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Pepsi Takes a Brazilian Team to the Sahara for Its Latest Commercial
Written by Débora Rubin
Thursday, 17 January 2008
A thirsty nomad wanders through the Sahara Desert when he sees a Pepsi vending machine. So far, the plot sounds familiar. As he approaches the machine, though, the nomad realizes that it is turned off. The desert loner picks up the machine and places it on the back of his camel, which is as thirsty as the owner, and moves on seeking a plug.
When he finally finds one to plug the power line into, he learns that he needs a coin in order to get his hard-earned Pepsi can. The new advertisement for the soft drink, which debuted on Brazilian TV on January 15 was shot in the Sahara Desert, in Morocco, by a Brazilian team and featuring Arab actors.
The campaign was created by agency AlmapBBDO and produced by company Margarida Flores e Filmes. Before the film's debut, Pepsi announced the new advertising piece in newspapers and on the radio.
Furthermore, the film and its making-of were available on the Internet even before it aired on TV. The new campaign, whose slogan is "Hot? Have a Pepsi", will also have versions for magazines, Internet, points of sale, etc. The nomad and his Pepsi should remain on air until mid-March.
Whereas the actors are from Morocco, the two camels featured in the film were imported from Mauritania. In order to shoot in the Arab country, director Pedro Becker and his team stayed in the desert for 16 days. The film was shot in early December.
Pre-production took ten days and shooting took four. In spite of the blazing sun shown on the advertising piece, the team was faced with temperatures ranging from 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) to -5 degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit). In addition to Arabs and Brazilians, Italian and Spanish professionals were present as well.
The PepsiCo beverage division has been present in Brazil since 1953. In 1997, the United States-based company signed a franchise agreement with Ambev, which manufactures and sells Pepsi products in Brazil, including Pepsi Twist and H2OH. The agreement with Ambev is valid for 20 years. PepsiCo is the world's fifth largest company in the beverage and food sector.
A thirsty nomad wanders through the Sahara Desert when he sees a Pepsi vending machine. So far, the plot sounds familiar. As he approaches the machine, though, the nomad realizes that it is turned off. The desert loner picks up the machine and places it on the back of his camel, which is as thirsty as the owner, and moves on seeking a plug.