When comparing two relatively similar products - Coke and Pepsi - one wonders just how much is really in them. We've all heard of how blind testing has resulted in beer drinkers not being able to differentiate between various brands, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were to find similar results with the soft-drink market. Ok, I know there are some really strong opinions around this so I stand ready to be shot down, but I think my logic holds.

In these cases, word-of-mouth and peer opinion count for even more than usual (which studies have repeatedly shown is a considerable amount the vast majority of times).

Following on from this one would imagine that Pepsi would sit up and take note of a post written about them recently. Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi is the most hideous thing humans have ever created went up on the Shakeville blog about a week ago. Since then it has generated 78 comments, and has been featured on Boing Boing - read: massive coverage!


To give you an idea of the content and style of the post, take a look at the following extract:

If you haven't tasted Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi, but would like an idea of what it tastes like, do this - keep a straw in your pocket and wander around outside until you find a pigeon or squirrel that's been dead for, oh, say three months. Stick the straw into the dead animal and suck.

Obviously this isn’t exactly something that Pepsi can rectify. They can’t change this consumer’s taste, and they can’t exactly alter the product immediately – it’s not as if this were some service related issue that the beverage giant could apologise and make up for. This is an instance of someone fundamentally not liking the brand. It happens to us as people, and it'll happen to brands - you just can't please everyone.

So what can Pepsi do? Respond? Internalise all of the above for future product development? Pull the product off the shelf?

Probably all of the above options are open to them – what they can’t afford to do is ignore this. They have a host of response tactics open to them. The nature of the post and its colourful writing could probably warrant a seriously left-of-centre response – something the market would not be expecting.

Regardless, this highlights just how imperative Online Reputation Management is for brands. A mention like this provides insights that are worth gold-dust to a brand, and that are ignored at its own peril.