"Remaining cohesive among all brands starts by asking, What's the core brand idea you want to communicate?" PepsiCo's Brad Jakeman told AOLers gathered in the New York office last Friday afternoon.
Jakeman, named one of America's top marketers by Advertising Age and considered among the top people shaping global media today, kicked off the inaugural AOL BUILD Speaker Series, created to bring together employees for insight and knowledge from leaders of the country's top brands. In his role as President of PepsiCo's Global Beverages Group, Jakeman is responsible for leading the team that created Pepsi's first-ever global brand campaign "Live for Now."
During the informal event, AOLers gathered on sofas and stuffed chairs and around tables, Jakeman inspired and informed as he took questions fireside chat-style from AOL.com Executive Producer Brian Balthazar.
A few sound bites:
- "The riskiest thing any marketer can do right now is do what she/he did last year."
- "We live in a world where [a] consumers' relationship with brands is dynamic and changing in real time."
- "A consumer once said: 'I can't change what happened yesterday, or know about tomorrow. It's about the now.' That became our brand positioning for Pepsi."
- "The relationship between brands and celebs is totally different than it was 10 years ago, because of social media."
- "Think of brand managers as curators of content."
- "Pepsi is focused on being in the consumer zeitgeist, amplifying the NOW."
The AOL BUILD Speaker Series was created to bring to life the concept of building brands, a cornerstone of AOL - a growth company builds things, and in building something, we build ourselves.