Pepsi, Where's My Jet? : A Unique David vs Goliath Story

Recently I stumbled upon a docu-drama series on Netflix called "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?". Intrigued with the title I decided to watch it without any research or reading any reviews, and I came out of it rather impressed and curious. It is a classic case of how not to advertise. How a multi-billion dollar beverage giant of the world like Pepsi got on its knees to fend off a 20-year-old teenager demanding a Harrier fighter jet from it because of an advertisement.

The whole management of Pepsi including its CEO, Chief Marketing Officer, and one of the best advertising agencies in the world were caught off guard by a teenager because of their one small mistake. The mistake was not giving a disclaimer in an advertisement.

They never thought what they considered a joke would become one of the largest marketing disasters in history for Pepsi. The "David" in this case was 20-year-old teenager John Leonard who just saw the super bowl ad from the "Goliath" Pepsi where customers can collect points in exchange for gifts such as t-shirts, sunglasses, and other merchandise. Pretty simple right? But no, there was a loophole in the ad which was Identified by John. I would not spill out everything here as it might be a spoiler and the flow of the documentary is such that it makes you hooked till the last to know whether John Leonard succeeded or not. With the help of his mentor John Hoffman, he devised the strategy to win the harrier jet as advertised by Pepsi. They fought against the top lawyers in the country and with a company with unlimited resources. Years passed but they never gave up. It also showed light on many unknown dark histories of advertising such as the Pepsi "Number Fever" advertisement in the Philippines which many of us would not know.

This series is a must-watch for every marketing and advertising enthusiasts and this real-life case should be taught in every marketing and consumer behavior class of MBA. It is also a case study for a Law student and is taught and discussed in law schools around the world. It also deals with the terms such as "Offer" "Acceptance" and "Contract" which I learned in the Legal Aspects of Business class in my MBA. It would also have been a perfect case study for the consumer behavior class of our professor in my B-School. Do watch, it's certainly worth your time.

#pepsi #advertising #marketing #consumerbehavior