In an attempt to match American Super Bowl advertisers in generating buzz, Pepsi-QTG Canada has produced six 15-second ads with a secret plot for the game’s Canadian broadcast.
The spots are a continuation of the Diet Pepsi “Forever Young” campaign, which currently features an office worker attempting to recapture his youth with childish antics around his office.
The 90-second story will unfold over the course of the game, putting the main character in different situations but with an outcome that is a closely guarded secret.
“We really want to build the anticipation,” said Cheryl Radisa, vice-president, marketing for Pepsi-QTG Canada.
American advertisers do a great job of building hype around their Super Bowl ads prior to the game, she said. The new Forever Young ads are Pepsi’s attempt to do the same.
“I think we need to do that better in Canada and build anticipation around the Canadian broadcast,” she said, adding that with Canadians often blocked from seeing the U.S. ads, “consumers are sometimes disappointed.”
The multiple Cassie-winning Forever Young campaign was conceived in 1999 by BBDO Toronto, which has overseen the campaign ever since.
“Keeping the creative fresh and relevant is perhaps our biggest challenge,” said Ian MacKeller, executive CD at BBDO Toronto, in a statement. “We’ve been able to successfully re-invent the essence of Forever Young several times, allowing us to stay connected to the Diet Pepsi consumer.”
Previous iterations of the campaign involved asking people what part of their youth they’d like to reclaim, leading to unexpected results. The “Jeans” execution, for example, showed what might happen if a 30-something professional wore inappropriately tight jeans to the office.
Last year’s Super Bowl drew nearly four million Canadian viewers. The 2008 game airs Sunday on CTV.
