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REV: FEBRUARY 3, 2012

THALES S. TEIXEIRA ALISON CAVERLY

Pepsi-Lipton Brisk
In September 2010, Mary Barnard and Marisol Tamaro returned to their offices at Pepsi Headquarters after a meeting with their new advertising agency. Mekanism had just been hired to work on the re-launch of Brisk Iced Tea, a brand that had had its glory days in the ‘90’s and later had become stagnant. As of 2009, Brisk sales were rising and it attained a 10% market share in the fast growing ready-to-drink tea category, despite having virtually no advertising support. Pepsi decided that it would start investing heavily in the brand in 2011. To start off the year, a spot had been purchased for a Brisk ad to be shown during the Super Bowl, in early February. What Barnard and Tamaro needed to decide was how to carry the advertising momentum in the months following the most viewed sports event in American television. Should they stick with advertising on TV or try out a viral advertising approach in social media? Their budget wouldn’t allow for both media to be used. Barnard, Vice President at PepsiCo and the General Manager of the Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership (PLP), owner of Brisk, was in charge of the final decision and conferred with Tamaro, Brand Building Director for Brisk, on what to do. PepsiCo was the second largest food and beverage company in the world. So at $340 million in net revenues in 2009-10, PLP seemed like a drop in the ocean compared to the $10 billion1 from its holding company, the Pepsi Americas Beverages division. Yet, PepsiCo executives had given a Super Bowl spot to Brisk, over bigger brands such as Lay’s and Mountain Dew, because top management had decided to invest in the brand and in iced tea. It was the only major category where neither Pepsi nor its rival, Coca-Cola, had the top market share position. Needless to say, all eyes at PepsiCo were on