Introduction Brisk Iced Tea, a brand underneath the Pepsi­Unilever Partnership, needed a serious brand revival. Although the brand did very well in the 1990s, its growth had since become stagnant. After having no advertising support since its glory days, Brisk sought more marketing and advertising needs as its competitors (like Arizona) took the lead in sales and number of social media followers. In 2011, the PepsiCo. team decided to reinvest in Brisk starting off with a 30 second advertising spot in the Super Bowl. Led by Mary Barnard, VP at PepsiCo, and Marisol Tamaro, Brand Building Director for Brisk, the top management team’s decisions following the Super Bowl commercial would be crucial to the success of the 2011 Brisk Campaign. Keeping their target segment in mind (i.e. male millennials and Hispanics), the Pepsi Brisk team needed to develop a cool, fun, and bold marketing campaign that would leverage the buzz created by the Super Bowl in order to continue the excitement about the brand. The marketing campaign would need to engage millennial consumers and inspire in them a call to action to build the foundation for a strong online fan base and presence. Q1 – ​
Analysis of Past STP, Value Proposition (USP) What has been the STP for Pepsi Brisk Brand over the years? Since its conception, Brisk was “born as a tea for young adults.” Teenagers and youth were not yet interested in “tea” products because they viewed it as a drink for old people. Therefore, the Brisk brand segmented ​
their market into health conscious young adults who were on the go and needed a refreshing drink that was a healthier alternative to soda. This segment of consumers also viewed brands they associated with as a means of self expression (HBS 3). The Brisk brand ​
targeted​
the males out of their segmented customers: “Brisk’s natural personality is male” (HBS 5). Brisk made a conscious decision to target young adult males because they believe that by leaning towards the male audience, the females will naturally come along (HBS 5). This is evidenced through the celebrities the brand has chosen to endorse their products, actors and entertainers such as Bruce Lee, Coolio, Bruce Willis, and Rocky Balboa (HBS 3). As the brand continued to evolve from the 1990s, Brisk decided to focus their targeting on male millennials and Hispanics. In the 2000s, the Brisk team saw a huge growth of millennials as tea drinkers. These more health conscious individuals had the unmet desire to consume caffeine without having to give up the refreshing flavor of soda. Through extensive market research, the Brisk team also learned that these young adults viewed the products and brands they used as a means of self expression. Therefore, Brisk focused its advertising and marketing efforts on ​
positioning​
itself as edgy and cool, cultivating an attitude­based image, and promising to provide energy once drinken. In 2010, Brisk’s potential creative agency partner, Mekanism, did more market research specifically on millennials. They learned that millennials responded best to brand that were entertaining, humorous, and interactive. They also sought outlets not just of self expression but of creative expression. What they choose to buy is an “important reflection of both [their] social and personal identit[ies]” (HBS 18). Therefore, Mekanism also proposed that Brisk’s brand promise should include that the brand will revive consumers’ “creative mojo” (HBS 10). How has the Brand evolved over the years? Initially, Brisk’s brand was more health conscious, which was established through their partnership with Lipton in 1991. PepsiCo was able to leverage Lipton’s reputation as a health­conscious brand to market Brisk towards individuals who were trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Then to differentiate itself from other ready­to­drink tea brands that emphasized the healthiness of their products, Brisk focused cultivating an “attitude­based image for the brand,” a brand that was more edgy, cool, and energizing in the early 2000s. After not launching any more mainstream advertisements about Brisk, PLP decided to reinvest in the brand and launched the “Make Your Mark” Campaign in 2010, which was a competition for young artists to submit bottle designs for all of the brand’s flavors. The release of control that Brisk experienced through this design contest shows that the brand decided to take a risk and truly embody a more individualistic brand that consumers can connect to. Now, in order to attract more male millennials, Brisk is attempting to refocus its positioning as a brand that is fun, bold, cool, and unique brand that would reflect the consumer’s attitude and revive his creative identity (HBS 10). How has it performed? The 1990s were the glory days of the Brisk brand; since then it had lost most of its customer base. However, beginning in 2009, sales started to increase once again and Brisk was able to capture 10% of the ready­to­drink tea market (RTD). In 2010, Brisk ranked third in sales among RTD brands, capturing 8.7% of the market. Although the brand experienced 34.4% growth in sales from the previous year, its market share decreased as the RTD tea category was growing rapidly. Consumers became more health conscious and started switching out of “fountain, powder drinks, coffee and non­bottled water” to drinking a healthier alternative: RTD tea. The Brisk brand faced many competitors such as Arizona, Snapple, SoBe, and Tazo. Arizona took the lead in sales while Snapple trailed closely behind Brisk with 8.4% of market share. While Brisk was growing rapidly in sales, the brand hardly had a social media presence in comparison to its competitors. Arizona had 250 times more likes on Facebook than Brisk and more than 20 times the followers on Twitter (HBS 4). How is Pepsi Brisk positioned versus Arizona? Brisk and Arizona both target millennials; however they are positioned slightly different. Both brands are positioned as cool and are relevant for their young audiences, but Brisk takes an edgier and more masculinized approach because they are specifically targeting male millennials. While Brisk is “inherently male” (HBS 5), Arizona’s brand is more gender ambiguous. It’s hard to speak fully to Arizona’s positioning without talking about its online presence and its reception among its target audience. Having acquired over 900k “likes” on FB, Arizona has done a good job taking advantage of social media habits of millennials. Arizona has wildly engaging content including weekly photo contests, photo scavenger hunts, and a “design your own can” contest (HBS 14). It can be inferred that Arizona is positioned as somewhat of a creative and adventurous product. In contrast, Brisk’s social media presence was scarce and non­existent. When asked about Brisk versus Arizona Iced Tea in 2010, consumers seemed to prefer Arizona over Brisk (HBS 4). Consumers described Brisk as being sugary, artificial, and sweet but painted Arizona in a more positive light, calling it refreshing, tasty, and good. What are the main competitors for Pepsi Brisk? At first glance, one might think that the only main competition for Brisk would be other RTD teas. However, it’s important to remember that most millennial males wouldn’t be moved to try RTD teas in the way that it’s been traditionally packaged and promoted because of the lack of the right “cool” factor. So, in addition to RTD teas like Arizona, Snapple, and Sobe, the main competitors for Brisk also compass soda brands­­something millennials have grown up drinking and are familiar with. Other soda brands that are positioned similar to Brisk include Mt. Dew, which is both sweet and has a large amount of caffeine, and Coke Zero which is more “macho” (Discussion November 26, 2014). Are the value propositions against different competitors the same or different? Why? Recall that a value proposition is defined as a “set of benefits that a marketer proposes to deliver to satisfy customer’s needs” (Kolter 6). It encompasses both a tangible good (the product) as well as some intangible goods “which can be a combination of products, services, information, and experiences” (Kolter 6). While the tangible portion that most of the competition offers are similar to that of Brisk­­a refreshing beverage can offer more than a way to quench thirst. The intangible value propositions and the experiences promised by most other RTD teas and sodas are exceptionally different. They do this becau​
