Read my latest for @Bloomberg @BW: Pepsi’s “#NumberFever” was the biggest advertising promotion in history. It turned customers into millionaires and gave Pepsi the upper hand in their billion-dollar cola war with Coke. Then it went wrong. VERY WRONG. Thread: 1/6
Here’s how it went down: In 1992, Pepsi printed three-digit numbers under the bottle caps of their top-selling soft drinks. Every week Pepsi announced the winning #NumberFever number. Whoever found the winning cap was a millionaire.
It was a worldwide hit. 2/6
It was a worldwide hit. 2/6
In the Philippines, on May 25, 1992, a TV newsreader announced the winning number: 349. There was just one problem. After an error in a bottling plant, Pepsi had released not one lucky 349 bottle cap, but 600,000.
Yes, SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND. 3/6
Yes, SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND. 3/6
Hordes of winners descended on Pepsi’s Manila HQ, seeking their fortune. Panicking #Pepsi execs refused to pay BILLIONS in cash prizes. Soon, a violent consumer uprising was underway, with riots and grenade attacks leaving dozens injured and five dead. 4/6
Was it a coincidence that the scandal occurred during a presidential election mired with allegations of corruption? “One must wonder how many voters were drawn from the voting booth to Pepsi protests,” one columnist speculated.
I flew to Manila to find out. 5/6
I flew to Manila to find out. 5/6
I discovered that even stranger things were afoot. Like, who was really behind the violent anti-Pepsi attacks? This is a story of espionage and sabotage, featuring Pepsi’s head honchos, a Manila preacher, and, er, vampires. 6/6
bloomberg.com/news/features/…
bloomberg.com/news/features/…
