Pepsi Stuff
Encyclopedia
Pepsi Stuff was a major loyalty program
launched by PepsiCo
, first in North America
on March 28, 1996 and then around the world, featuring premiums
— such as T-shirts, hats, denim and leather jackets, bags and mountain bikes — that could be purchased with Pepsi Points through the Pepsi Stuff Catalog or online. Customers could acquire points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups. Additional points were sold both by Pepsi and by consumers, the latter mainly enabled by eBay
. The Pepsi Stuff promotion ended December 31, 2008.
loyalty program of Pepsico called Pepsi Stuff was launched in the United States on March 28, 1996. Points were distributed on 4 billion packages and billions of cups and millions of consumers participated. According to some sources, the first Pepsi Stuff campaign significantly outperformed The Coca-Cola Company
's much-anticipated Atlanta Olympics Summer with growth 3 times larger than Coca-Cola's and 2 points of share gained by Pepsi. Pepsi Stuff continued to run throughout North America due to consumer and bottler demand, and was eventually expanded to include Mountain Dew
and other drinks, and into many international markets. In response to the campaign, The Coca-Cola Company accelerated and extended its discount pricing programs.
, David Beckham
, Beyoncé, Cindy Crawford
, Jimmy Fallon
, Jeff Gordon
, Derek Jeter
, John Lee Hooker
, Shaquille O'Neal
, Deion Sanders
, Shakira
, Britney Spears
, and the Spice Girls
appeared in TV, print, and Internet advertising promoting Pepsi Stuff. PepsiCo produced over 200 million catalogs each year, billions of Pepsi points, and an extensive line of free merchandise.
launched iCoke, a very similar program to Pepsi Stuff in which consumers collect points printed on packages in Canada. On February 28, 2006 — nearly ten years after the first Pepsi Stuff promotion began — The Coca-Cola Company responded with the launch of its first U.S. loyalty program
and biggest promotion ever, My Coke Rewards
, a premium program that is managed through four-billion unique codes that consumers can enter online to redeem over $50 million worth of premiums.
and with a dedicated website that provides a "shopping" experience modeled on the Amazon website. Amazon's partnership follows to Amazon's actual website, where the option to pay for certain designated items with Pepsi Points instead of traditional payment methods, is available. Pepsi once again relied on celebrities to advertise the promotion, including a Super Bowl spot starring Justin Timberlake
and featuring Andy Samberg
from Saturday Night Live
. This promotion ended on December 31, 2008.
In February 2010, Pepsi Launched a similar rewards system in New Zealand on 1.5 litre bottles. Codes on the inside of the labels allowed consumers to purchase MP3s on Bandit.fm
Loyalty program
Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially beneficial to the firm....
launched by PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
, first in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on March 28, 1996 and then around the world, featuring premiums
Premium (marketing)
Premiums are promotional items—toys, collectables, souvenirs and household products—that are linked to a product, and often require box tops, tokens or proofs of purchase to acquire. The consumer generally has to pay at least the shipping and handling costs to receive the premium...
— such as T-shirts, hats, denim and leather jackets, bags and mountain bikes — that could be purchased with Pepsi Points through the Pepsi Stuff Catalog or online. Customers could acquire points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups. Additional points were sold both by Pepsi and by consumers, the latter mainly enabled by eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. The Pepsi Stuff promotion ended December 31, 2008.
The Beginning
The premium-basedPremium (marketing)
Premiums are promotional items—toys, collectables, souvenirs and household products—that are linked to a product, and often require box tops, tokens or proofs of purchase to acquire. The consumer generally has to pay at least the shipping and handling costs to receive the premium...
loyalty program of Pepsico called Pepsi Stuff was launched in the United States on March 28, 1996. Points were distributed on 4 billion packages and billions of cups and millions of consumers participated. According to some sources, the first Pepsi Stuff campaign significantly outperformed The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
's much-anticipated Atlanta Olympics Summer with growth 3 times larger than Coca-Cola's and 2 points of share gained by Pepsi. Pepsi Stuff continued to run throughout North America due to consumer and bottler demand, and was eventually expanded to include Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew is a citrus-flavored carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in the 1940s by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman and was first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee. A revised formula was...
and other drinks, and into many international markets. In response to the campaign, The Coca-Cola Company accelerated and extended its discount pricing programs.
Partnership with Yahoo!
