Pop, Fizz, Touchdown: Decoding Dr Pepper's Winning Commercial

This past weekend in the world of college football, a clash of titans took place between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines. Two 11-0 teams battling not only to keep their undefeated records, but also to leave their mark in this historic rivalry. The season had been a dramatic roller-coaster for Michigan, filled with controversies surrounding their coaching staff, which only added to the intensity of the matchup.

#TheGame, played at “The Big House” in front of Michigan’s home crowd of over 110,000 fans, came down to the wire and ended in a 30-24 victory for the Wolverines. After the victory, thousands of fans stormed the field to celebrate, creating a movie-like scene.

Something that really stood out to me while watching the game was how often commercials were shown throughout the broadcast. It seemed like they would cut to break after every three or four plays, and near the end of the game, when the coaches started to call their timeouts, it got even worse. At times, it almost felt like the game was the commercial break itself.

Although the end goal of any advertisement is to eventually sell something, it's also extremely important for it to first resonate and make a memorable impression on its audience. Being able to captivate a viewer before they become a customer is a sign of a successful advertising campaign, regardless of how much revenue is generated in the short term.

Among the compilation of advertisements shown during the broadcast, one was especially memorable. After rewatching it multiple times I identified the three main reasons that made this commercial truly exceptional. Before continuing, I highly encourage the reader to first watch the Dr Pepper commercial, which I will be referencing throughout the rest of the article.

This commercial immediately captures the viewer's curiosity by starting off with a somber hum playing in the background as the narrator announces, “On a devastating Fansville by Dr Pepper,”. Combining this sentence with the dramatic music creates an emotional impact purely through the use of sound while simultaneously introducing the brand. Additionally, the use of the word ‘devastating’ subtly tints our mindset with a touch of sympathy as we prepare to see something horrible. This really highlights the fact that, although most advertisements in today's world focus on visual elements, adding in other senses like sound can improve their impact and raise an emotional reaction in the viewer.

Initially, when I first watched it, I hadn’t paid much attention to how the narrator uses a sad tone in the first part of the introduction. However, when he says “by Dr Pepper,” his voice immediately changes to a faster-paced and more light-hearted one. This subtly emphasizes that although devastating events occur, Dr. Pepper still remains a brand of happiness. This subtle change of tone really helped differentiate Dr Pepper from the word devastating, almost countering it, instead of aligning them together.

Secondly, it’s theme was directly related to the program, smoothly aligning with what was being showcased. Simply put, it's very easy for sports fans to pay attention to sports-related commercials (this applies to anything; people love the things they love). Although Dr Pepper doesn’t really have anything to do with sports, by making sports-related commercials, they inadvertently become part of the sports experience for most fans watching the game at home. Years down the line, one may be inclined to purchase Dr Pepper simply because they’re tired of only seeing it on their TV and want to experience it in reality.

Thirdly, the combination of the PAS framework (which stands for Problem - Agitation - Solution) with a dramatic and at the same time simple story creates a very engaging commercial experience. In this Dr Pepper example, the problem is that the team is losing, leading the fans to think that their team is cursed. This is followed by agitation as everyone gets upset, with one even fan saying he'll never watch football again as he sets light to a bonfire made up of the team's memorabilia. The problem is then solved when the sheriff (the only fan drinking Dr Pepper from a bottle instead of a can) calmly says, “that was the first play of the game.” Upon hearing this, the rest of the fans let out a sigh of relief, as they realize they may have been overreacting.

The PAS framework helps simplify your message while simultaneously creating a story base that can be used to showcase the benefits of the marketed product.

This commercial also used a very commonly seen sports scenario where fans think a team is cursed if they don’t perform well for long periods of time. While I don’t personally believe in sports curses, I have personally witnessed many people believing this notion. By having one of the actors say, “our program is cursed”, Dr Pepper showed it understands sports fans and their struggles, helping build the connection between consumer and brand.

I'm sure Dr Pepper is well aware of how amazing this marketing campaign is, which is why they’ve made six full seasons of commercials related to Fansville. They all follow a similar comedic style, and when watching them, you never get the feeling that someone is trying to sell you something; rather, you are simply watching a relatable sports story that easily resonates with your own experiences.

If you enjoyed reading about the story behind Dr Pepper's unforgettable commercial, you won't want to miss my previous article where I dive into the unexpected success story of Q-tips, a journey from baby care, to beauty aid, to an international ear cleaning empire.

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