How Pepsi Trolled Coca-Cola For National Burger Day 2021
There are a few famous brand rivalries that are universally known, like McDonald's versus Burger King and Apple versus Microsoft, to name a few. Similarly, the rivalry between Pepsi and Coca-Cola is heated and can sometimes get personal, especially in advertisements. Their opposition goes back for decades, with the first direct hit in a marketing campaign coming from Pepsi in 1975 when they released a commercial campaign called the "Pepsi Challenge," which depicted a blind taste test in which participants were shown to prefer Pepsi over Coke (per History).
This was the first direct attack in a marketing campaign where one of the cola companies personally called out the other and claimed their own product to be superior. We've seen a variety of similar tactics in marketing media since then, the most recent being a genius move by Pepsi, where they absolutely trolled Coca-Cola on National Burger Day this year.
Pepsi acknowledged its underdog status
The ads, which show the Pepsi logo hidden on a variety of different fast food packaging, are part of the #BetterWithPepsi campaign the company launched earlier this year to encourage customers to enjoy their burgers with a Pepsi versus a Coke. "The campaign is based around research which revealed that, after a blind taste test, 60% of participants preferred their Big Mac, Whopper or Dave's Single with a Pepsi rather than a Coke. 'Even when we're not on the menu, we're always in the picture', the ads read," (via CreativeBloq).
We have to say, the images and advertisements are definitely clever and caught our attention, though we're not sure how happy a fast food place will be if you bring your own can of Pepsi into their establishment. "The great Cola Wars of the 1980s were a battle between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo for dominance" and they have continued on in marketing campaigns such as this, which, if nothing else, makes us want a soda of some sort (via History).