se they’re trying to experiment with different messages to best reach their target audience. Q2 – ​
Brand Architecture: Evaluation and Recommendation What is your assessment of the branding architecture used for Pepsi Brisk? Why and How? What overall Branding strategy would you recommend for Brisk? Exhibit 2A: PepsiCo’s Beverage Brand Architecture PepsiCo’s beverage brands are organized in the shadow “House of Brands” architecture because each of PepsiCo’s brands is independent of one another and does not affect the performance of the other drinks. Each beverage brand targets separate segments, geographies, and there haven’t been many synergies to be leverage. Many consumers aren’t likely to associate these beverages with one another because there is little indication in their packaging or general advertising that they are produced by PepsiCo. In fact, some consumers may be surprised to learn that Gatorade, Aquafina, Sierra Mist, and Brisk are all owned by the same company as Pepsi. There is a significant amount of daylight between each of these beverage brands as well, which helps avoid cannibalization. In the exhibit above, the brands are positioned with those that are similar in target segments, geographies, and product qualities. For example, all of the caffeinated sodas are grouped together on the right, whereas the bottled water and juices are positioned on the left. Brisk is positioned in between these two clusters because it isn’t considered quite as sugar­heavy or caffeinated like sodas, but it also isn’t a fitness drink or juice like Gatorade or Tropicana. When specifically looking at Brisk’s brand architecture, it is interesting to see it’s evolution since the early 90s: Exhibit 2B: The evolution of the Brisk brand PepsiCo established a partnership with Unilever in 1991 to leverage Lipton’s brand reputation of being health­conscious and establish Brisk’s credibility as a healthy iced tea. PepsiCo’s corporate strategy of focusing on health benefits came from the overall source of the RTD tea industry’s growth: many consumers were “moving away from carbonated soft drinks as the new trend was health and wellness” (HBS 2). During the early years of the Pepsi­Unilever partnership (PLP), Lipton Brisk was one of three brands within PLP, the other two being Lipton and Lipton PureLeaf. Because the premium core brand, Lipton, was used in the name and packaging of each product, the PLP brand architecture focused on an endorsement model for some time. In 1996, PLP launched the “That’s Brisk Baby!” marketing campaign to differentiate Brisk from other RTD teas and establish a unique brand character. During the mid­90s, PLP’s corporate strategy was to target young adults who “viewed products and brands they associated with as a means of self­expression” (HBS 3). Because PLP was no longer focused on the health benefits of Brisk, they dropped the Lipton logo and name from the brand. This is when the PLP brand architecture shifted from an endorsement model to a “shadow” house of brands. With Lipton and Brisk disconnected from one another, PLP was able to focus on building individual brands. For a while in 2002, PLP chose to build up the premium Lipton brand; however, in recent years, they have been focused on establishing Brisk’s “attitude” brand. They launched the “Make Your Mark” campaign with the intent of emphasizing Brisk’s uniqueness. Now that PepsiCo wants to establish an online brand and target millennials, PepsiCo’s and PLP’s “House of Brands” architecture best supports their strategy to achieve these goals. Because Brisk is no longer associated closely with Lipton and it was never closely associated with the other Pepsi brands, the marketing team will be able to position Brisk in a unique manner by establishing Brisk during the Super Bowl and with the following viral videos.
Customer Behavior Q3 ­ DMU and DMP for Millennials, Customer Loyalty How does the millennial generation in general and the target segment for Pepsi Brisk in particular move through the AIDA process (awareness, interest, desire, action) and make decisions about new drinks? What are their media habits and what promotional techniques should be used for Pepsi Brisk to influence them through the process? What type of customer loyalty does Pepsi want to develop for Pepsi Brisk? For the overall Pepsi Brand? Having grown up being constantly bombarded by advertisements at every corner, millennials are a savvy group of consumers. Gone are the days when a TV jingle would be able to clench new customers and sales. Millennials seek high levels of engagement and connection with brands through compelling storytelling­­for this generation to move through the AIDA process and make decision requires brands to have a personality of their own as well as a presence on social media. Traditional television advertising is too easy for the selected DMUs to tune out especially when considering the multitude of technological devices that young people have at their disposal at all times. More specifically, the target segment identified for Brisk (including male Millennials, Hispanics) moves through the AIDA action process as follows. When considering the media habits of this generation it’s important to note that over 50% of millennials visit a social media platform at least once a day, and around 59% of millennials get their news from the internet (Brisk Case Exhibit 14). Conversely, 65% of this same segment gets their news from TV but this is often complemented by social media usage, as is the case with Super Bowl advertisements. Use of social media platforms has boomed in recent years­­in January 2010 a whopping 75% of millennials said that they were active on social media sites compared with only 7% in February and March of 2005. The promotional techniques that Brisk should use to influence potential customers should center around a strong online campaign where people can engage heavily with fun media and share it with their friends. Brisk wants to develop “heart loyal” (Lecture December 1, 2014) customers who wouldn’t think of switching from Brisk to similar brands such as Arizona. Brisk wants to connect with consumers at an emotional level­­it has to hit close to home and resonate with its customer segment. It can’t rely too heavily on the Lipton brand as “Lipton Brisk Iced Tea. . .[perceived] differently from the core Lipton brand, which was generally perceived by younger consumers as not as cool” (HBS 2­3). Brisk needs to be cool, edgy, and personally relevant to its target segment. As well as for the overall Pepsi Brand, Pepsi is looking to attain lifelong customers and who are “hand loyal” (Lecture December 1, 2014). When a “heart loyal” Brisk customer is shopping for something other than RTD tea, they should choose something from within the Pepsi family (e.g. Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, etc.) because Pepsi will have gained their trust with Brisk and other Pepsi products are widely available and convenient to access. This sort of customer retention also depends on understanding customer needs, being aware of the general ecosystem and reacting to changing needs and updating offers. (Slide 2, Discussion September 9, 2014) Promotion Analysis and Recommendations Q4 – ​
