This week, Pepsi announced its latest packaging redesign for its 20-ounce Pepsi bottles. According to an Associated Press report, the bottom half of the bottle will now have a contoured shape, and the label has been cropped. The new design will be adopted for Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, and Pepsi Next. The design will also be adopted for Pepsi’s 16-ounce bottles.

The new bottles will reportedly begin showing up in gas stations and vending machines starting in April. A Pepsi spokesperson told the AP that the design of the Pepsi bottle shape hasn’t changed since 1996. Pepsi bottling plant manufacturing lines will have to be converted to produce the new shape.

Of course, the entire thing has been staged. Pepsi hasn’t come out and said so, but the used car salesman’s dialogue is cringeworthy. Saying the name Mike over and over to reinforce the notion he doesn’t suspect the driver is Gordon is particularly bad. Also, shots from some sort of dashboard camera can be seen during the video, and the fine print “CLOSED COURSE. PROFESSIONAL DRIVER. DO NOT ATTEMPT.” is a pretty big give away.

Still, it’s a fun ad, and imagining that scenario in real life is even more fun. Except for the shouting and screaming that would no doubt take place.

“Knowles is renting her image to a product that may one day be ranked with cigarettes as a killer we were too slow to rein in. From saying, as she once did in referring to Let’s Move, that she was “excited to be part of this effort that addresses a public health crisis,” she’s become part of an effort that promotes a public health crisis,” wrote New York Times columnist Mark Bittman.

The petition, created by “The Family Dinner” author Laurie David, was pulled down three days after it was posted to We The People, a public site for government-related issues. The White House released a statement regarding their decision to pull the petition, saying that Beyonce’s performance is “not something the White House actually has jurisdiction over. Selecting performers is a function of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, not the White House. We the People’s terms of participation state that users cannot post “petitions that do not address the current or potential actions or policies of the federal government.”

Beyonce’s deal with Pepsi is worth around $50 million, but some of that will go into her future creative endeavors rather than straight into her bank account. In exchange, she’ll appear in their ads, on the sides of Pepsi cans and bottles, and will appear in a Super Bowl performance.

The deal will see the singer appearing in ads for the soft drink and her image will be placed on special-edition cans early next year, all of which will coincide with her Super Bowl appearance and a promotional whirlwind for her upcoming album, which doesn’t have a release date yet. In return, Pepsi will give financial support to whatever projects she chooses to do over the next several years. The multi-million dollar budget will be split evenly between ad and promotional costs, Beyonce’s fee, and her creative endeavors.

“Pepsi embraces creativity and understands that artists evolve,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “As a businesswoman, this allows me to work with a lifestyle brand with no compromise and without sacrificing my creativity.”

Of course, Pepsi is not the first brand to strike a deal with a musician or young performer in order to gain from their image, but to land an international superstar like Beyonce is quite a feat. And it isn’t just that she’ll be appearing in ads–which isn’t such a big deal–but the fact that there will be a partnership between the parties that is attracting so much attention.

“It’s not easy to strike a deal with a celebrity of Beyoncé’s caliber,” David Schwab, head of Octagon First Call’s celebrity acquisition unit–which pairs celebrities and branding opportunities–said. “There’s a lot on the table and both sides have a lot of work to do.”

Of 19 colas tested, the nine which did not contain alcohol were made by brands including Auchan, Cora, Casino, Leader Price and Man U-Cola. Ten which had traces of alcohol in them included Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Coca-Cola Classic Light and Coke Zero.

Michel Pepin, scientific director for Coca-Cola France, said: ‘It is possible that traces of alcohol come from the process’ of making Coca Cola according to its secret recipe. He insisted, however, that Coca-Cola drinks were provably ‘soft’ and recognized as such ‘by the government authorities in which they are sold’. Mr Peppin went on to add that “the Paris Mosque has provided us with a certificate stating that our products can be consumed by the Muslim community in line with the religious opinions of the Committee of the Mosque of Paris.”

Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by the American John Pemberton and was originally patented as a medicine which could cure everything from headache to impotence. It has since gone on to dominate the international soft drinks market and is now a US icon sold in more than 200 countries.

Art courtesy of coca-cola-art.com

Twitter is one of those icons, and the new cross-brand promotion titled, “Live for Now Music”, represents an opportunity for both brands to further promote themselves as pop icons. Live via Twitter, Pepsi will deliver free pop-up concert events, exclusive videos, and free music downloads.

Also, every wednesday for the next year, Twitter and Pepsi will provide a recap video of what artists, music and news was trending on Twitter in the preceding days.

Here are the key elements from the partnership’s offering:

* A new music-oriented video series: Pepsi and Twitter will help fans stay on top of music trends with “Live for Now Music,” a new short-form video series. Each Wednesday, over the course of 52 weeks, “Live for Now Music” will provide fans an instant overview of the artists, music and music news trending that week on Twitter.

* Free music downloads: Each week, @pepsi will tweet about the exciting and current music that people who live for now are passionate about. Pepsi will also offer free music downloads from the Amazon.com MP3 Store to consumers who follow @pepsi and include the hashtag #PepsiMusicNOW in their Tweets.

