Promo Review - Pepsi Max's Max it for £1million campaign

Oh well, hang on to your hats.  Here we go again.  Except, this time it’s a big one - Pepsi’s Max It For A Million campaign, a national on-pack promotion offering consumers the chance to win £10,000 every day for 100 days.  At least that’s what I think it’s all about.  Because, when you click through to the main Pepsi site, you’re greeted by not one, not even two, but three separate promotional initiatives. 

You see, Max It entrants are also automatically included into another free prize draw – Max Hit (magnificent work from the wordsmiths) designed to exploit the brand’s sponsorship of the forthcoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup – cricket’s version of Fast & Furious.  This time there’s a prize of £1,000 awarded every time a 6 is scored in the tournament.  And, you know what, that’s not all either.  No, no, because there’s also a game under the Max Hit banner that gives players the chance to score six 6s in a row to win tickets to the tournament.  Don’t ask me what’s involved there because I haven’t got a scooby.  The game’s not live yet.  How could it be?  It’s 15th May and the tournament doesn’t officially start until 5th June.  So, just what those wishing to play are supposed to do in the next three weeks, God only knows.

All in all, I’m confused.  I’m not sure what to review.  So, let’s take a punt – focus on what Pepsi Max drinkers can take part in here and now – Max It For A Million.  You know the sketch – it’s an all-too familiar one.  On-pack codes, campaign website/text shortcode, input code, wait, hope, wait a bit more, start to lose hope.  That said, nothing wrong with £1m – that’s bigger than even the most ambitious of politicians’ expense claims.  And, unlike many other promotions that exist within the sanctuary of a fixed fee, at least we know that all 100 x £10k prizes will be awarded.  What’s more, I get details of who the lucky blighters are as the days go by and that contributes in some small way to the promotion’s credibility. 

So, the prize has certainly got the scale required of a brand like Pepsi.  But you know what, that’s it for me.  Because, bar a bit of creative theming, Max It is nigh on identical to the promotion that’s just been run by diet Coke (except they get to use Duffy), isn’t dis-similar to Lucozade’s campaign to win £1,000 every day and not a county kilometre from Gatorade’s campaign to win, wait for it, £1,000 of sports kit every day.  And there was me thinking that it was important for brands to set themselves apart from competition these days, especially in such a competitive category and trading climate.  I guess I also believed that, in these economically challenging times, it was incumbent on clients and, more so, agencies to strive to set the creative bar higher.  Guess not.  Pity.

I’m left feeling deflated. The creative’s OK but the mechanic is unimaginative, uninspiring and certainly lacks originality, criticisms that are exacerbated by the fact we’re discussing a brand that’s supposed to be fuelled by energy, intensity and dynamism.  I guess we should just be grateful that, with Twenty20, they’ve picked the right cricket format; now, if only I were given the opportunity to find out what Max Hit’s all about.

Rating (for Max it): 4 out of 10 - it would have been 3 but for the rich £1m prize fund that we know will definitely be claimed by 100 x £10k winners.

Agency: Euro RSCG KLP