Campaign Analysis and Recommendations Do you concur with the goals (Mission) for the campaign as stated on page 5? Why or why not? How attainable are these? How would you prioritize them? Why? Should Brisk be advertised on prime time TV or with viral ads in the months after the Super Bowl ad? What are the costs (such as CPM) and benefits of each media? The mission for Brisk upcoming campaigns are to (1) reintroduce the brand to male millennials (those born between 1980s­1990s) and Hispanics, (2) convince current Arizona consumers to switch over to Brisk, and (3) build an online presence to (a) generative positive word­of­mouth buzz and (b) increase its fan base on social media. Refer to Exhibit 4A. Reintroduce the brand to male millennial and Hispanics The mission to target male millennial is very sounding because Brisk's “inherent personality is male” and “the RTD tea market is split evenly between males and female”. Based on past Brisk's research, male audience is turned off by products with female association. Meanwhile, female audience is indifferent in this aspect and may still follow the product with male association. On the other hand, targeting Hispanics is not sounding at all because it excludes other ethnic groups that could potentially be Brisk customers. Ultimately, Brisk is aiming "to get scale" as Tamaro explained, thus targeting solely Hispanics simply does not make sense (Brisk 5). However, the strategy to target male millennial makes sense because Brisk is aiming for volume sales, thus scaling is very important. Attainability wise, targeting male millennials is likely because many millennial males today were already familiar with the Brisk brand, so familiar that "they found old ads on YouTube on their own," according to Tamaro (Brisk, 5). Convert Arizona drinkers to Brisk The mission to convert Arizona tea drinkers to Brisk is mildly sounding because Arizona controls 28% of the RTD tea market by dollars compared to Brisk's 8.7%. Based on this number alone, Arizona is the market leader of the RTD market. Brisk's position as a market challenger may be met with retaliation from Arizona to protect their market share. Most importantly, Arizona customers perceive Arizona more "favorably" and view its tea as "refreshing, tasty, and delicious" compared negative perception of Brisk tea as "artificial" and "sugary" (HBS 4). Attainability wise, converting Arizona drinkers to Brisk will be difficult because Arizona has the lion's share of the RTD tea market. Any frontal or indirect attack from Brisk may result in heavy retaliation from Arizona, something that Brisk cannot afford at this point in its company's life. Most importantly, Arizona drinkers are also unlikely to switch over to Brisk due to their negative perception of the brand. Build an online presence The mission to build an online presence to generate positive word­of­mouth and increase social media fan base is very sounding. Brisk's negative perception is related to its weak social media presence. As of summer of 2010, Arizona had 250x more Facebook "Likes" and 20x Twitter followers compared to Brisk. Similarly, other brands such as Snapple and SoBe were also on social media. The subset goals of building an online presence are to generate positive word­of­mouth and increase the social media fan base for Brisk. Both subset goals are very sounding because Brisk needs to build its presence online and leverage it to create a positive image for the brand. Most importantly, a 2010 research shows that consumers are more tech savvy and that 40% of those who watch TV were also on social networking sites at the same times (HBS 7). Prioritization Among Brisk’s three campaign missions, building an online presence has the highest priority because although Brisk is growing in sales, it is lacking in brand equity. Ultimately, Brisk does not simply want to “sell cheap tea”—Brisk wants to “build a brand” (HBS 5). Tamaro reinforces that product mix and promotions help sales, but campaigns will build a fan base for Brisk and that word­of­mouth is a powerful selling tool. Second to building an online presence is to target male millennials because this group is already familiar with the Brisk brand, thus capturing and solidifying Brisk’s presence in this market is important. Targeting this group will not exclude other groups, thus enabling for Brisk to scale. Both targeting Hispanics and converting Arizona drinkers to Brisk are listed as low priority. The Hispanics market is a niche group and a target focus on it may create exclusion for other ethnic groups to try Brisk—a move that Brisk cannot afford at this time. Although converting Arizona drinkers is important, Brisk cannot afford to launch a direct attack on Arizona at this time when only has a third of Arizona’s market share (Lecture 12, Kotler Strategies). At this time, Brisk needs to work on what it is weakest at: building an online brand and presence. In essence, for Brisk to achieve the mission of targeting male millennials and convert Arizona drinkers, it must first achieve the mission of building an online presence first. Brisk’s choice of media follow­up after its Super Bowl ad is pivotal because getting the most ‘eyeballs’ is not only the goal. Brisk wants these ‘eyeballs’ to convert to meaningful engagement that will spread the Brisk brand on the social media sphere. In essence, Brisk is attempting to create organic and viral reach that will acquire new followers from the fan base that it will develop from the Super Bowl ad. Quantitatively, the Super Bowl captures the most ‘eyeballs’ at 100 million impressions at the highest cost of $30 cost­per­thousand (CPM). Primetime TV follows with 90 million impressions at the cost of $24 CPM while viral ads follows behind with $23 CPM for $12 million impressions. Although the Super Bowl costs the most, it is the channel that commands the most eyeballs, thus must be used despite its high cost. Refer to Exhibit 4B. Both viral ads and Primetime TV have their risks and rewards. Primetime TV is the less risky as a traditional channel to capture ‘eyeballs’ for the Brisk brand. However, whether these eyeballs are engaged is another question. According to a 2010 study, 50% of viewers reported skipping through most ads while watching TV versus the 29% when watching online video ads (HBS 6). Similarly, viral ads also has its fair share of risk as only 3% of all YouTube videos get more than 25,000 views (HBS 7). However, given the defection rate of those who skip ads, a new CPM could be calculated (refer to Exhibit 4C). With the defection rate included, Primetime TV’s CPM increased sharply from $24 to $46 (91% increase) while viral ads only increased from $25 to $34 (36% increase) Ultimately, viral ads yields better CPM and higher percentage of quality impressions. Brisk’s goal is to build an online presence, especially on social media, thus it is imperative that they attract quality eyeballs that will more likely create positive word of mouth on social media. Q5 – ​
TV and Viral Ad Analysis and Recommendations What are the campaign goals for Pepsi Brisk? What should they be? What are its strengths and weaknesses versus the competition? Why? Which of the 4 ad concepts should Mary and Marisol select? Why? What are the elements that should be present in these ads to maximize their impact and enhance the probability of success? Why? Exhibit 5A: Pepsi Brisk vs. Competition­ SWOT Analysis Strengths Brisk has the definite strength of having a global presence and tremendous resource availability through its partnership with PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage company in the world. Through this Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, Brisk is allowed to take advantage of PepsiCo’s dynamic presence in markets across the world. In addition, PepsiCo’s well developed bottling and distribution networks and channels significantly aid Brisk in its production efficiency. PepsiCo benefits through Lipton’s reputation as a “healthy” or health­conscious brand—making its mark in the rapidly growing tea beverage market. This strong collaboration results a force to be reckoned with, forging a brand image that can compete with top brands in the ready­to­drink cold tea beverage sector. Brisk was ranked third in sales in the ready­to­drink tea brands, behind