption those offended aren’t going to rally enough support for ‘pepsifail’ to become popularized enough to force scrapping of the App and tarnishing Pepsi’s good side.