Implementing Community Relations Campaigns

PepsiCo has always had a great presence within society. Their community relations efforts have always been based on the welfare of the community. Pepsi is one organization in the corporate world that understands the importance and mutual benefits of a strong community relations effort. PepsiCo supports it's core values and message through the promotion of three basic ideas.  PepsiCo bases their community relations strategies off of a health, environment and educational basis. Not only does PepsiCo's product and production support these categories, but their foundations and cooperation within various communities also strengthen these areas.

The organization is very passionate about each of these sub-categories of community relations. PepsiCo is very concerned with the well-being and fundraising for underserved communities. The PepsiCo organization is a goal oriented and results driven organization that understands the importance of evaluating each campaign. They are constantly checking up on the communities in which they have delivered to. They have proven results that keep PepsiCo such a credible organization.

PepsiCo spearheads a variety of foundations that are put in place for the benefit of society.  In 2009, The PepsiCo Foundation fronted 5 million dollars to promote the well- being and health of children living in  rural India and Bangladesh. The organization is making great strides across the globe.

Recently, PepsiCo has partnered with the YMCA and continues to donate annually to their organization.  With this partnership brings new public health initiatives that seek to promote healthier living for millions of underserved Americans. The funding from Pepsi also goes into strategic planning by public community leaders for the betterment of their community.

Environmentally, PepsiCo is a very friendly organization. To help minimize the growing water crisis faced by millions around the globe, Pepsi has created solutions, both internally and externally to help people attain sustainable and safe water.  Pepsi has worked with improving not only water quantity, but the quality too.

                       

Education is also a major part of PepsiCo's community relations work. PepsiCo understands the importance of having a good education, and that it shapes peoples futures. The PepsiCo website quotes, "Education is an essential tool for economic achievement, advancement and mobility. Our funding has helped hundreds of organizations over the past decades significantly increase opportunity and advancement in urban communities. We affirm our commitment to this objective with a renewed dedication to funding dropout-prevention initiatives in U.S. public schools. Studies show the impact of "prevention" dollars to keep children in school is effective and sustainable. Our priority is to focus on spreading evidence-based programs that contribute to lessening dropout incidence in schools with the most chronic and acute dropout rates." PepsiCo's objective has been to foster economic achievement and mobility for underserved and minority populations, and those at economic risk.


In conclusion, PepsiCo has a great interest in their community relations. The organization is extremely outgoing and concerned with results. The organization partners with credible NGO's and Non-Profits only, who have shown positive results in the past and have great track records. I believe that PepsiCo wants to be sure that they're investments and donations are going to actually help people.

Pepsi Co (New Media and Social Media)

Going into 2012, PepsiCo is launching new strategies and methods in hopes to continue their increased productivity and revenue.  Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo spoke on CNBC this month regarding their latest success, and how they plan on carrying that through into this year. "We want the consumers stomachs not only during lunch and dinner, but from breakfast through dinner." said Ms. Nooyi.   Maintaining the number one beverage business in the industry and increasing market share are the objectives.  PepsiCo is planning to reach these objectives through increasing marketing and advertising spending by 500 - 600 millions dollars.  I am sure Social Media will be playing a major role in this.

Check out a recent video of Indra Nooyi on CNBC below talking about PepsiCo's future strategic outlook.
Pepsico/ CEO Video (Thursday, February 9, 2012)

Personally, I enjoy watching and listening to Ms. Nooyi. She is very sincere, knowledgeable and just an overall great face for an organization.

Now let's talk Social Media! How is PepsiCo doing in the social media game?  PepsiCo has a prominent presence in both Facebook and Twitter. PepsiCo is constantly updating and interacting through these venues with their followers. The PepsiCo page has only about 50,000 likes. However, PepsiCo has various pages concerning individual products such as; Pepsi, Doritos and Quaker Oats. These pages have likes in the millions and are very successful.  Going back to the PepsiCo Facebook page, we can observe many things. There are many links to their other products and the PepsiCo website.
This Facebook page also includes testimonial videos, previous commercials, job opportunities, annual reports, events and consumer relations #'s and links. The page is very interactive and easy to navigate, as it should be!  I enjoy how the operators of the site are very quick to respond to any concern or posts on their page. They even individually thank people for posting on their wall. This would make me happy as a consumer for certain.

