Pepsi taps into today's culture with ... pinball?
So let's get this straight. Coca-cola, looking for inspiration for a high-profile ad, apes Grand Theft Auto, a best-selling series that has inspired countless knock-offs and holds incredible relevance in today's pop culture landscape. Pepsi, on the other hand, creates a TV ad based on pinball, a once-popular arcade staple that has declined over the decades to the point where only one company in the world is still making tables. At this rate, we can expect RC Cola to come out with an ad based on bagatelle any day now.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nick @ Mar 4th 2007 5:46PM
That's pretty cool. Liked the end.
Jack @ Mar 4th 2007 5:58PM
Pinball > GTA, anyway.
Shane @ Mar 4th 2007 6:00PM
Coke > Pepsi
Service_games @ Mar 4th 2007 6:03PM
I absolutely love Pinball. I love all different types of tables. Sure, I'm not an arcade pinball fan, but the software pinball titles. I love 'em. I really like this ad.
LR @ Mar 4th 2007 6:03PM
Great, something else to debate. Pepsi vs Coke. I say MD.
Mountain Dew > Pepsi > Coke
VorpalMonkey @ Mar 4th 2007 6:06PM
It was pretty cool, not as topical or funny as the GTA ad though. At first I was kinda hoping it would be a katamari thing and he would start rolling up things with the pinball.
Dansk @ Mar 4th 2007 6:09PM
I tought no company made pinballs anymore! I was very glad to see i was wrong.
Splorky Fish @ Mar 4th 2007 6:35PM
I’m going to have to strongly disagree with the implied conclusion that Pepsi must be out of “out of touch” compared to Coke based on this ad. Pinball is well known by just about everyone in the USA, and was a MAJOR part of the budding arcade culture in my parent's generation. Even though pinball isn't as widespread and popular as it once was, almost everyone instantly recognizes it and enjoys playing it.
An ad with near-universal appeal that especially targets a generation that doesn't currently use the product (people over 40 drink less pop than people under 30) is FAR superior to an ad that touches on a controversial subject that is very culturally relevant to a smaller demographic that already purchases the product anyway, to the exclusion of all other demographics.
My parents, sister, and some of my non-gamer friends asked me about the GTA-based Coke ad. They didn’t get it and thought I might be able to explain, asking: “Did you see that one Coke ad that looked like it was from a video game? What was the point of it? Did it reference a real game or something? ” When I explained the whole controversy and Jack Thompson and everything, all I got was a furrowed brow and a muffled, “Oh. I thought it was weird.”
Most people don’t know what “GTA” stands for; much less would they be able to recognize a parody of it. They might associate “GTA” with the words “Hot Coffee” or “rated M for Mature,” but that Coke ad meant nothing to most people. If anything, Coke is the out-of-touch company. They spent huge money to get a timeslot in the Super Bowl and reach the maximum number of people, and then they go and run a series of ads that most viewers don’t understand. I’ll take this Pepsi ad, which evokes a warm sense of fun or nostalgia in almost everyone.
Joe @ Mar 4th 2007 7:10PM
Wow Sporkly, its just a commercial
Defenestrator2.0 @ Mar 4th 2007 7:16PM
How about we all just agree that they were both good commercials? Commercials weren't meant to be analyzed to death, you know. They were to be seen, make you think, "Hey, that's a pretty good commercial," and make you remember the product. Not wonder if the dog was symbolism for the industrial revolution or whatnot.
Diskoboy @ Mar 4th 2007 7:39PM
I grew up on both pinball and video games. To be honest, give me pinball, over most video games, any day of the week.
Twilight Zone is still the best pinball machine ever made. :)
NoHitHair @ Mar 4th 2007 7:43PM
It's too bad that only a single company in the world continues to make pinball machines, especially since the ones they create are awful.
I miss Williams. I would give anything to have Williams make pinball machines again.
http://blog.myspace.com/nohithair
John H. @ Mar 4th 2007 7:51PM
Pinball is much more awesome than GTA, but there are things the game have in common, most particularly the role chaos, variables that are outside the player's control, plays in the game.
