Coke, Pepsi Make Nice on Twitter

Amnesia Razorfish Promotes 'Public Hug'

Posted by Abbey Klaassen on 07.01.09 @ 12:00 PM

Yes, even hardcore rivals can be social-media friends (or followers, at least). Earlier today Amnesia Razorfish launched an experiment to see if it could get the cola brands to follow each other on Twitter. It tweeted the original challenge and then documented the results and the full story of how it all went down on its blog.

Coke was first to say a "gracious (but competitive) hello" to Pepsi and follow its rival. Later Pepsi responded with its own greeting, tweeting "Can rivals and tweeps coexist? We're willing to find out. :)" Both are now following each other. You know what they say about keeping your friends close and enemies closer.

www.twitter.com/cocacola

www.twitter.com/pepsi

The Tweet that started it all, from Amnesia Razorfish's Iain MacDonald.

13 Comments

By mgchildr | Athens, GA July 1, 2009 10:48:41 pm:

This is hilarious! Proof of the Twitter's effectiveness as a marketing tool-- Coke's and Pepsi's Twitter accounts give each brand personality, making them more appealing and human to consumers. Consumers form a friendship-like relationship with their favorite brands, become advocates, and continue to buy while simultaneously providing "free" advertising via word-of-mouth and social media.

Interesting clip detailing how Twitter can do this for brands:

http://bit.ly/szW0U

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By kbolsing | Salem, OR July 2, 2009 12:11:38 am:

I rather enjoyed the whole situation myself! In fact I was able to interact a bit with @CocaCola after this all went down and thought that was great how they handled the situation!
I wrote up a post about my experience here: http://www.kristybolsinger.com/theres-social-in-my-soda/
I think there could be a great deal of potential for brands to utilize social media to engage with one another! This is a great catalystic example!

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By kdoohan | SANTA MONICA, CA July 2, 2009 01:25:56 am:

check out http://twitter.com/redbull close to 10,000 tweeps have chosen to follow us and we are actively involved in the conversation! coke and pepsi making peace is interesting I guess...but in my clearly biased opinion, what's going on in the world of Red Bull is possibly the most interesting stuff happening for any brand on twitter. (as an aside..Red Bull is just getting started with CoTweet. I guess the three of us have at least one thing in common.)

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By crystalsinger | -, -- July 2, 2009 01:55:58 am:

~sigh~

I'm so sick of brands jumping on every social network in an attempt to be 'relevant', 'viral', or whatever the word du jour happens to be at the time.

Anyone on Twitter who's a 'brand advocate', 'SEO guru', or anything else marketing-driven gets unfollowed or blocked immediately.

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By kbolsing | Salem, OR July 2, 2009 03:18:50 am:

@kdoohan I commented on this particular issue on my own site ( http://www.kristybolsinger.com/theres-social-in-my-soda/ ) but wasn't sure you'd see it. I noticed your comments both here and there are blindingly similar. Not attacking - but honestly interested...is this a blog marketing strategy you utilize regularly or promote?

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By dholt777 | Phoenix, AZ July 2, 2009 03:36:55 am:

So What? Coke and Pepsi follow each other on Twitter. I'm mean, who really cares? This article is lame and Amnesia Razorfish needs to work on their website. I would be ashamed to blog about something like this.

Great, now Red Bull is spamming Twitter with BS. Check it out from the post above. Same messages, posting 5-10 times in a row = spam.

Does anyone have a clue as to why social media is called social media, not brand spam?

Dave Holt
http://HoltInteractive.com

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By kdoohan | SANTA MONICA, CA July 2, 2009 12:11:06 pm:

Red Bull doesn't spam anywhere. I *personally* made two similar posts on diff blogs. Wanted to be part of the dialog on both. Wow, didn't realize that would earn me some flames.

$100 out of my pocket to whoever finds a real Red Bull account posting the same thing 5-10 times in a row on twitter or facebook or myspace or any acknowledged social platform. It just doesn't happen.

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By thelostagency | Brisbane July 2, 2009 12:36:59 pm:

Haha atleast its something to make people smile, following with how social media typically works when follower lose interest there will be a few likely actions but who will be first?

* 1st to RT something the other cola tweeted
* 1st to unfollow or block the other cola account?
* 1st to encourage their followers to sneak in a promotional tweet with the other cola promoting their drink?

http://thelostagency.wordpress.com

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By jkositz | San Francisco, CA July 2, 2009 05:03:37 pm:

Wonder why they weren't following each other before this instigator stepped in? Wouldn't they want to see what their competitor was up to, who they were talking to and what they were saying? Curious.

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By tempovision | San Francisco, CA July 2, 2009 05:10:53 pm:

I thought it was a pretty epic gesture. I lived through the cola wars. I'm still scarred.

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By kbolsing | Salem, OR July 2, 2009 05:13:07 pm:

@dholt777 I don't see the 'spam' you speak of on Twitter. The @redbull account is doing fine! And the comment you're referring to in 'the post above' is from @kdoohan and has nothing to do with Twitter. Also, he addressed the issue so it's done.

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By NickLeck | Cape Town July 3, 2009 02:26:14 am:

I would venture to say that Twitter is more of a PR tool than a marketing tool. Effective, no doubt. Marketing spend is most often allocated to sustainable long term campaigns. Twitter will become "mature" soon, given that web app life cycles are accelerated compared to traditional media.

Interesting article nonetheless.

http://www.twitter.com/nickleck
http://whatdrivesonline.blogspt.com

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By scottgould | Exeter, UK July 4, 2009 02:17:38 pm:

That is fun!

And the gimmick of Coke putting "gracious (but competitive) hello" makes the reader smile and feel they are a part of something intimate.

This, for me, is a large part of what brands can do on twitter to create so much more closeness to their consumers, as opposed to just broadcasting news

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