Now I also follow PepsiCo on Twitter. The same thing goes here. The Twitter scene is growing rapidly, and people are not afraid to speak their minds. Both good tweets and negative tweets are attended to by operators on the site. This is a very important trait when working with social media. It is a great practice for an organization to find possible problems at the root. So when people take to Twitter to complain, it is vital that someone addressed the problem and gives them some direction. The consumer will appreciate that their voice is being heard.


Here is a YouTube video of a recent 2012 Doritos ad called "Man's Best Friend" that debuted during the Super Bowl.  This is a very funny commercial that caught my attention during the game and had some positive feedback from viewers.  The video already has 2.5 million views on YouTube. This is just another great example of how PepsiCo is using social media markets.

I personally enjoy how PepsiCo is using new media. They are engaging the audience and their prospective consumers.  People follow these organizations such as Pepsi and Doritos because they have an attachment to them. So they show their support by "liking " a page or following the organization on Twitter to see what the organization is up to. The Social media pages allow for two way communication and for people to promote their views on an organization whether it is positive or negative feedback. The organization can then gauge web traffic. They can see who is viewing their pages and who is talking about the organization. There are Facebook analytics that gauge and segment who, what, where and when people are looking at your site. COOL STUFF!

Lastly, PepsiCo's web site is a very interactive and easy to navigate site. There is so much information on the site ranging from all PepsiCo's products to their stock market price all the way to press releases and recent news. The site does a good job addressing their different audiences. There is investor news, company history and corporate social responsibility information throughout the site.

If I was the PR person for PepsiCo I would continue to encourage exactly what the organization is doing right now. The organization seems very transparent and thorough in their reports. The CEO is a great public speaker and she seems very credible to me. The social media campaign seems to also be going smoothly. I would encourage the directors of the site to keep good community relations and answer any questions or concerns promptly.

PepsiCo (CSR, Promotions, Marketing)

HISTORY-Pepsi first came about in the late 1890's when it was founded by Caleb Bradham in North Carolina.  In 1919 The Pepsi- Cola Company became incorporated. The company went bankrupt by the 1940's, but the recipe remained in tact, and Pepsi was then owned by Loft. Loft was a candy manufacturer and a restaurant chain.  Loft rebranded in the 1960s and teamed up with The Frito Lay Co to create what we know as today as The PepsiCo, Inc. PepsiCo became incorporated in the state of Delaware, and based it's headquarters in Manhattan, which eventually moved to  it's current location, Purchase, New York. 

ABOUT- Based on net revenue, PepsiCo is known as the number one mega- food and beverage corporation in North America. PepsiCo not only owns Pepsi-Cola and Frito- Lay, but it has recently acquired Gatorade, Quaker Oats and Tropicana. These are tremendous organizations! PepsiCo rakes in an average of 43 billion dollars annually, making the organization the second largest food and beverage company in the world.  (Below is an assortment of PepsiCo products.  Did you know all of these products were produced by Pepsi- Frito?)

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY -  PepsiCO is obviously committed to being successful and making great profits, but they are also very in touch with their responsibilities to society and to the environment. They have a new campaign out now called, "Performance with a Purpose."  Pepsi has gotten in touch with some healthy alternatives by partnering with Tropicana and Quaker Oates.  The organization is now transforming it's portfolio to offer refreshments as well as nutrition to the consumers (Taking out sodiums and fats and adding more whole grain and fibers). PepsiCo is also adding fruits, nuts and vegetables along with vitamins and minerals to many of their beverages (SoBe).  This is an international initiative, that will have roots in The United Kingdom, Mexico and Asia.

Pepsico Web Site

The organization is very interested in creating a better environment. They are increasingly working harder to reduce their impact on the environment. PepsiCo is more aware now about climate change, packaging and water.  Specific objectives have been set, and have been reached  earlier than expected which is great!  Specifically, in producing potato chips, the organization has created ways to re-use and produce water more efficiently. Over the last eight years, the potato crisp sector has reduced it's water use by 42%. If you put that into perspective, it is the equivalent of 350 olympic sized swimming pools.

Those are just a few of the ways PepsiCo is pitching in to help our society. (Below is a video concerning PepsiCo's newest campaign) Check it out!

In 2011, The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) presented their coveted Public Relations Professional of the year award to the Pepsi Communications team.  The Pepsi team spearheaded an incredible initiative that reached millions of people through social media,  and both local and national media.  Pepsi's PR team is doing great work and I look forward to following the organization throughout the semester.