Arizona and Lipton. While the overall sales volume was less than its main competitor, Arizona, Brisk sales experienced a 34.4% growth compared to Arizona’s 7.6%. Weakness Although Brisk’s sales were experiencing positive growth, the brand itself was falling behind in terms of social media presence relative to its competitors. As of the summer of 2010, its main competitors—Arizona, Snapple, and SoBe—had all developed a stronger social media presence than Brisk. Mekanism’s study on the social media presence of Brisk and its competitors showed that Brisk’s presence was practically absent in the Internet space. Also, as Brisk held the third largest share of the ready­to­drink tea beverage space behind Arizona and Lipton, it can be concluded that Brisk and Lipton may cannibalize each other’s products—possibly affecting both brand’s sales. Exhibit 5B: Brisk vs. Competition: Social Media Presence­ Facebook & Twitter Opportunity The joint venture between PepsiCo and Lipton is a testament to the fastest growing category of ready­to­drink tea in the liquid refreshment beverage industry. Since the mid­2000s, the space has experienced enormous annual growth before the economic recession in 2008. Starting back in May 2009 to May 2010, the ready­to­drink tea sales started growing again, increasing by almost 8% to $2.2 billion in size. This may have led to the introductions of new brands and flavors, jumping to 105 in 2009 from 60 in 2008. The success of the ready­to­drink tea category space can largely be attributed to the growth in health conscious consumptions and the benefits of the tea’s health benefits. As people moved away from carbonated soft drinks, teas became the go­to as the new tasty and healthy liquid beverage product. Millennials especially seek to consume caffeine without having to give up the rich flavors and ice­cold qualities of a soft drink. Threats Due to the rapid growth in the ready­to­drink tea beverage space, competitors and new brands have risen up to take a share of the pie. Stronger presences amongst competitors continue to threaten Brisk’s standing in the industry. Moreover, Arizona was perceived more favorably amongst young consumers compared to Brisk. Although both Brisk and Arizona products sported a cheap $0.99 price points, Arizona was thought to be the cheaper brand in the iced tea category. Studies also showed that young consumers described Brisk to be “artificial” and “sugary” compared to Arizona’s “refreshing” and “tasty” buzzwords. It is also important to note that Snapple is not far behind Brisk in terms of market share. Pepsi­Brisk’s overall marketing campaign can be analyzed through the ​
6M’s of Marketing​
: Mission, Market, Message, Media, Money, and Measurement: Mission: ​
Brisk’s mail goal seeks to reintroduce the Brisk brand to male millennials and Hispanics, while convincing Arizona consumers to switch over to Brisk and encouraging others to generate positive feedback or “buzz words” for the Brisk brand. A primary goal in this campaign is to increase a social media presence through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter fan bases. The mission focuses on building a brand that appeals to its target market, aiming to use word­of­mouth as a powerful tool in selling the product to the audience. Communicating its brand and products to the right audience can help influence Brisk’s position in the consumer’s mind. Taking this offensive stance in maximizing the value of their advertising strategies will help Brisk in attaining their campaign goals. Market:​
Brisk mostly appeals to the millennial generation. These younger consumers are technology savvy, intelligent, and keep up with popular trends. Mekanism’s studies showed that young males responded to three main features: entertainment, humor, and interactivity or social media involvement. This demographic is attracted to celebrities, cultural references, pop culture, and entertainment mediums such as animation films and video games. Brisk’s focus on appealing to this demographic through story telling advertisements, building a brand with attitude, and creating a product that the younger consumers want to share, is the ideal approach for its audience. Media: ​
After the implementation of the commercial for the Superbowl, it seems important to follow up the hype with social media interaction and viral online advertisements. By taking advantage of the momentum from the television advertisement, it may increase the chances of a successful viral video. In addition, viral internet advertisements seem to be more cost efficient than that of primetime television advertisements. Message: ​
The proposed concepts share a similar overall spirit, building upon elements and ideas of past Brisk campaigns incorporating animation, humor, and pop culture references. The concepts reflect a “brand with an attitude,” aiming to develop a cool image for Brisk. 1. “​
That’s Brisk, Baby”: Rebirth​
is a direct update of Brisk’s previously popular campaign. Popular celebrities or fictional characters experience an identity crisis in their lives and drinking Brisk revives their creative mojo, returning the character to their old confident selves. It would also sport “That’s Brisk, Baby!”, Brisk’s original slogan. 2. ​
The Brisk Brothers​
scraps Brisk’s previous campaigns in exchange for newly featured six characters, the Brisk Brothers, each representing a flavor of Brisk. With unique personalities and bottle designs, the clever and funny brothers would seek to revive one’s creative mojo, a main component to the proposed concepts. It would also be an interactive campaign with users through social medias such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. 3. ​
Creative Characters​
focuses on an actor playing a number of iconic character roles. The actor would witness and be tormented by iconic characters in his or her daily life, each character representing and corresponding to a different flavor of Brisk. This concept would appeal strongly to humor, as Mekanism originally had Will Ferrell in mind as the actor of choice. 4. ​
“Now That’s Brisk”​
centers the word “Brisk,” used to meaning quick, energetic, and to­the­point. Showing off popular celebrities or characters similar to the first proposal, the ads would tell a well­known story involving the popular character in a 30­second format and drink Brisk at the climax to have his creative mojo revived. Money: ​
Brisk’s spending on advertising is not to just build sales short term. Brisk’s focus on its marketing campaigns aims to have a long term objective of building a strong and cool brand, retain a significant market share, and appeal to the younger generation of ready­to­drink tea beverage consumers. Television advertisements have a mass reach with a target specific focus but are known to be expensive and not cost effective in terms of dollar to appeal. Media viral marketing, however, is cost effective, highly customizable, creates word of mouth buzz, and can result in a highly profitable and cost effective outcome. However, viral advertisements have a low success rate and can be a lousy investment. It is important for Brisk to invest in an appealing television advertisement (the Superbowl) that can be followed up through social media interactions—increasing the chances of a viral marketing campaign. The combination of the two strategies can make up for the costly investments of television advertisements while creating a more stable environment for a viral marketing campaign. Following up the Super Bowl campaign with interactive social media and viral online videos will maximize effectiveness, especially by partnering up with Mekanism, an agency which has a successful history of viral advertising. Measurement: ​
