• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, October 9, 2006

Pepsi's latest calorie-free beverage, the newly anointed Diet Pepsi Jazz, comes in two flavors: Black Cherry French Vanilla and Strawberries and Cream. The first flavor struck me as busy--too many flavors going on at once. A print campaign launching this week dutifully follows suit.

"The New Sound of Cola," launching this week in New York and Los Angeles editions of the Oct. 16 issue of People magazine, uses sight, sound and scent to entice readers. Or annoy them. It depends on your taste.

The front of the ad shows a hand twisting off a bottle top and the word "Introducing." Open the ad and not only does a Pepsi bottle and music notes jump to life, jazz music from the TV ad starts playing. Talk about getting to know Diet Pepsi Jazz. The back page of the ad is a scratch and sniff insert for the Black Cherry French Vanilla flavor.

After being subjected to the music and the pop-up images, I found the scratch and sniff portion a tad too much. I would have loved it if the scented component was on the front cover instead, which would have changed the dynamic drastically.

"The goal was to build a media strategy around Jazz from Diet Pepsi that brought together a number of senses to form a multi-sensory message, including sense of smell," said Gail K. Stein, client communications director at OMD, Diet Pepsi's media agency. "The product has a very enticing aroma and [also relates to the] sense of hearing--tying in jazz music as 'the new sound of cola.'"

According to Stein, OMD Strategy then pitched the idea to The Pepsi-Cola Company, whose media director was urging the agency to do something new and innovative. The idea was given the green light and came to fruition as a 4-page insert created by DDB.

OMD negotiated the buy with People magazine. Stein said the agency ensured that the ad would run not only in an editorially appropriate issue, but also in an issue without too many other inserts.

For me, there's too much going on in such a small area. Take out one of the three dynamics and the ad becomes tolerable. To take a line from an old Meatloaf song, "two out of three ain't bad."