* Pepsi pop-up concert series: Pepsi will stage a series of pop-up concerts in the U.S. this summer and fall. These concerts — featuring major music artists — will be announced first on Twitter and streamed live on Twitter through Pepsi’s enhanced profile page and on PepsiPulse.com. The concerts will also be available on-demand afterwards for fans who want to watch later.

Adam Bain, Twitter’s president of global revenue comments on the partnership with PepsiCo:

“We’re happy to join Pepsi in giving people new ways to indulge their musical passions on Twitter,”

“Music is an essential part of the Twitter experience. Together, we will bring fans closer to the artists they love and help them listen to, see and discover more music.”

Brad Jakeman, president of the Global Beverage Group at Pepsi comments on the new promotions with Twitter:

“The Pepsi partnership with Twitter is awesome on so many levels. Twitter is the quintessential ‘now-time’ media, which is a natural fit with our ‘Live for Now’ global campaign,”

“Combine that with Pepsi’s long association with music and the result makes for a cool and innovative experience for music fans everywhere.”

Simon Lowden, chief marketing officer at Pepsi Beverages for North America also comments on the partnership:

“Pepsi has been recognized as one of the leading brands in social media,”

“By partnering with Twitter, we are providing fans exclusive content and engaging millions of people around the world through one of their key passion points — music.”

Look for the “Live for Now Music” series to kick-off at the end of June and continue through the summer and into the Fall. Check back for more news on the partnership between Twitter and PepsiCo here at Webpronews.

According to Agency Spy, promoted images of Scumbag Steve’s Brisk campaign will appear on Imgur, which will no doubt make use of the meme images that made Boston such a popular figure on the Internet. While there’s been no discussion of Steve’s financial reward for the ad campaign, it’s not a stretch to think it will be fairly lucrative.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Scumbag Steve meme, Know Your Meme is all over it, complete with examples of the images that led to his notoriety. Then there’s the videos Blake/Steve has created, demonstrating he, too, is having fun with his Internet fame:

Shouldn’t that be “stop it Pepsi?”

Victim? I think our definitions differ… While it appears as if the Scumbag Steve/Brisk Iced Tea ads will be image-based, I’m not going to let that stop me from featuring a couple of my favorite Brisk ads from years past:

The promotion–set to roll out into over two dozen countries by this fall–will feature a television ad and a very famous image of Jackson on limited-edition cans, as well as the chance for consumers to download songs from the album by scanning the cans’ special codes with their phones. Nicki Minaj is also part of their new plan and the company recently announced a partnership with Twitter to stream live concerts online. While the marketing strategy will vary between different countries–some will have contests to win memorabilia and concert tickets–one thing is clear: Pepsi is stepping up their game against Coca-Cola.

Pepsi has been reaching toward a younger audience for a while now, trying to integrate their business with the growing social media and technology market. Last year saw them unveil their “Social Vending System“, an interactive soda machine, and earlier this year they announced a plan for Pepsi NEXT, a diet drink targeted at young males to compete with Coke Zero, a similar soda.

Of course, most people of a certain age can’t help but be reminded of the infamous Pepsi/Jackson debacle in 1984, when sparks from pyrotechnics set up for a commercial severely burned Jackson’s face. Many of those closest to him attributed his addiction to pain pills to the accident. It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to the new campaign, and whether they’ll let those negative memories affect their decisions.

PepsiCo has posted a photo of a can prototype on their Twitter account. Let us know what you think of the campaign in the comments section.

The product launch will include:

• A Walmart sampling program which will hit 800 Walmart Supercenter stores across the country, beginning March 26 through the end of April.
• In-market sampling for consumers to try Pepsi NEXT for free across 40+ cities nationwide between the end of March and August 2012.
• A TV ad spot, created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, featuring an excited young couple recording their first interaction with Pepsi NEXT, meanwhile missing the “unbelievable acts” of their baby in the background, from dancing to handstands. This 30-second spot will begin airing nationwide on March 26 on prime-time and cable networks, and will be complemented with online and radio advertising.
• A digital application on facebook.com/pepsinext inviting users to “taste” Pepsi NEXT online.
• Multi-city PR events in which a few famous faces will surprise lucky fans with their first sip of Pepsi NEXT.

The product’s commercial is now available to view online:

Pepsi’s biggest competitor, Coca-Cola, introduced a similar product called Coke Zero in 2007 which is low-calorie and low-sugar. The soft drink’s ad campaign was aimed at young males, who were found to be typically resistant to try a beverage labeled as “diet” in research studies.

The commercial itself is set in a royal court in what looks to be during the renaissance times. The almighty king is played by Sir Elton John himself and the kindly king seems to be holding a talent contest of some sort. The king files through failure after failure only to find the woman played my Amaro who only wants to present herself before the king for “treasure” (Pepsi) after that she proceeds to sing a dance remix of Aretha Franklin’s smash hit “Respect”

Reportedly, Elton John had this to say about Amaro:

“She oozes personality, you can see it by talking to her. She’s very voluptuous. She’s cheeky and fun.”