Brisk’s metrics to measure their campaign must show the effectiveness and efficiency of their investments in their strategies. The exhibit below shows that for each dollar spent on advertising, Internet advertising campaigns were more cost effective than that of television. How effective a particular investment can be is an important factor in measuring Brisk’s campaign. Social media mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter can also be used to interact with consumers. Interaction and recognition to the brand can also show how appealing the product is to consumers. Exhibit 5D: Cost Efficiency­ Internet vs. Television Concept Recommendation: ​
Entertain them. Make them laugh. Let them participate. The four proposals all are able to appeal to these three important points made by the study at Mekanism in relation to what attracts millennial males to Brisk. The first and fourth proposal “That’s Brisk, Baby”: Rebirth and “Now That’s Brisk” both stay honest to Brisk’s original concept of previous popular campaigns. The Brisk Brothers or Creative Characters proposals strongly focus on the different flavors offered by Brisk. Brisk’s short term goals may be to increase sales through its variety of tasty flavors offered to the younger generation, but Brisk’s main focus and long term objective is to build a cool and appealing brand to the millennials. The first or fourth proposal should be selected in order to maintain elements that would impact and enhance the strength of the brand development the most: respected celebrity, cool image, young and hip beverage. The main goals for the advertisements should be creating a campaign that entertains, humors, and interacts with the audience. The campaign can also be followed up through social media interactions that the Brisk Brother proposal also contained. Q6 – ​
Engagement, Metrics, IMC: Analysis and Recommendations What is meant by ‘engagement’ by the creative team? How do the various media stack up as regards ‘engagement’? Can we put some numbers on 'engagement' as represented by Television? Online Viral Ads? Should Pepsi Brisk use Mekanism and the viral ad influencers? Why or why not? Develop an Integrated Marketing Communication plan for Brisk with supporting rationale. The creative team defines “engagement” as the amount of time and interaction with the branded content (HBS 9). The aim of the campaign is to engage with the target market and build a fan base using culturally relevant ads to build Brisk’s brand equity and image. Primetime TV ads have high actual reach (i.e. quantity of impressions) but are less engaging and impactful on consumers. Viral ads in social media, however, have high potential reach and are more engaging. Social platforms are unique in that they can be used to foster two­way relationship between consumer and company through interactive features, contests to elicit participation, and feedback responses (HBS 9). More specifically, online video advertising has the greater potential for higher levels of consumer engagement with the brand. Consumers were more likely to watch videos of brands that they are referred to from their friends versus from an advertiser. In addition, online videos and ads traditionally amount to more “brand­related time” spent by a consumers (Please ee Brisk Case Exhibit 9). To try and quantify engagement, the following exhibit will compare CPMs (costs­per­thousand) for television and online (viral) ads respectively: The relative cost per minute of consumer attention (ie engagement) is much lower for viral ads than for TV; therefore, Brisk should work with Mekanism and viral ad influencers to engage with consumers and build Brisk’s share of market. For every campaign they have delivered, Mekanism generated at least 3.5 million views on average. The company credits its storytelling as one of the keys to its success. Storytelling builds brands by engaging with human emotions and giving consumers something to talk about within their social media networks. Stories allow companies to target their customers in a meaningful way beyond just promoting a product. Mekanism’s successful track record of viral ad campaigns suggests that the company can engineer virality. Mekanism uses high­profile digital influencers to help initially spread the campaign (who are responsible for on average about 58% of the initial views). Well known for creating viral stories for young adults that are usually humorous, edgy, and unexpected, Mekanism guarantees that they can make any online campaign go viral. Mekanism’s strategy on developing these campaigns and engineering virality are aligned with Brisk’s overall goals. The main goal of Brisk is to build the Brisk brand and a fan base through an integrated campaign that would extend beyond the Super Bowl and have a lasting impact. More immediate and actionable goals include increasing the number of likes, views, and shares on social sites such as Facebook and Youtube. Integrated Marketing Communication Plan Marketing communications is “means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers­­ directly or indirectly­­ about the products and brands they sell” (Kotler, Keller 233). A nontraditional marketing communications plan, also known as integrated marketing communications, is “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time” (Kotler, Keller 236). Brisk should create and use an integrated marketing communication plan because hey need a point of differentiation from their competitors, most notably Arizona. The Brisk team wants to focus on developing the Brisk brand identity by focusing on developing a cool, edgy, energetic, creative, and attitude based image for the brand. Utilizing social media and digital initiatives, PepsiCo can engage consumers better by “individualizing” their activities to take account of user preferences and interests, “involving” the user through engaging conversations, “integrating” their activities into their users’ life without being a nuisance, and “initiating” the creator of user­generated content (Discussion 11/26/2014, Four I’s of Mobile Social Media). The overarching IMC missions for 2011 include: building an online presence, reintroducing the Brisk brand to male millennials and Hispanics, and to switch consumers from Arizona drinkers into Brisk drinkers. PepsiCo decided to invest and give the Super Bowl spot to Brisk because it was the only major category where it did not have the top market share position (HBS 1). Although costly, the Super Bowl ad would ensure that hundreds of thousands of American Super Bowl viewers would be exposed to the brand. To carry the advertising momentum in the months following the Super Bowl, PepsiCo should invest in a viral advertising approach in social media given their target audience, which spends a lot of time on social media and are interested in means of self expression (please see “Market” category in table directly below). Building an online presence through viral ads will complement Brisk’s top priority of increasing its following and fan base on social media sites through riding the coattails of the Super Bowl: Rationale for Online Advertising Ad Concept 1&4: Brisk should choose Ad Concept #1 because it is a revival of Brisk’s previously popular campaign. Brisk’s target audience, young adult males, would already be familiar with the original Brisk commercials from the 1990s by looking them up on Youtube. It would also sport “That’s Brisk, Baby!”, which was Brisk’s original slogan. The celebrities chosen to be featured in these ads should have “cultural relevance” to the target audience (HBS 9). Ideas include famous actors, singers, athletes, or entertainers that young Hispanic males look up to or aspire to be. Brisk should also adopt the idea of an interactive website from Ad Concept #4 to fit with Ad Concept #1. An interactive website will be essential for users to further engage with the brand, create and share their own content, while embracing their self expression and creativity that the Brisk brand promotes and upholds. Q7 – ​
