Pepsi has been in the news for its latest part in the cola wars, the Pay-it-Forward vending machine. The concept and technology behind it is quite novel and could possibly be the first in a long line of socially networked and interactive vending machines. The way it works is simple, you can choose a beverage, put in the contact details of a friend and they are notified of a drink redeemable at a vending machine of their convenience. It's about spreading the love and getting real people to act voluntarily as brand ambassadors..plus who would want to pass up on a free drink?? This campaign would involve a large expense on behalf of Pepsi, but overall is reminiscent of Coca-Cola's happiness campaign and their Happiness machines whose main aim is to encourage social interaction and bonding over the drink. This has been a long running aspect of their campaign and the happiness machine is a logical extension of it, but it would be interesting to watch how Pepsi develops their campaign further and the success rate of the machines, and how will Coca-Cola retaliate?
Pushing the boundaries of imitation is the new commercial of Edge shaving gel, and its eerie likeness to the Old Spice Isiah Mustafa campaign. It's hard to find a good video of it and this is the best i could do.
But it's one thing to seek inspiration and another to blatantly copy...what does a brand achieve out of that? The goals, ideology and style are completely different, even if the product may be similar the budget would have been better spent on developing the brand further and in creating a unique identity..enough said.
Lately it seems to me, most car brands have been adopting the word 'innovation' into their advertising, with Citroen - "celebrating innovation" following closely behind, Nissan's - "Innovation for all". If all brands are innovative..isn't that just the norm then?
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