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Pepsi's Pumped-Up 'Refresh' Initiative Kicks Off

every pepsi refreshes the world

Pepsi has begun promotions for an expanded, "evolved" 2010 iteration of the "Refresh Everything" initiative first implemented last year, now rechristened the "Pepsi Refresh Project."

This year, Pepsi has earmarked more than $20 million to fund ideas for new community projects submitted by members of the public. The projects to be funded will also be chosen by the public, via online voting.

Over the course of 2010, Pepsi Refresh will fund thousands of "innovative, optimistic" ideas for community improvement projects spanning six categories (health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, and neighborhoods and education).

The funding is tiered, with specific numbers of grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 to be awarded each month.

As of today, the Pepsi Refresh site (refresheverything.com) is open to submissions for the first round of awards -- those designated for February (online voting for that month's awards begins Feb. 1).

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Pepsi Refresh -- an example of a growing trend toward combining crowdsourcing and cause marketing -- is notable both for its scale and Pepsi's level of commitment to the concept. This year, for the first time in more than two decades, the brand is forgoing a Super Bowl ad in favor of shifting those funds to Pepsi Refresh.

"Instead of spending that money on one big moment, [Pepsi is] spreading it into a participatory experience that will last through the year, hopefully creating real and lasting impact in the world as a result," sums up blogger Geoff Northcott, a group account director at AKQA in London.

Other examples of crowdsourcing/cause marketing "mash-ups" (albeit on a less massive scale) include Chase Community Giving, American Express's Members Project and Target's Bullseye Gives program, Northcott points out.

The year-long, integrated marketing campaign for Pepsi Refresh began this week with social media postings (facebook.com/refresheverything, Twitter etc.) encouraging consumers to submit their own project ideas and spread the word to others.

Media releases also highlighted the kickoff of idea submissions, as well as lists of executives at visible non-profits who are acting as advisory board members or category ambassadors for Pepsi Refresh, and the results of the latest consumer survey from the Pepsi Optimism Project. (More than 90% of Americans agree that optimism is important in creating new ideas that can have a positive impact on the world, and 66% believe that the best ideas are more likely to come from "normal people," according to the survey.)

1 comment about "Pepsi's Pumped-Up 'Refresh' Initiative Kicks Off ".
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  1. Marcus Pratt from Mediasmith, Inc, January 14, 2010 at 2:59 p.m.

    Worth noting the launch went awry due to website problems, with private user information being made public or sent to other users.

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/13/pepsi-refresh-security/

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