Retailers POV, Role in Portfolio How do retailers view Brisk? As with any other product in a highly saturated marketplace, retailers are inclined to view Brisk as a liability on their balance sheets; this is especially true for “unproven” products (HBS 3). Food and drug retailers face several challenges regarding their brand portfolio since their shelf space is a limited resource and can be easily wasted by slow­selling products. One of these challenges is “[maintaining] a very complex balancing act between the need for significant national brand offerings for customers against the opportunity of achieving larger margins from private label brands” (HEB Case Summary, Slide 14). Although retailers want to attain higher margins on each unit sold, many consumers are “pulled” into stores with national brands. Since PepsiCo is planning to have a Super Bowl ad and follow­up viral advertisements, Brisk will be a more common RTD tea brand name and can be more of an asset to retailers. Because Brisk can be considered both a liability and an asset for food and drug retailers, it will be imperative for PepsiCo to offer favorable trade promotions. PepsiCo is one of the top three best providers of trade incentives. This reputation indicates PepsiCo’s commitment to treating its channel partners fairly (HBS 3). What role does it play in their Brand Portfolio? Brisk is another RTD beverage to be stocked in their refrigerators or in the soda aisle; there are many other RTD drinks that are stocked as well, including sodas, water, tea, juice, etc. In the eyes of the retailer, this is an oversaturated market, and it is less favorable for them to continue stocking new products due to the greater uncertainty of product turnover from their shelves. However, considering that Brisk is a 20­year­old brand and it’s previous year’s growth, with minimal advertising support from PepsiCo, of 34.4% (compared to Arizona’s 7.6%), retailers should be interested in giving more attention to Brisk. Given its recent growth, and potential to continue growing in popularity in the coming years due to additional marketing resources from PepsiCo, Brisk could be an asset to many retailers. What actions would you want from retailers if you were Brand Manager for Pepsi Brisk? As a Brand Managers for Brisk, we would want the retailers to form a strong partnership with us, and understand our overall marketing and corporate strategies. This relationship implies several key components for the retailers: 1. Serve as advisors​
: the retailers are experts in selling products to their consumers, so they are great resources of market information and can suggest marketing program enhancements to the Brisk branding team. Generally, we could use their insights to learn the “secrets of the market” and “segment reach.” 2. Serve as implementers​
: next, we need retailers to effectively execute the branding plan we established; they will be responsible for developing the customer base within the stores, stock Brisk, and communicate openly about delivery needs. As implementers, they will be responsible for stocking and selling our products. 3. Serve as problem­solvers​
: finally, the retailers should also play an active role in putting out fires if anything were to go wrong in the stores. Because Brisk is not a complicated product to sell, the retailers should be focused on building an overall positive relationship with customers. Exhibit 7A: Distributors Support to MFR (Lecture 7, Slide 8) Overall, we want our retailer partners to fully support Brisk by shelving it favorably (above Arizona and Snapple), communicating key insights to help inform our marketing strategies (especially with manufacturing promotions), and suggesting marketing modifications if necessary. We want retailers, and therefore consumers, to think of Brisk as an “affordable” go­to RTD drink. How can you obtain what you want? As the manufacturer, we will also need to use the more specific framework of the 4 M’s (Money, Marketing Support, Management Support, Manage Relationship) to create a holistic approach to support the retailers. In order to obtain what we want, we need to strengthen our partnership with these distributors. Overall, we want to be cognizant of the pressure on margins that channel members are experiencing, and that all of the brands they offer must work optimally with one another. PepsiCo can provide monetary and marketing support to make selling Brisk easier for the retailers. Generally, we want our partnership with retailers to be profitable for both parties; therefore, we will need to take the following steps to establishing a strong relationship: 1. Invest time and effort in understanding each others capabilities and requirements​
:​
to effective partner with distributors, we need to spend time understanding their priorities and how Brisk can positively contribute to these goals. 2. Actively manage the partnerships; keep operational promises​
: to establish our reputation as a strong manufacturing partner to these retailers, we will need to be consistent with our deliveries, lead times, and manufacturing promotions. 3. Communicate through various media/channels​
: communication in any relationship should be a priority; therefore, we will need to actively reach out to retailers to learn and share information regarding problems, market trends, opportunities etc. 4. Build mutual trust​
: being in a partnership with distributors goes beyond simply sharing the profits; Brisk will also need to support and share their pains as well. (Lecture 7, Slide 9) By having a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with distributors, the Brisk branding team will be better positioned to meet our sales goals. In order to incentivize retailers to favorably shelf Brisk, PepsiCo can offer more and better trade promotions. Luckily, PepsiCo has a good reputation amongst retailers as one of the best three companies offering trade promotions. All in all, we will need to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with retailers to convince them to stock Brisk. Because it’s an older brand and PepsiCo is already putting in thousands of dollars for advertising (with the SuperBowl Ad, celebrity endorsements, viral videos, etc), retailers shouldn’t be hesitant in stocking our products. “One of the key roles that television advertising plays in PepsiCo is to get the support from bottlers and execution at retail… Pepsi used major events, celebrities and television in general for this purpose as well” (HBS 4). Although PepsiCo is infamous for putting out many new products in an already over­saturated market, PepsiCo also has a strong reputation of supporting retailers with manufacturing promotions and other incentives to increase Brisk sales. Q8 ­ ​
Marketing Strategy and 4P Analysis and Recommendations across Frameworks What Value Discipline and what competitive stance does Pepsi currently possess for its Iced Tea category? Brisk’s competitive stance in its Iced Tea Category comes from its association with Pepsi and Lipton in its ventures. As Pepsi possesses established distribution channels and both brands have a well reputed brand image, Brisk is hence supported allows a competitive advantage over smaller brands. In analyzing the value disciplines, operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy, the iced tea brand does not specifically cater to any of the disciplines specifically, but seeks to appeal to the customer intimacy discipline. Tamaro reinforces that product mix and promotions help sales, but campaigns will build a fan base for Brisk and that word­of­mouth is a powerful selling tool. Operational Excellence: ​
Operational excellence aims to to accomplish a leadership in cost. ​
