Two beverage companies featured advertising during the Super Bowl this year… it's not a surprise that they were The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Coke fielded 3 unique ads, while Pepsi showed 5. We've done detailed analysis on each of these ads individually, but here's a quick overview:

Coca-Cola Zero – "Mean Troy"

In this tribute to the original 1981 Coke commercial featuring Mean Joe Greene, The Coca-Cola Company debuted the first Coke Zero Super Bowl ad that features Troy Polamalu… and a storyline that seems similar, but different, from the original spot.

Coca-Cola – "Avatar"

This spot for Coke "shows how people in today's busy world use technology to stay virtually linked", but it also showcases how two people connect over high fructose corn syrup-sweetened goodness, while sitting in a diner that doesn't exist on Earth, using straws (seriously, straws?) to drink out of glass bottles that Coke doesn't even use in mainstream distribution.

Coca-Cola – "Heist"

This Coke commercial — part of the new "Open Happiness" campaign — features a bunch of bugs trying to steal a bottle from a guy in a park. Lots of CGI and a cheery music score make this a happy spot.

Pepsi Max – "I'm Good"

Diet Pepsi Max is relaunched on the big stage as Pepsi Max, a diet drink for men. Will this relaunched product — with new logo, name, and positioning — help in Pepsi's battle against Coke Zero?

Pepsi – "Refresh Anthem"

A 60-second spot for Pepsi featuring the "Refresh Anthem", sung by Bob Dylan, remixed with Will.i.am. It showcases how Pepsi has moved through the generations as always being the choice of the youthful set. Utilizing a parallel video device, it shows how some things have changed, but a lot of things stay the same.

Pepsi – "Pepsuber"

After debuting the night before via a trio of MacGruber product placement ads, Pepsi runs this Pepsuber spoof during the Super Bowl as part of their introduction of a new logo and slogan, "Refresh Everything".

Gatorade – "Talking Heads"

This is "Talking Heads", part of the repositioning of Gatorade around the "G" tagline through a series of "Manifesto" ads. It's part of Pepsi's "reinvention" of brands including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, and yes, Gatorade.

SoBe – "Lizard Lake"

This SoBe spot… yuck! The folks over at Arnell Group should be shot and relieved of their duties regarding the SoBe advertising account, because this 3D commercial done in conjunction with Intel, DreamWorks Animation, and NBC, is not only a bad Super Bowl piece… it's bad marketing.

Before we let the 2009 Super Bowl move into the past, I thought I might be interesting to step back and see how last year's beverage advertisers did over the past year. Was the Super Bowl exposure worth it?

• Diet Pepsi Max – "Nod"
  Pepsi spent the big bucks to introduce off Diet Pepsi Max to a larger audience… only to relabel it… rebrand it as Pepsi Max… and spend more money the next year to reintroduce the beverage. Result? Failure.

• Pepsi – "Magnetic Attraction"
  The reintroduction of Pepsi Stuff with Amazon MP3 downloads never really had the same appeal as the first iteration with Apple's iTunes. Add to that issues that retailers had with displays that showcased the Amazon brand (sensing that they were a competitor in the marketplace) and this promotion started hot, but in the public perception, fell flat. Result? Underwhelming.

• Gatorade G2 – "Derek Jeter Footsteps"
  Gatorade G2 was to be the hot new low-calorie version of the iconic sports drink that would appeal to the masses. A year later, Pepsi admitted the launch "was not quite as successful as we think it could have been." They are now repositioning the drink back at athletes. Result? Poorly Executed.

• Gatorade – "Man's Best Friend"
  An amazingly stupid commercial showcasing a dog drinking water out of a bowl. It was done by Arnell Group, the same agency that brought us this year's amazingly stupid 3D SoBe commercial. After having sales slip in 2008, Pepsi is relaunching Gatorade with new branding, iconography, and ads from a different agency. Result? Failure.

• SoBe LifeWater – "Thrillicious"
  Trying to take on Coke's Glacéau Vitaminwater, this spot introduced a bottle design that was very similar to the Coke product. And it featured dancing lizards. 1 year later, Coke had solid financials, while SoBe is relaunching their brand and redesigning their products once again. Result? Failure.

• Glacéau Vitaminwater – "Jockey"
  Coke had a solid 2008 in overall sales, though the only real growth they saw was in Coke Zero. Vitaminwater didn't return to the Super Bowl in 2009. Result? Unknown.

• Amp Energy – "Jumper Cables"
  Pepsi worked hard to give their Amp energy drink brand a boost by sponsoring Dale Earnhardt Jr's 88 car on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. The drink has grown 127.5% in 2008, with volume sales up 52.1%, outperforming the category. Result? Success.

• Coca-Cola – "Jinx"
  The election is over, so such a polarizing ad wouldn't work in 2009, but back in 2008 it made perfect sense. Result? Still, Coke was down North America by 2%, with only Coke Zero showing growth. The flagship seemed to struggle. Appropriate.

• Coca-Cola – "It's Mine"
  It's been interesting to read the reviews of 2009 Coke commercials from this Super Bowl. Many commentators compared this year's lineup against this very commercial, which they still feel was well-executed and Super Bowl-worthy. That it stands the test of time is notable. Result? Success.

Which commercials from 2009 did you like the best? Leave your comments below!

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Brand: SoBe
Title: "Lizard Lake"
Agency: Arnell Group

One of the gimmicks promoted during this year's Super Bowl was a series of 3D commercials, starting with the trailer for DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens. PepsiCo got in on the action as well by offering a 3D SoBe commercial as part of the block; NBC also aired an episode of Chuck in 3D.

