@investigatorr , #investigator , investigator malayalam presenting new video about Decades ago, a marketing stunt promised Philippine soda drinkers a chance at a million pesos. But an error at a bottling plant led to 600,000 winners-and to lawsuits, rioting, and even deaths.
Mention the numbers 349 to anyone who was alive or came of age in the early 1990s and, chances are, they instantly know what you’re talking about. Probably the worst marketing disaster for a private company in the country’s history happened 30 years ago this year, and all because of those three numbers. The Pepsi 349 incident of 1992 is still talked about to this day, especially by those who had the (mis)fortune of owning the bottlecaps with those numbers emblazoned underneath.
Pepsi 349
The Pepsi 349 saga begins in 1984, when beverage behemoth PepsiCo Inc. introduced a promotional campaign in order to increase market share against its bitter rival, Coca-Cola. At the time, Coke was miles ahead of Pepsi in the so-called softdrink wars, after the latter dominated the local market in the late 1970s. Pepsi needed to push back and gain some ground. Christopher Sinclair, who was then PepsiCo’s CEO at only 38 years old, decided on an exciting new marketing campaign to get more people excited about buying Pepsi: Number Fever, which was developed by a New York-based promotions executive named Pedro Vergara.
After a generally successful rollout in the U.S., Number Fever was expanded to a few Latin American countries, which was home to some of the world’s largest softdrink consumers-Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Years later, on January 15, 1992, Pepsi Cola Products (Philippines), Inc., or PCPPI, the local franchise holder of PepsiCo Inc., formally applied for a permit with the Department of Trade and Industry to conduct the nationwide Number Fever campaign in the Philippines. The promo was simple: buyers of Pepsi Cola products-Pepsi, 7-Up, Mirinda, and Mountain Dew-could take home the amount printed underneath the bottle caps or crowns if the corresponding three-digit number matches the one Pepsi announces as the winner for that day. Amounts ranged from as little as P100 to as much as P1 million.
It was like the mini version of the lottery, but with slightly better odds of winning: 28.8 million to one, according to published ads during that time.
The DTI approved PCPPI’s application on January 23, and Number Fever commenced soon after. A Mexican consultancy firm called DG Consultores randomly preselected the winning numbers along with their corresponding security codes, which was then sent to PCPPI.
According to a Supreme Court decision on the case, to ensure that the list of winning numbers would not be tampered with, it was kept inside a safety deposit box inside the UCPB branch in Legaspi Village, Makati. The security box could only be opened using two keys, each held by a representative of the DTI and PCPPI.
An instant success
Almost immediately after the campaign started in February 1992, it proved to be an instant hit. People began buying Pepsi products, keeping the caps and crowns, and then waiting for the nightly announcement of winners on ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol newscast. By the time the regular run of the promo ended on May 8, some 51,000 people had won the minimum prize of P100, while 17 lucky buyers each took home the big prize of P1 million. Various news reports said Pepsi’s monthly sales increased from $10 million to $14 million and its market share rose from 19.4 percent to 24.9 percent for the duration of the promotion. The company even claimed that nearly half of the country’s 65 million population at the time was aware and had participated in the campaign. It was enough for Pepsi’s chief rival Coke, through its local president Jesus Celdran, to say that he was “concerned.”
Winners were able to claim their cash prizes at designated Pepsi redeeming stations after the company verified that the caps or crowns were legitimate and had not been tampered with.
Because of the success of Number Fever, PCPPI applied for an extension of the promo for five more weeks. A second list of randomly preselected winning numbers was kept in a safety deposit box of UCPB Aguirre branch, and just like before, two keys held by different people from PCPPI and DTI were needed to open it.
The nightmare begins
On the evening of May 25, 1992, it was announced that 349 was the winning number. Ordinarily, only a few buyers would turn up to collect their prize. But this time, tens of thousands of people came forward holding in their hands a cap or crown with the number 349. In all, Pepsi had reportedly manufactured from 600,000 to as many as 800,000 caps and crowns bearing the winning number.
For the company, clearly there had been a mistake. If it went ahead and paid all of the people who had the winning number, Pepsi reportedly would have had to shell out as much as $32 billion.
12 дек 2022
