Pepsi Stuff

Pepsi Stuff refers to a promotion launched by PepsiCo, first in North America and then around the world, in the 1990s and continuing into the 2000s featuring merchandise that could be purchased with Pepsi Points. Customers can acquire points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups. Additional points have been sold both by Pepsi and by consumers, the latter mainly enabled by eBay.

1990s campaigns

Points were distributed on billions of packages and 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.Fact|date=February 2008 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.Fact|date=February 2008

Pepsi Stuff was one of the first major consumer promotions to feature a dedicated interactive Web site.Fact|date=February 2008 Celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears, Shaquille O'Neal, Deion Sanders, Shakira, Beyoncé, David Beckham, Andre Agassi, Derek Jeter, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Fallon, Jeff Gordon, and the Spice Girls appeared in TV, print, outdoor, in-store, Internet, and catalog advertising promoting Pepsi Stuff. Some were even featured on cans. PepsiCo produced over 200 million catalogs each year, billions of Pepsi points, and an extensive line of free merchandise.

2000s 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. Permanent merchandise campaigns began in 2005 when The Coca-Cola Company launched iCoke, a very similar program in which consumers collect points printed on packages, in Canada, with its introduction in the United States in 2006 as "My Coke Rewards." Also in 2006, Pepsi introduced Pepsi Access in Canada to compete with iCoke, although that campaign ended in 2007.

In 2008, Pepsi relaunched the program, this time in partnership with Amazon MP3 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 is once again relying on celebrities to advertise the promotion, including a Super Bowl spot starring Justin Timberlake and featuring Andy Samberg from "Saturday Night Live".

Different product have codes worth different point values; single bottles generally have one point while can 12-packs have two and 24-packs have four. However, in August 2008, the Lemon Pepsi has double the amount of Pepsi Stuff Points. Items available for redemption through the promotion range in value from 5 points (MP3 song download) to 175 points (Vintage Pepsi logo hoodie sweatshirt). Customers can also redeem points for entry in various sweepstakes.

ee also

*My Coke Rewards
*Pepsi-Cola
*Promotion (marketing)
*"Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc.", a court case involving a Harrier Jump Jet Pepsi jokingly offered in a Pepsi Stuff television commercial