It’s been reported multiple times (here, here and here) that Pepsi will not be advertising in this year’s NFL Superbowl.

Pepsi had been a major advertiser during the Super Bowl. According to TNS, the company spent $142.8 million on the 10 Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008, second only to Anheuser-Busch, which spent $216 million.

The nation’s second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing marketing dollars into its “Pepsi Refresh Project” starting next month as its main vehicle for Pepsi. The project will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to “refresh” communities.  A Web site will go live Jan. 13 where people can list their projects, which could range from helping to feed people to teaching children to read. People can vote starting Feb. 1 to determine which projects receive money. (sports.espn.go.com)

Still, CBS said in November that it had sold about 90% of its advertising spots during the game. (CNNMoney.com)

There is more going on than the savings.   When you unpack this story you reveal a truth about differentiation and the power of value-disruption.

First, unpack advertising at the Superbowl.  It’s a premier event watched by millions world wide.  Your brand picks up prestige: success, top of the game, toughness, etc.  However, it remains a passive medium.  The consumer/viewer watches and may or may not assimilate the message.  Which is why so much is spent on execution.  You need to capture viewer’s attention.  But behaviorally, there really isn’t anything that different compared to other adverting, other than scale, scope and prestige.  They are all passive.  The viewer behaves the same way whether they see your message at the Superbowl, or on the latest show of Desperate Housewives.

Compare that to the new connection they are going to make.  Viewers are transformed into users.  They interact with the site.  They put in ideas. They make comments.  They vote on other’s ideas.  They are part of a system that helps others.  They engage.

In this case the consumer’s behavioral construct is deep, multifaceted, and more emotionally relevant.  Their relationship with Pepsi has changed from passive to active.

The result?  The second largest advertiser of the Superbowl has left the Superbowl.

Going Nowhere

Opps….. Superbowl advertising just became a commodity.  Not because someone came up with a bigger and better event.  No, because they were value-disrupted by a technology (web 2.0) and an associated interface (voting system)  that enabled a new behavior to emerge.

And that, my friends, is the key to how you differentiate.

You can learn more about value-disruption in earlier posts here and here.

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