Here the main focus isson automating manufacturing processes and work procedures in order to streamline operations and reduce cost. The strategy lends itself to high­volume, transaction­oriented and standardized production that has little need for much differentiation. This specific discipline most likely appeals to Brisk in its main business structure. Pepsi is the second largest beverage and food provider in the world, and its established structure and channels allows for a cost efficient process for its iced tea category as well. Valuing the operational excellence or cost leadership as a discipline have some risks as it may affect other areas of the business or operation. Specifically, the inability to see required product or marketing changes may be an effect of attentioning being placed on cost as the main goal. Additionally, inflation in costs can narrow a company’s ability to maintain enough of a price differential to offset competitor brand images or other approaches to differentiate. Specifically to Brisk, the RTD tea market consists of a low price point of $0.99. This price point leaves little to no room to effectively lower prices for its products. Product Leadership: ​
Product leadership aims to continuously bring superior products into its respective markets. However, at its core Brisk would not fit this discipline as both Brisk and Pepsi can be seen as a recreation of its main competitor beverages, Coca Cola and Arizona. As a discipline that emphasizes excellence in creativity, this may be something Brisk might want to consider, but it is not something they have a competitive advantage in quite yet. Like cost leadership focus, valuing product leadership in differentiation to competitor products have its risks as well. The cost difference between low­cost competitors such as Arizona and Brisk can exceed the gap needed for differentiation to sustain a brand loyalty. In such a case, certain customers and consumers may sacrifice some of its features and positive image differentiated by the company in exchange for a larger cost in savings. In a mature industry and space, imitation can narrow perceived differentiation as well. Customer Intimacy:​
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The customer intimacy strategy focuses on offering a unique range of customer services that allows for the personalization of service and the customization of products to meet differing customer needs. Customer intimacy is what Brisk aims to attain in terms of value discipline. Brisk believes that the campaigns will seek to build a relationship with its audience and customers, leveraging the power of social media and viral video advertisements. The goal of the campaign is to maximize the potential of this value discipline in order to successfully build Brisk into with a cool beverage to the millennial generation. The risk of focusing on customer intimacy as a value discipline can also be a probable outcome for Brisk. As Brisk focuses on the millennial males and hispanics, this customer intimacy direction may cause the company to miss out on responding to opportunities to serve other profitable segments, such as younger generations, females, adults, etc. The differentiation between the product targeted to the segment and other products in the market can narrow or offset premiums that segments may be willing to pay. It’s also worth noting that cost differences can increase between products specifically directed towards a segments and increase broad range lower priced competitive products in the space and market. The market segments and the space itself can shift away or change unpredictably. It is important to focus on a segment for Brisk to ensure and maximize market share, however there are definite risks of focusing on specific segment that may change. Generic Strategy Differentiation: Customer Intimacy & Focus (​
Refer to Exhibit 8A)
What competitive strategy would you recommend? What positioning, USP, pricing and distribution strategy would you suggest for Pepsi Brisk to integrate with your promotional plan? Why? Recommended Competitive Strategy, Positioning, USP, Marketing Strategy Moving forward, Brisk should execute a competitive strategy that will distinguish itself from its competitors, i.e. Arizona and Snapple. Brisk must leverage its advertising and promotion strategy to highlight key features of the brand such as “variety of flavors, bold taste and unique look” (HBS 10). Its SuperBowl and viral ads advertising must complement one another to tell a cohesive story­­ that Brisk is a “cool” brand that male and Hispanic millennials want to drink. Most importantly, their advertising strategy must support their in­store promotions as retailers are key to their success. Birsk is able to implement this potential marketing strategy through the 5C's and its focus on Segmentation Targeting Positioning (refer to Q1), Unique Selling Proposition differentiation, and 4P's (Products, Promotion, Place, Price) (Lecture 5, STP and 5P's). Brisk’s potential USP is its ability to differentiate itself from competitors through building a brand and online presence that associates Brisk with having “bold taste and unique look”­­the “cool” factors (HBS 10). Refer to Exhibit 8A. Brisk’s potential marketing strategy is implemented by the ​
4P’s: Products, Promotion, Place, Price​
: Product:​
Within the Brisk’s product line, there are six key flavors: lemon, tea+lemonade, raspberry, melon, peach, strawberry, and sweet tea (HBS 10). Brisk RTD teas are sold in two sizes: 1L or tall cans. These SKUs (stock keep units) enable Brisk to highlight the “many varieties” of its brand while also enabling customers to choose the drink size that best fits their lifestyle (HBS 10). Brisk must continue to introduce new flavors to keep its target segments engaged with its brand. Promotion: ​
Brisk must leverage and follow up the buzz generated with its Super Bowl advertisement through engaging follow­up viral ads and active social media presence. Its promotion will play a key role in brand development and how consumers will perceive Brisk. Most importantly, promotion will play a pivotal role in its success in attracting and retaining retailers (Place). Place: ​
Brisk’s success will depend on its relationship with retailers and whether or not they want to stock Brisk’s RTD teas. Placement is important to Brisk’s success because where their RTD teas will be placed may impact consumers’ decision, i.e. top / middle / or bottom shelf (Discussion: NatureView). Brisk must leverage its promotion strategy to ensure the success of its product placement. Price: ​
Brisk must focus on volume sales, which means that it price must be low, cheap, and affordable. The RTD tea space is competitive, thus consumers are very price sensitive when there are a myriad of alternatives. Brisk must keep their price consistent and lowest to ensure its success in conveying the message that Brisk is affordable and cheap RTD teas, yet still ‘cool’ to drink. Pricing and Distribution Strategy Brisk’s pricing and distribution strategy must align with its corporate and marketing strategy. Brisk must consider its corporate strategy of (1) targeting male millennials and Hispanics, (2) convert Arizona drinkers, and (3) build an online presence and marketing strategy fueled by the 5C’s and implemented by the 4 P’s (HBS 5). Brisk’s pricing must be low as the brand wants to associate itself as “affordable” and “cheap” RTD teas. It is competing against Arizona who is consistently associate with these factors, thus must act accordingly in pricing and promotions to ensure that consumers know that Brisk is affordable and cheap. Brisk’s distribution strategy must focus on building close­knit relationships with retailers. Retailers play an important role in Brisk’s success because they impact the ‘Place’ component of Brisk’s marketing strategy. Distribution wise, Brisk wants to be placed inside mainstream retailers and stores such as Safeway and WalMart because their brand is about being mainstream, cheap, and affordable. Most importantly, retailers must believe in the Brisk brand in that it will pull customers into their store for Brisk’s products. It is imperative that Brisk communicates with retailers about its advertising and promotional plans because this will build trust with retailers who might still be skeptical of the Brisk brand. Value disciplines: http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_valuedisciplines.html Value disciplines (2). Maybe we should talk about Customer Intimacy?: http://www.toolshero.com/value­disciplines­treacy­wiersema/ As a reminder, the Four Ps: ​
