Wright This Way

Pepsi unable to carry a Tune

An iTune, that is. CNET reports on Pepsi's iTunes promotion which began at the Superbowl this year, hoping to give away up to 100 million iTunes. Instead, only 5 million songs were actually redeemed.

What the article doesn't mention was Pepsi's supply problems getting these out to the folks that wanted them. Personally, I never saw one of these bottles in the grocery stores I go to locally, though I did manage to find a few at a local convenience shop, and the local 7-11 briefly had specially marked 32oz cups at their soda fountain, which I promptly filled with Diet Dr. Pepper. Of the 5 promo items I purchased, I managed to only win a single song.

Many markets received these specially marked bottles late, if at all. And as far as I know the only real push on this promo was at the very beginning during the Superbowl. You have to wonder if Pepsi ever intended to have this promo be a sucess for Apple to begin with, since they were footing the bill for all iTunes redeemed during the contest. Since they just blew a few million in advertising during the Superbowl, maybe they figured they'd save a few by not getting the free songs into people's hands right away and waiting for the excitement to die down?

We may never really know the answer to that one, but I think if I was Steve Jobs, I'd be a bit pissed at Pepsi right about now...