Looking beyond the fact that the 3D thing isn't exactly new to the Super Bowl (it's been done before by Diet Coke), the folks over at Arnell Group should be shot and relieved of their duties regarding the SoBe advertising account. I don't care if the "SoBe lizards" are part of the iconography of the brand, they are just creepy and lame. They are not attractive or cute like the Geico Gecko or even the old Budwieser Frogs and Lizard. They are just ugly and don't do a very good job at making a fruit-flavored drink seem like something you'd want… especially in an era when Coke's VitaminWater brand is beating the tar out of you in the marketplace.

This is just a horrible, horrible ad. It has CGI lizards and real football players (Ray Lewis, Justin Tuck, Matt Light) dancing "Swan Lake". What? Throw in some characters from a film that hasn't even been released yet and you've got utter confusion. Not to mention, the use of 3D was rather poorly executed, creating a situation where the ad could not live up to the hype. Here is a perfect situation where having too many ad partners involved in what Pepsi described as "the first ever Super Bowl ad cross over event" (Intel, PepsiCo, DreamWorks Animation, NBC) just creates a jumbled, diluted result.

Yuck.

For those of you who have the 3D glasses, here's the 3D version of the ad for you to watch:

• Sprite Green
• Zevia
• SANS Natural Diet Soda

Original Story: The latest diet beverage war has begun with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration granting approval for use of a new artificial sweetener in soft drinks. Based on the stevia plant found in South America, rebaudioside A (also known as Reb-A) is the key ingredient in two new sweeteners being used by both Coke and Pepsi in new products.

First off is Sprite Green from Coke, which uses the Truvia brand of sweetener, the consumer name for Rebiana, which is the Reb-A version offered by a joint project between The Coca-Cola Company and Cargill.

Rolling out first in New York and Chicago, Sprite Green is a reduced calorie version of Sprite, the most recent line extension since the rebranding of Diet Sprite to Sprite Zero and the trio of short-term Remix flavored drinks (Sprite Remix Tropical, Sprite Remix Berryclear, Sprite Remix Aruba Jam). Per Coke's press release about the new drink, Sprite Green "has 50 calories per 8.5-ounce serving and 5% lemon juice. Sprite Green was created to appeal to active young adults and will be launched in two U.S. cities this month in distinctive 8.5-ounce aluminum bottles. Initial availability will be limited to teen and young adult-oriented locations and events with a broader rollout planned for early 2009. Sprite Green complements the Sprite brand’s leading lemon-lime and zero-calorie lemon-lime sparkling beverages."

On the flipside, Pepsi is rolling out Zero Calorie versions of SoBe LifeWater in 3 flavors: Yumberry Pomegranate, Fuji Apple Pear, and Black and Blue Berry. These drinks use the PureVia brand of the Reb-A sweetener, created by Whole Earth Sweetener Company and used by Pepsi.

Pepsi's press release notes that "in addition to a full day's supply of Vitamin C, each bottle of zero-calorie SoBe Lifewater also provides 20% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin E as well as 10% of the recommended daily value of Vitamins B6, B12, Niacin (B3) and Pantothenic Acid (B5.) Each also will be infused with a unique blend of herbal ingredients." The SoBe products are going to be available nationally.

Like the abundance of Splenda-based products that came out years ago, the introduction of Stevia-based sweeteners to the marketplace is bound to prompt a new wave of drinks or at the very least, reforumalations of existing diet beverages. Right now, the hot combo seems to be Aspartame/Acesulfame potassium (as used in Coca-Cola Zero). Sucralose as a stand-alone sweetener got some press when Coke rolled out Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda back in 2005, but other than its comob use as Sucralose/Ace-K in Diet Rite, hasn't really been the "silver bullet" sweetener like Aspartame/Ace-K has been.

One wonders what's going to happen with these Stevia-based drinks… or beyond that, if the public is going to be utterly confused by the zillion names associated with this new product (i.e. Stevia, rebaudioside A, Reb-A, Truvia, PureVia, etc.)

It's going to be an interesting year in beverages!

This is primarily in response to The Coca-Cola Company's recent purchase of Glaceau and their Vitaminwater beverage, along with the continued success of Coca-Cola Zero.

In addition, they are preparing themselves for a challenging financial situation in the coming months:

Pepsi, the world's second-largest soft drink maker behind Coke, reaffirmed 2008 projections of 3 percent to 5 percent case volume growth and mid-to-high single digit revenue growth. It also expects earnings per share of $3.72, about a 10 percent increase over 2007's.

Pepsi is watching the economy for signs of a slowdown and also dealing with higher raw material prices, said Pepsi Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.

"We are well aware of the challenges in 2008 and we know full well it's going to take more than a single action or initiative to address these challenges," Nooyi said.

… In North America, beverage volume has been flat with gains in non-carbonated drinks, such as Gatorade and Lipton teas, offsetting declines in carbonated soft drinks.

Unlike Coca-Cola, though, Pepsi also has food divisions, Frito-Lay and Quaker, which contributed to revenue and operating profit gains in 2007. Pepsi expects continued growth abroad for carbonated beverages.

Pepsi recently broadened its Gatorade line-up with G2, a low-calorie sports drink, and Tiger, a Gatorade extension built around golfer Tiger Woods.

Source

Brand: SoBe LifeWater
Title: "Thrillicious"
Agency: Arnell Group

SoBe LifeWater, owned by PepsiCo, is a runner-up in the vitamin-enhanced, nutrient water product category. This Super Bowl featured a showdown of the nutrient water brands, as Coke's Vitaminwater also made a commercial appearance. LifeWater also was the presenting sponsor of broadcaster FOX's halftime report. In any case, Pepsi pulls out Michael Jackson's 1984 hit, "Thriller", in an odd combination of a female model and gyrating reptiles performing the iconic dance.