Pepsi logo (1973-87). In 1987, the font was mo...

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I just read this quote from eMarketing. It’s actually from an interview with the head of Pepsi’s Social Media Shiv Singh. Its a good glimpse into the mindset of one of the big guys. They are really proud of their Pepsi Refresh (and they should be) which gives grants to communites to local community organizations, etc based on a voting system that utilizes Social Media. What cracks me up is when Mr. Singh said this in the interview:

The other thing we’re changing is we are making it more content-centric. The people who vote are actually people who want to talk to each other and learn from each other, and share with each other. So, we’re going to create places for that to happen.

I mean really. It was a big deal to realize that you needed good content. That just showing the logo wasn’t enough? I think too many of the old brands still don’t get real social media. They don’t get that people do want content. They do want to connect with each other on their computers.

I think that the other thing that I commend Mr Singh on is that they seems to be exploring geo-location in marketing as well. If people are going to have conversations they might want to to do it in person, and if they are going to do it in person then they probably want to do it with a pepsi in their hands.

People do want to connect via social media and then in the real world as well. Now I’m very sure that Mr. Singh “Gets it” and I’m impressed that they are moving on it. My question is which of the other big guys get it and which don’t? Hats off to Mr Singh and Pepsi.