CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- In a deal announced today, Apple and Pepsi-Cola North America will give away 100 million free song downloads from the iTunes Music Store
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Pepsi will randomly place 100 million winning codes in caps of 20-ounce and one-liter bottles of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist redeemable at Apple's 6-month-old iTunes Music Store at www.itunes.com. Winners will be able to choose from 400,000 99-cent songs from the catalog that can be played using either Mac or Windows PC.
Free music
"ITunes provides music fans with a fast, reliable and easy way to get the music they want, when they want it," Dawn Hudson, president of Pepsi-Cola North America, said in a statement announcing the alliance from the Mosconi Center in San Francisco. "During the Pepsi iTunes promotion, they will be able to get more of their favorite music for free."
"This historic promotion to legally give away 100 million free songs will go down in history as igniting the legal download market," Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said in the statement. "Pepsi has marketed their products through music for generations, and this is going to be another one that is remembered for decades."
Apple also beefed up promotion of its recently released iTunes system for Windows users, expanding its availability from roughly 3% of the market to virtually all of it. iTunes software is both the operating system of the iPod as well as the program used to download music from the Apple Music Store.
Las Vegas-based events promoter Mega facilitated the Pepsi/Apple alliance and has handled numerous PepsiCo music initiatives. The alliance had been in development since this summer, said Katie Lacey, Pepsi-Cola North America vice president of colas and media.
'Huge partnership'
"This is a huge partnership in our minds," Ms. Lacy said in trying to put in perspective the scope of the deal without disclosing financial terms. "This is a big initiative with an enormous and powerful partner, so we consider this one of our biggest promotions."
She wouldn't confirm or deny whether longer-term relationship was in the works.
"We have a very common vision and we have very strong brands, so you never know," she said. Details on how both sides will support the alliance is still being worked out, but Ms. Lacey reiterated that it "most definitely is a partnership."
Multimedia campaign
In addition to the music-oriented Super Bowl advertising, from Pepsi's ad agency, Omnicom Group's BBDO, New York, ongoing TV, radio, print, online media and point-of-purchase displays are planned. Omnicom sibling Tracy Locke Partnership, Wilton, Conn., handles point of sale, and Tribal DDB handles digital marketing.
Although Pepsi has a rich history in featuring musical artists from Michael Jackson to Beyonce Knowles in advertising, Ms. Lacey doubted any single artist would have a starring role. She said it was too early to tell whether Pepsi Smash, a one-hour live musical show on the WB, would be incorporated into the promotion.
