Pepsi, And Brutal Honesty V. Platitudes
Have you heard about PepsiCo’s missteps and sales dives after its bold rebranding of most of its primary brands — including Pepsi, Gatorade and Tropicana?
The company’s recently appointed head of PepsiCo’s America Beverages division, Massimo d’Amore, has taken flak for a very hands-on role in the creative and branding process. In the past 18 months, the company has lost more than ten of its high level vice presidents and other senior staff in a brain drain that could hamper Pepsi for years to come.
In the last quarter, Pepsi Beverages America’s volume fell 6 percent, and sales dropped 7 percent. By comparison, Coke’s volume dipped 1 percent and sales by 2 percent. After Gatorade began rebranding itself as “G,” running those bizarre “What is G?” commercials, sales dropped 18 percent.
And what is the company’s official response to concerns about its strategies? Take their response to the Tropicana disaster, which was so universally disliked that they reverted almost immediately to the classic carton design (Read Ben Casnocha for the psychology behind the Tropicana branding rejection.)
Ms. Hamp [spokeswoman] defended the Tropicana rebranding, while acknowledging a “slight dip in sales.” Sales plunged 20% at supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchants, excluding Walmart, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22. But PepsiCo said sales fell only 14% including retailers Information Resources Inc. doesn’t track.
Whether you’re talking 14 or 20 percent, you’re way past “slight dip” territory. Ms. Hamp is just doing her job — public relations to build public confidence — but this excerpt led me to wonder:
Brutal Honesty V. Platitudes
Given the choice, would you prefer to hear platitudes like Ms. Hamp’s about “slight dips” for a company clearly dealing with some fundamental challenges, or would you rather see more brutal honesty in such articles?
For instance, imagine Ms. Hamp says something like, “Yes, it’s true that we made serious miscalculations about the impact that a sudden desertion of our classic brands would have on sales, and frankly that past quarter has been a huge black eye for us, but we’ve learned from our mistakes and are confident in our new strategy.”
Question: Is it better for the health of the company or whatever “brand” you’re speaking for (you can carry this into politics as well) to tow the line in every circumstance, or could bluntness/honesty catch people off guard to the point where new respect is earned?
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