A five month promotion was launched August 1, 2000 by PepsiCo and Yahoo! Yahoo! powered the web presence of the Pepsi Points premium program, and a new logo was placed on Pepsi products with the line "Pepsi Stuff.com, Powered by Yahoo!" Pepsi Stuff was one of the first major consumer promotions to feature a dedicated interactive Web site. Celebrities like Andre AgassiAndre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
, David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, Beyoncé, Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford
Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
, Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
, Jeff Gordon
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is a professional NASCAR driver. He is the driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet Impala. He is a four-time Sprint Cup Series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the...
, Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...
, John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
, Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders
Deion Luwynn Sanders , nicknamed "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion", is a former National Football League cornerback and Major League Baseball outfielder who currently works as an NFL Network analyst...
, Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, and the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
appeared in TV, print, and Internet advertising promoting Pepsi Stuff. PepsiCo produced over 200 million catalogs each year, billions of Pepsi points, and an extensive line of free merchandise.
Other Pepsi campaigns
In the years after the initial Pepsi Stuff promotion, both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have introduced other promotions in a similar vein to the original campaign. Some promotions involved a variety of merchandise, while others involved specific products, such as Cash or MP3s. Pepsi's 2002-2003 iTunes campaign fizzled when only 500 cap codes were redeemed. Also in 2006, Pepsi introduced Pepsi Access in Canada to compete with iCoke, although that campaign ended in 2007.The competition
In 2005, The Coca-Cola CompanyThe Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
launched iCoke, a very similar program to Pepsi Stuff in which consumers collect points printed on packages in Canada. On February 28, 2006 — nearly ten years after the first Pepsi Stuff promotion began — The Coca-Cola Company responded with the launch of its first U.S. loyalty program
Loyalty program
Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially beneficial to the firm....
and biggest promotion ever, My Coke Rewards
My Coke Rewards
My Coke Rewards is a customer loyalty marketing program for Coca-Cola soft drinks. Customers enter codes found on specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products on a website. Codes can also be entered "on the go" by texting them from a cell phone...
, a premium program that is managed through four-billion unique codes that consumers can enter online to redeem over $50 million worth of premiums.
Rebooting Pepsi Stuff
In 2008, Pepsi relaunched the program, this time in partnership with Amazon MP3Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3 is an online music store owned and operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management from the four major music labels , as well as many independents...
and with a dedicated website that provides a "shopping" experience modeled on the Amazon website. Amazon's partnership follows to Amazon's actual website, where the option to pay for certain designated items with Pepsi Points instead of traditional payment methods, is available. Pepsi once again relied on celebrities to advertise the promotion, including a Super Bowl spot starring Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
and featuring Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
from Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. This promotion ended on December 31, 2008.
Point Values
Different products had codes worth different point values; single bottles generally had one point while can 12-packs had two and 24-packs had four. Codes from Pepsi NFL Kickoff 12-packs were worth four points. Items available for redemption through the promotion ranged in value from 5 points (MP3 song download) to 175 points (Vintage Pepsi logo hoodie sweatshirt). Customers could also redeem points for entry in various sweepstakes.In February 2010, Pepsi Launched a similar rewards system in New Zealand on 1.5 litre bottles. Codes on the inside of the labels allowed consumers to purchase MP3s on Bandit.fm
Bandit.fm
Bandit.fm is an online music store owned by the Sony corporation. As of August 2011, Bandit.fm is only available to customers in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore.-History:...
See also
- My Coke RewardsMy Coke RewardsMy Coke Rewards is a customer loyalty marketing program for Coca-Cola soft drinks. Customers enter codes found on specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products on a website. Codes can also be entered "on the go" by texting them from a cell phone...
— direct competition of Pepsi Stuff. - Pepsi-Cola
- Pepsi Refresh ProjectPepsi Refresh ProjectThe Pepsi Refresh Project is a 2010 initiative by PepsiCo to award $20 million in grants to individuals, businesses and non-profits that promote a new idea that has a positive impact on their community, state, or the nation...
- Premium (marketing)Premium (marketing)Premiums are promotional items—toys, collectables, souvenirs and household products—that are linked to a product, and often require box tops, tokens or proofs of purchase to acquire. The consumer generally has to pay at least the shipping and handling costs to receive the premium...
- Promotion (marketing)Promotion (marketing)Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
- Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc.Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc.Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc., 88 F. Supp. 2d 116, , aff'd 210 F.3d 88 , more widely known as the Pepsi Points Case, is a contracts case tried in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1999, in which the plaintiff, John Leonard, sued PepsiCo, Inc...
, a court case involving a Harrier Jump JetHarrier Jump JetThe Harrier, informally referred to as the Jump Jet, is a family of British-designed military jet aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing operations...
Pepsi featured in a Pepsi Stuff television commercial.