Saturn2888 @ Mar 4th 2007 8:09PM
I'm glad someone still cares about the dying arcades! This commercial was amazing!
Sam G. @ Mar 4th 2007 8:18PM
I'm sorry, but if someone came up to me and said "you have your choice: a video game system of your choice with ten games and all the first-party peripherals included, or you can have the Demolition Man pinball game" I'd pick the pinball game.
I know that makes me insane. But if loving pinball is wrong, I don't want to be right.
cafeman @ Mar 4th 2007 8:45PM
You wouldn't happen to think that they may be cross-promoting between the 35-50 segment (who grew up with pinball machines) and their kids, would you?
Nah, that'd require thought.
ManekiNeko @ Mar 4th 2007 8:53PM
I don't know what you're talking about, Kyle. I thought that commercial was incredibly clever. If I didn't totally loathe the taste of Pepsi, I would have bought myself a can after watching that ad!
JR
jjg247 @ Mar 4th 2007 9:33PM
Test
Steve 3.2 @ Mar 4th 2007 10:11PM
While I love my video games, I have a special place in my heart for pinball and a special place in my apartment for a real machine -- Cyclone by Williams. And there's no electronic game out that can recreate the connection a player has when playing a real pinball machine. (Visual Pinball and VPinMAME do a heck of a job for those who need a classic fix. You can get more info on them at www.vpforums.com )
Adam @ Mar 4th 2007 11:44PM
Sporky is exactly right. From an advertising standpoint this is a much better, and much smarter, commercial.
Plus, it's awesome. Poor choice of song, though.
Joe @ Mar 5th 2007 1:24AM
They're bringing it back.
32_Footsteps @ Mar 5th 2007 9:24AM
Actually, the funny thing is, I know gamers who watched the GTA Coke ad and didn't realize what was going on. I think it flies over the heads of many people.
As for tables... I think the problem with Stern is that their tables are too open and there's very little trap room in them. Also, they seem to go for steeper table angles, resulting in too much speed and requiring too much power over finesse (also, the amount of power is killer should the flipper solenoids lose strength). A shallower table angle combined with a few more drops (and making more lanes to bumper pops) and another ramp per table would really improve the experience.
Also, the Twilight Zone table was a solid idea, but the angles were way too weird - I don't think I've ever seen a table with as many dead shots as that one. A couple of repositioned bumpers, and that table would have been incredible.
Mal F4cti0n @ Mar 5th 2007 1:34PM
EVERYONE IS MISSING THE POINT!
How the hell did they guy stay on top of the ball the whole time?
Are we to believe that the ball surface is completely frictionless? Well, if that was the case, the guy never would have had any of the ball's change in direction transfer to him. So how the hell was he able to stay on top of the ball AND change directions with the ball thru the entire commercial?
Complete false advertising.
Oh, and so everyone knows:
/sarcasm
steve @ Mar 5th 2007 2:04PM
To be honest, I never liked pinball and thought GTA was much more interesting. But I don't think that this is at issues here. I think that the effectiveness of the ad is more important.
wrt GTA/Coke ad. If you did not know about GTA. You'd see this cartoon guy walking down the street and seeing dancing bears and such in a fashion that is supposed to be heartwarming, but you don't know why. So, you'd walk away confused.
Only by adding in the fact that you know the GTA metaphor does the fact the guy did not rob the lady or shoot the guy in the car make any contrasting sense to the viewer. Then they'll get a kind of Coke makes the world better idea.
Wrt pinball/Pepsi ad. If you did not know pinball. You'd see a buy rolled over by a ball and taken on a thrilling fast ride ending in a place of "high score" (obviously positive implications even without context).
With knowledge of pinball, you'd appreciate the sound F/X, the launching, the gates, and myriad other details which come from pinball and add to its cool factor. Maybe also the Katmari reference.
So, overall I'd say that the Pepsi ad is far more interesting than the Coke ad. Also that the Pepsi ad probably more effective because the message is clear even to people without the context of the metaphore