Note from Beth: I've been writing about online contests that use social media and crowdsourcing techniques. In December, I wrote about Pepsi's bold move of not spending money on Super Bowl ads for Pepsi beverages but using the money for lethal generosity through its Pepsi Refresh Project. I called Pepsi out in a post called "What can Pepsi Learn About Crowdourcing for Social Good?" A representative from Pepsi, Bonin Bough, left a comment and I invited him to write a guest post about they are learning about crowdsourcing for social good.
As frequent readers of this blog know, many pitfalls of online contests have been discussed here. It’s an honor to have Beth ask me to guest post so I will do my best to live up to the quality readers are used to. With the launch of public voting on the Pepsi Refresh Project, now is a good time to discuss the efforts we’re taking to set the new standard for transparency in online contests.
For those who don’t know, the Pepsi Refresh Project is a new effort to empower individuals to make a positive impact on the world. We’ve pledged to award more than $20 million to support innovative ideas that move communities forward. Anyone can apply for a grant and the public decides who wins.
Each month, Pepsi will award grants up to $1.3 million to the winning ideas across six categories, including: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education.
We collaborated with organizations that are dedicated to making a positive difference in the world to design and implement the Pepsi Refresh Project. Our partners include GOOD, a leading platform for thought and action revolving around pushing the world forward; Global Giving, an online marketplace that connects people who have community and world-changing ideas with people who can support them; and Do Something, the largest non-profit teen charity.
Global Giving will vet contest applications to ensure they meet the requirements — for example, grant proposals may not contain profanity or involve political advocacy for a particular party. Each month, we accept 1,000 submissions, and all of the ideas that comply with our Official Guidelines are then posted online for public vote. We’re doing our part to bring transparency to the process by featuring a monthly leaderboard showing which ideas are getting the most votes.
Pepsi has developed an Advisory Board of leaders of non-profit sectors with extensive experience in each of the six award categories. They’re CEOs, foundation presidents and some of the most innovative thinkers in social good, chosen for their proven track record and commitment to moving the world forward. They are not paid for their efforts and they will not have any influence on the balloting or awarding of grants.
We’ve also compiled a team of Ambassadors, who are emerging leaders in the six award categories. They range from start-up founders to activists to neighborhood advocates. They will work to involve the nonprofit community and cultivate creative and innovative ideas in their category. Ambassadors will identify trends in submissions and invite thought leaders in their field to champion promising and innovative project ideas.
So, what’s different about this contest than other online contests? First, never before has a trusted brand engaged in the work of doing social good with the level of resources behind the Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsi is giving away an unprecedented $20 million in grants and inviting the public to rank the best ideas in an open vote. And the grants are available in a range of sizes, to foster ideas as small as a community garden and as large as groundbreaking medical research. The Pepsi Refresh Project stands apart from other programs in that it is open to a broad spectrum of ideas, and it will be a sustained year-long effort.
Our theory of social change is that new ideas are born from optimism, a curious mind and a creative spirit. We can make a difference by equipping people with the means to bring their ideas to life. And, we believe social media and digital engagement can fuel, extend and inform these efforts.
This focus on social engagement is driven from the highest points of the PepsiCo organization – and you can expect to see great things on this front from PepsiCo over the coming years. What is at the core of all of our efforts is how can we continue to help and support the space by being an organization that is open to exploring and working with all of the bright minds and emerging technologies that are driving social media forward.
Through the Pepsi Refresh Project, we’re helping to move people’s ideas from wishful thinking to reality. The results so far have exceeded our expectations. After just 72 hours, we quickly hit our 1,000 submission limit for the first month — including at least one submission from each state. We look forward to tracking the winning ideas and we can’t wait to see what people come up with next.
The lesson is: if you listen to what people have to say and give voice to their perspectives, you can inspire people and empower their ideas to refresh the world.
Bonin Bough is the Global Director Digital and Social Media at PepisCo.
What can I say? It sounds good, and Pepsi seems to be listening to the feedback it's receiving. There are no guarantees, in anything like this, that all will go well. But. I'm willing to give Pepsi the benefit of the doubt as this project moves forward.
Posted by: Brandon Mendelson | February 01, 2010 at 11:33 AM
We're excited to see how Pepsi does with this effort. As with anything it could crash and burn if poeple don't grab on. I'd hope that it doesn't take a million dollar offer to get your idea to take off . . . at least we hope not. Good Luck Pepsi we're drinkin' Pepsi one bottle at a time to help.
Posted by: Awareness Home Funding | February 01, 2010 at 01:55 PM
"Our theory of social change is that new ideas are born from optimism, a curious mind and a creative spirit."
If this is the case, why devalue the importance of ideas by favoring those with large social networks (big established organizations)?
We all know by now people vote in these contests out of obligation to their social ties not because they believe in one idea over others.
Posted by: Charles Tsai | February 02, 2010 at 05:44 AM
I go back and forth on contests like this. On one hand, I like the innovation and crowd-sourcing that doesn't happen so much in traditional grant applications. But, like some commenters have said, also don't like that typically those with larger social networks "win." I'd love to see a better, happier medium that combines the two or bridges the gap. Not sure what it would look like, though.
