Got Name? Pepsi Plans Billion-Bottle Under-the-Cap Contest for Spring - Brief Article

Brandweek, Nov 1, 1999 by Terry Lefton, Theresa Howard

Aiming to drive sales during what is traditionally a slow sales period for soft drinks, Pepsi-Cola will launch what's believed to be the largest under-the-cap promo in its history at around 1 billion bottles during the NCAA tournament next spring.

"Got Name" offers instant winners four Chevy Blazers, $l0 discounts on $50 purchases at Foot Locker, Compaq laptop computers, video software from Sony's 989 PlayStation brand and Pepsi product.

Another instant-win feature will issue bottle caps with the more than 300 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams that potentially could play in the 64- team tourney. Consumers will be urged to collect as many caps as possible and those who've "Got Name" (that is, the name of the winning team) will be able to redeem the cap for a Mountain Dew baseball cap. A peel-and-win fountain component is also being considered.

In keeping with beverage promo devisers' penchant to create more winners through better odds, the game offers chances as good as one in four to win one of the prizes, an aspect expected to be hyped in creative.

"Got Name" will play out on 20-oz. and 1-liter bottles of core carbonated brands Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi One, Mountain Dew and test product Storm, and will be backed with national television ads and heavy POP, including regulation basketball nets.

The five-week program, running from Feb. 28 through April 3, will hype Pepsi's NCAA corporate sponsorship.

Curiously absent from the promo is Pepsi's two-year-old Aquafina water brand, which broke through with an incremental deal to gain unprecedented NCAA hoops tourney sideline visibility last year as the tourney's official water (Brandweek, Dec. 14, 1998).

The water is expected to leverage with sampling and sponsorship of Final Four events, including the women's Hoop City, along with Internet ads and trivia games, at a time that it is being challenged by Coke's newer national water brand, Dasani.