Sunday, June 1, 2008

How young is....Youngistan?

Youngistan - A brilliant concept, messed up completely by Pepsi. The creative guardians of Pepsi failed to go beyond the Pizza Huts and the MTVs of the world. The basis of Youngistan was the demographics of its TG i.e. youth rather than the psychographics. As a result, Pepsi missed out on a potential opportunity to broaden its consumer base.

The paramount question is, How to define the term 'youth'? What kind of people form Youngistan? Does age matter?

If one goes by the Pepsi's philosophy then I am its core TG, considering my age, education and occupation but if Pepsi notices my lifestyle, behavior, likes and dislikes, it would never ever spend a penny of its marketing budget on me.

Their is a huge segment of 'not-so-young' people whose lifestyle is much younger than the 'Pepsi Youth'. What about them? Shouldn't they be targeted by Pepsi? Youth is not restricted by the physical parameters like age but its defined by several intangible yet important parameters.

Pepsi needs to have a re-look at its strategy. The idea is simple...redefine youth, redefine youngistan.

5 comments:

Piyush Sethia said...

Great ideas man.. And yes, Pepsi really botched up their youngistan campaign, one that could have indeed become a very out-of-box ad campaign.. Alas for Pepsi...

Good posts in general.. Kudos!!!

Sampada said...

How is drinking pepsi related to being young? i didnt really understand the basis of this whole concept at all...but i agree that this campaign could have been bettered by projecting Youngistan as a hub for 'feeling' young..not 'being' young.

Ajay Gupta said...

Sampada,

Pepsi, through its communication has always targeted 'Youth'. Whether its Oye bubbly, youngistan on any other campagin. The image that Pepsi as a brand projects is youth oriented.

Sampada said...

How about "Nothing official about it" and "Ye pyaas hai badi" ??

Ajay Gupta said...

Sampada,

Coca Cola had gained the 'official soft drink' tag during the 1996 cricket world cup.
Pepsi's 'Nothing official about it' was a take/spoof on coke.

Please see this video of 'Yeh Pyaas hai badi' campaign.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-Sdi7D3FZOY

This campaign was also targeted at youth.