Pepsico wins with NumeroMania
It appeared that Poles and others in Central Europe had taken to the soft drinks flooding their market but, after summer ended, they went back to tea. Soft drink sales have been plummeting 50% from August to September, more than twice the falloff in the West.
"NumeroMania" aimed to change that with the largest cash giveaway contest yet mounted in Central Europe. From mid-September until Dec. 2, cash prizes are awarded to people whose Pepsico bottles contain a winning number. Saatchi & Saatchi's David Williams of Warsaw did the creative work, shooting more than 260 TV ads for the campaigns underway simultaneously in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
Pepsico Marketing Director Freddy Caspers says success is in the numbers: October sales were up 100% over September, up 80% over October 1994. In Poland, upstart media outlets were chosen as Pepsico partners to announce the numbers daily: PolSat, Super Express and Krakow radio station RMF FM.
"It's amazing how dramatically you can change the market," Caspers said, predicting that when market-share figures are released in December, Pepsico will have vaulted past Coke in colas and soft drinks.
Caspers and bottling division chief James Rogers were among the five ex-pats who came to Poland two and a half years ago to put an operation in place; today, there are more than 1,800 employees in this division, out of the 6,000 total from the three separate divisions of soft drinks, restaurants and the Wedel snacks and chocolates.
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Poland is getting overdue recognition for its economic advances. Forbes had a major story on Poland, and last week's Business Week featured a cover on Poland, its first on any country tied to the former Soviet bloc.
"Poland got caught between the early starters of Hungary and the Czech Republic," says Robert Burgess, Price Waterhouse managing partner. "And when they faded, there were those seeking the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, in Russia. Now people are realizing they had been stepping over this jewel in the middle of the road." And a growing number of foreign companies are taking another look.
That alarms some Poles, who see foreigners as posing more threat than promise. That was the view of Zbigniew Jarzyna, chairman of the 400-member Association of Private Trade and Services in Wroclaw. His members are apprehensive about "the invasion of large private capital. This is a danger for us. Makro Cash and Carry and Hit Supermarkets are new in our market. Makro may be a supplier for us, but Hit is a direct competitor."
"NumeroMania" aimed to change that with the largest cash giveaway contest yet mounted in Central Europe. From mid-September until Dec. 2, cash prizes are awarded to people whose Pepsico bottles contain a winning number. Saatchi & Saatchi's David Williams of Warsaw did the creative work, shooting more than 260 TV ads for the campaigns underway simultaneously in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
Pepsico Marketing Director Freddy Caspers says success is in the numbers: October sales were up 100% over September, up 80% over October 1994. In Poland, upstart media outlets were chosen as Pepsico partners to announce the numbers daily: PolSat, Super Express and Krakow radio station RMF FM.
"It's amazing how dramatically you can change the market," Caspers said, predicting that when market-share figures are released in December, Pepsico will have vaulted past Coke in colas and soft drinks.
Caspers and bottling division chief James Rogers were among the five ex-pats who came to Poland two and a half years ago to put an operation in place; today, there are more than 1,800 employees in this division, out of the 6,000 total from the three separate divisions of soft drinks, restaurants and the Wedel snacks and chocolates.
* * * *
Poland is getting overdue recognition for its economic advances. Forbes had a major story on Poland, and last week's Business Week featured a cover on Poland, its first on any country tied to the former Soviet bloc.
"Poland got caught between the early starters of Hungary and the Czech Republic," says Robert Burgess, Price Waterhouse managing partner. "And when they faded, there were those seeking the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, in Russia. Now people are realizing they had been stepping over this jewel in the middle of the road." And a growing number of foreign companies are taking another look.
That alarms some Poles, who see foreigners as posing more threat than promise. That was the view of Zbigniew Jarzyna, chairman of the 400-member Association of Private Trade and Services in Wroclaw. His members are apprehensive about "the invasion of large private capital. This is a danger for us. Makro Cash and Carry and Hit Supermarkets are new in our market. Makro may be a supplier for us, but Hit is a direct competitor."