http://www.netmba.com/marketing/mix/ Q9 ­ ​
Managerial Lessons/ Takeaways from the case with explanations of derivations As a group, state and explain at least 3 managerial lessons/takeaways regarding marketing that can be gleaned from your analysis of the case. STP should be an iterative, and complementary process. Brainstorm of the lessons learned from this case: 1. Corporate Strategy: everything the company does needs to relate back to the corporate strategies (i.e. marketing plans­ 6 Ms, consistent branding, etc) 2. Channel/Partner Management: being able to foster and manage strong relationships with partners and distribution channels is extremely important when considering the success of the overall business. In order to achieve our strategic goals, we need the support/cooperation of everyone in the operations ecosystem. 3. Constant Innovation: PepsiCo can’t afford to stay idle when it comes to selling its drinks; during this case they’re working to be more active in the SM marketing space, but so many competitors have already done that and we’re working to play catch up now. Need to use metrics to assess strategies and improve them during the next year. While there are many lessons to be drawn from the Pepsi­Lipton Brisk case, we’ve gleaned three that are especially pertinent for today’s business world. During the course of the semester we’ve heard over and over again that segmenting, targeting, and positioning is an iterative process where all of the pieces must match­­that lesson complements what we’ve learned about corporate strategy and the 6Ms of marketing. Additionally, we’ve learned that effective channel and partner management are often the unsung heros of business success stories. Finally, we’ve extracted that change and innovation is crucial to keep business thriving. Corporate Strategy Corporate strategy is an important managerial lesson in regards to marketing. Every decision, strategic move, or collaboration must relate back to the corporate strategies such as the 6Ms of marketing, consistent branding, or product positioning. Brisk’s focus on building a brand image for the ready­to­drink tea market was centered around its core values and goals as a company. Maintaining the “creative mojo” focus to appeal to the “cool” millennial generation plays a big part in Brisk’s corporate strategy as all the factors build upon the goal of creating a brand that the segment loves. Although growing rapidly fast in sales, Brisk’s core focus is still on its corporate strategy of (1) target male millennials and Hispanics, (2) convert Arizona customers, and (3) build an online presence. Its corporate strategy is then supported by a marketing strategy involving the 5Cs: customers (male millennials and Hispanics), competition (Arizona), collaborators (retailers and Mekanism), company (embracing end­user experience), context (moving from traditional TV campaigns to non­traditional viral ads). This marketing marketing strategy is then implemented by the 4Ps: products (variety: six core flavors, two sizes), promotion (Super Bowl and viral ads), place (retailers), and price (low and affordable). As seen, Brisk aligns its marketing strategy with its fundamental corporate strategy, thus creating a cohesive brand at the corporate and consumer level. Channel and Partner Management One key takeaway from this case is that channel and partner management play a dynamic role in an overall marketing strategy because it is imperative that a manufacturer builds a mutually beneficial relationship for all parties involved. The ability to foster and manage strong relationships with our partners and distribution channels is a great contributor to the success of a business like PepsiCo. In order to achieve one’s strategic goals effectively and efficiently, companies need the support and cooperation of partners and channels within its operational ecosystem. Each player in this ecosystem has expertise in a particular area, and this knowledge can help others in the space better inform their decisions. For example, by developing an alliance with retailers, PepsiCo will have access to insights regarding their customers in various geographic areas and feedback about their current advertisements. Also, partners like Mekanism have vast knowledge regarding social media marketing and how to create viral videos; without their support, PepsiCo would have to expend a great deal of resources to learn and act on these skills. It is much more efficient to partner with the experts and learn from them. Manufacturers, like PepsiCo, can offer a lot to their partners as well. For example, their marketing campaigns, specifically the television ads, play a vital role in reaching customers, which in turn not only brings awareness to PepsiCo’s products, but it also benefits the distributors as well by pulling customers into their stores. Overall, in order to be effective and efficient in meeting one’s corporate strategy, it is vital to leverage the knowledge, skills, and abilities of one’s partners after developing a mutually beneficial relationship with them. Constant Innovation and Adaption The final takeaway from the case analysis is the necessity for constant innovation and adaptation not to just the product’s market but to advancements in lifestyle and technology. The case itself revolves around Brisk’s key focus on developing and maintaining a successful social media presence in response to the technology savvy, interactive­desiring millennial generation segment. Brisk cannot afford to stay idle when it comes to selling its products. As the company works to become more active in the social media marketing space, it becomes apparent that competitors are ahead and so Brisk must catch up. It’s important to focus on metrics and key measurement tools to assess strategies and continue improving them throughout Brisk’s future. If this lesson sounds familiar, it is. Recall the Starbucks case that our class saw early on in the semester. One of the key takeaways from that case was that first and foremost, customers are a company's most valuable asset. Building on that, customer retention depends on understanding consumer needs, and reacting to changing needs and updating offers (Slide 2 Discussion September 9, 2014). Connecting this lesson to the Brisk case, we see that Brisk lost its relevance with consumers somewhere after initially having hype in the 1990s. Because Brisk didn’t react to consumer’s changing needs until RTD tea became en vogue in the 200s, they had to play catch up­­especially when it came to social media. Brisk was lucky to be part of the Pepsi family, as a this would have been crushing to a smaller brand that didn’t have the resources to support a rebirth. Conclusion In conclusion, Barnard and Tamaro have to make quick but strategic decisions regarding their 2011 relaunching Brisk campaigns. They have to ensure that their marketing strategies are aligned with their strategic corporate strategy. The missions for their campaign are to (1) reintroduce the brand to male millennials (those born between 1980s­1990s) and Hispanics, (2) convince current Arizona consumers to switch over to Brisk, and (3) build an online presence to (a) generate positive word­of­mouth buzz and (b) increase its fan base on social media. Their decision to partner with Mekanism depends on the mission they choose to prioritize over the others. Given that Brisk’s online brand presence is suffering relative to its competitors, we believe Brisk should partner with Mekanism to create and viral online advertising campaign. By leveraging the excitement generated by the Brisk Super Bowl commercial, Brisk will be able to attract and engage their target consumers (male millennials) and build a strong online fan base. Barnard and Tamaro must just ensure that Brisk’s brand positioning stays cool, edgy, bold, and reflective of their consumer’s creative expression.