Before we begin let's give ya some backstory:
Back in '08 Pepsico held a competition against 3 new flavors so one could become an official flavor. Those flavors were Revolution (which was a berry flavor, what is dat supposed to mean?), Supernova (How does that even relate to strawberry-melon), and Voltage (raspberry, and the winner). The promotion was so successful that Pepsi decided to hold the promotion again in 2010. This time there was 3 new flavors known as Distortion (which was lime, but it was so similar to regular Dew it might as well be regular Dew), Typhoon (Which fans noticed tasting like Hawaiian Punch, and so similar to Code Red), and White Out (Which tasted like fizzed up Sprite, and that year's winner). Fans eagerly anticipated what was next, but we got SCREWED!!!!!!
Before we begin, let's review the letter me and my friend sent them:
Dear Mountain Dew,
Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding your promotions for this summer. I know summer is the best time for Mountain Dew with promotions and other stuff, but it was confirmed on your official facebook fan page that you wouldn’t be doing Dewmocracy this year. This is kind of a shame because a friend and I were legitimately excited for it. Why isn’t there going to be a Dewmocracy this year? What other plans will there be for this summer? You don’t have to explain what they are, but could you let me know if there will be.
From,
A fan
Well written, good spirited, and not particularly stalkish. Now, let's review the response they sent us.
Before we go on, a little disclaimer:
The following response is not an attack to Pepsico, it's products, or any of the people of the company. this is meant to help Pepsi in the future with future responses to fans and help the company in general.
Now that we got that out of the way, lez begin.
First problem: They used democracy rather than DEWMOCRACY!!! I assume they did this because of spell check, but even then they're supposed to know they're promotions regardless of spell check. Another possible theory is that they don't know what Dewmocracy actually is. That doesn't help ANYTHING because if your going to work somewhere you have to have a good knowledge of the product and/or the company to actually work for them. And the final excuse is that they were in a rush, this is the kind of question that requires you to think, so still not a great excuse.
Also, we didn't pay attention to the two Dewmocracy promotions, but we didn't put that part in so we can forgive them.
Second problem, They didn't explain why there isn't going to be another Dewmocracy this year, see above to for reasons, not terribly great reasons, but kinda valid.
Here's a couple of possible reasons:
1. Lack of interest. this is both valid and invalid, valid because some say that the second Dewmocracy flavors weren't as unique as the last ones also sales probably weren't as good second time around, but invalid because that will increase sales.
2. Flavor ideas. I have a sense that if they do another Dewmocracy, that they'll recycle old flavors or come up with not as exciting as previous ones new flavors. That one is kinda valid, there is such a thing as too many permanent flavors *Shrugs*.
I just pray that there's a flavor of dew released this year that isn't diet or an old flavor rereleased or even a promotion hat isn't a contest.
Next time, whtevadahell I want.
First off, for you and your friend to get a personal response from this large of a company, that is a small victory in its own right. Most of the time there is an autoresponse and they just don't care too much at all.
ReplyDeleteThe issue you brought up with them not saying dewmocracy is legitimate, however the reason the associate did not call it that is because it is technically a "democracy" promotion. Yes, the title was dewmocracy, but the label for it for pepsico would be more descriptive of the actual nature of the promotion.
While it is kind of disappointing from your end to not here specifically why they are not doing the promotion, the guy gave you a very political but interested answer. He probably could not tell you too much beyond what he did tell you because these decisions and reasons tend to stay inside the company unless publicly released.
My guess is they are not doing it because they likely lost money (or are projected to lose money) by doing it again. Remember, it take time, effort, and money to come up, create, test, package, ship, advertise, etc. the new products. While the first time was a large success, as you noted the second time was less creative and they likely made a lot less money. Much like to how sequels to movies work, the more times you do it, the less money you get out of it each time (after a certain point, obviously if the first was good enough to make a second, more will be made off the second usually). From the economists point of view, they saw that doing this promotion again, overall, would not be worth the money and probably not turn out as large a profit as doing something else.
All in all, I would be happy with the response and be appreciated you were taken seriously. It is hard to fight up a bureaucratic ladder but getting a personalized response is more than most people get usually.
Thx for the for the HUGE response.
DeleteOh really?
Delete