Coke thrashes Pepsi in Super Bowl social media shakedown

While the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts  will square up for Super Bowl XLIV on February 6th, Coke and Pepsi are already into a social media skirmish with the 100 million viewer event of the US advertising year as a backdrop.

Pepsi are not advertising for the first time in 23 years at Super Bowl, diverting activity into their Pepsi Refresh campaign, centered around a Facebook organised offline treasure hunt backed with poster and TV tie-ins, aiming to raise $20 million for local charities around the world.

Coke, who launch their social media campaign ‘Live Positively’ on Facebook today, is donating a dollar to Boys & Girls Clubs of America for every invite sent to a friend – up to a maximum of $250,000. Participants are rewarded with a 20 second sneak preview of their one off special ad, featuring the Simpsons, the full version to be played at the Super Bowl.

Significantly, Coke has integrated their campaign with the traditional Super Bowl advertising event, where brands annually produce one off specials, often becoming the most remembered ads of that year, e.g., Budweiser’s Clydesdale Stick last year.

The head to head stats suggest Coke wins this super-brand super bowl hands down, with 4 million plus Facebook fans and a 100 million TV audience, compared to Pepsi’s 300,000 Refresh Everything Facebook fans and no TV presence.

Pepsi may claim their $20 million campaign is more philanthropic but in terms of audience connection, it’s less tangible. When I sent my invite on the Coke site I could see from the site ticker that mine was the 17,884 ‘th dollar donated.

Plus, Coke has the Simpsons – the sneak peak I saw was themed ‘another billionaire losing all his money’ – sure to get everyone watching onside.

Commercially, it looks like Coke has already won this Super Bowl by some margin.