Brand Tidbits

Speaking of international campaigns,  Pepsi released a re-make of one of its more popular advertisements for Pepsi max, 'The Job Interview'. The original ad, The Job Interview, was first released during the super-bowl in '09 and till date is one of their more popular ads. It speaks about friendship, enjoying the moment, and celebrations all with 'no sugar', which in essence in the brand's positioning. A little similar to Coco-Cola with its celebrations theme? sure....and while not an entirely unique position, all is fair in the cola wars! 

The re-make of the ad, is quite similar except with one little twist...it's in Hindi! The ad, The Job \Interview - Remade was designed to capture with the same principles but for the Indian market. Reaction for this is quite mixed. Some like it, because its no similar and it's a safe bet that the market will be able to understand the message, but for other's they feel its nothing new, and does not spark any further interest. 

I am likely to side with the latter. Sure, the ads fun, provides the same message, positions the brand in the same way and on the grounds that both markets are quite similar then the word will certainly get across. But, in today's world, it's quite safe to assume that most of the Indian market have probably seen the western equivalent, and for them this ad will be familiar territory, so it might not break through the clutter to get the market's attention and convey the message across.

In other news, Nissan is finally replacing its 'Shift' tagline to 'Innovation for all'. I say finally because, I for one never really liked 'Shift'. It seemed functional at best, and did not convey any extra meaning...I always wondered Shift...what??? Now their new tagline on the other hand, shows some promise. It not only is a position/promise in one but also talks about the future for the company. This new tagline was unveiled along with the fact that they will be the first to unveil a full blown electric vehicle to the US market, hopefully propelling Nissan higher than its no. 3 position. This is a timely launch as the product is innovative and suits the new promise of the brand. 

For more: Nissan Innovation for All Campaign.aspx