Posted by: Sam Davidson | February 02, 2010 at 07:23 AM
Bonin,
While I applaud the fact that Pepsi is entering these waters a little more cautiously and transparently than Chase, I have to ask: What's really different besides the fact that you're giving away a huge sum and are doing a cursory vetting of applicants? And more importantly, how on earth do you plan to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, especially considering that those organizations funded may not necessarily be the best at what they do?
Posted by: Betsey Russell | February 02, 2010 at 09:05 AM
Bonin,
I believe deeply in what Pepsi is doing to build a social purpose business paradigm. From the partners that you have selected to vet proposals to Pepsi's commitment to transparency in executing the program... your work comes across sound and authentic.
As Beth and readers of this blog know all too well, projects of this nature are risky and can be derailed in an instant. While Chase Community Giving is the most recent memory of good intentions gone south, American Express Member's Project had its fair share of challenges as have others. In short, I admire the steps Pepsi is taking and wish you guys the best of luck!
My question is this:
Increasingly, the stories of Pepsi Refresh winners will be unfolding in interesting locations and unique circumstances in communities across America. Is Pepsi considering ways to help these individuals tell and propagate their ongoing stories from the 'front lines of change' across the Internet and advance their initiatives beyond the initial Pepsi grant.
Executing the right digital story-telling strategy could be a powerful way to amass real scale beyond the initial cash grant by mobilizing skills and resources of the general public to get behind the winners, thereby taking their projects to the next level.
American Express really missed this opportunity. What about Pepsi?
Deron Triff
Changents.com
Posted by: Changents | February 02, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Thanks for the post and the insights of the commenters. I have to applaud the Pepsi Refresh Project. Corporate Philanthropy in so many organizations is absent any true strategic focus ($5M to the CEOs alma mater, etc.) Giving is indiscriminate and is an under-leveraged resource for brands. Projects such as this acknowledge a couple of critical facts 1) making differences in communities require the input of communities (social or otherwise) and 2) the paradigm for long-term and sustained brand engagement is not driven by massive spend on a 30 second ad spot. Brand equity and engagement is built through offering social currency. In the case of Project Refresh, that has come from asking consumers and organizations focused on social change to co-create new possibilities for making a difference in communities.
As crowdsourcing continues to grow in popularity as a method to garner greater consumer engagement online, those of us in the marketing and communications space will be responsible for guiding brands to the best methods and guidelines aimed at offering the greatest value to consumers and communities in a way that helps protect the reputation of their brands.
Posted by: Chad Latz | February 02, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Bonin:
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I do have to say that I am more than a little disappointed in the fact that another multi-national company is limiting their initiative to the USA. Your title says "Global" but organizations outside the USA aren't allowed to apply to become a beneficiary.
I'd also like to add that I think these competitions ignore what is potentially the biggest value a large corporation can bring to the nonprofit world... recognition. By asking people to vote, you're leveraging the popularity of a project. There are many causes and "projects" that will not be popular, but that a large company could help to make popular.
Major corporations like Pepsi have enormous power to change the world through their philanthropic and social media efforts. However, jumping on popular bandwagon's isn't necessarily the best way to have real impact on important issues. In many cases, a large company like yours can create change, bring awareness and potentially find a cure, solve a problem, stop a problem from existing - through its efforts. I see that as far more leadership oriented than these types voting contests. I wish we'd all challenge major corporations to become change leaders - instead of bandwagon jumpers.
Posted by: Laurie | February 02, 2010 at 04:21 PM
Bonin -
Thanks so much for your behind the scenes perspective. We are excited to be one of the "chosen" and look forward to the journey.
I encourage Pepsi to open up more to the crowdsourcing mentality that makes it so powerful by 1) creating a Search engine to connect with interests of the user, 2) allow comment postings to be shared about each of the organizations and 3)post real time readerboard listings so the community can be mobilized, rather than see no real movement.
Finally, all of these organizations, with their amazing ideas and innovative perspectives, need help that can be offered outside the Refresh Everything Project. A contact name, location and e mail address would be helpful so users can offer support, time or resources outside of their vote.
Thanks to Pepsi for creating this great opportunity.
Posted by: Kris McRea | February 02, 2010 at 11:05 PM
Hats off to Bonin and his team for stepping out in to the 'unknown' and trying something new and experimental.
Unleashing $20 million dollars to support 'community cause initiatives' is a bold move.
If this project succeeds, it will encourage more corps and brands to allocate $ to 'high human and community impact' cause marketing campaigns, and that, can only be good news for charities, non profits and 'citizen' beneficiaries.
Posted by: Steve Jennings | February 03, 2010 at 03:05 PM
Hi Bonin,
Well done to you and Beth for this post. How can the project allow ideas to be crowdsourced in the future? I applaud your experts and ambassadors, but consider the many good people out there that would love an easy way to share a thought or idea to make another's better. I'll be voting.
Will
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Posted by: notebook adaptör | February 09, 2010 at 10:07 AM
I'm a big fan of this campaign and was very excited to see how well it's been performing in terms of "super bowl buzz" ratings despite the lack of a TV spot this year (I even wrote a quick post about it: http://bit.ly/8Z36mN).
One element I didn't know about was the submission per state quota, which bolsters one of the core strengths I see I in this effort: the combination of broad and niche appeal. I hope that people take the chance to support the causes closest to them- whether it's a national project that's close to their hearts or a local initiative that's close to their home.
Bravo, Bronin, and thank you for the insider perspective.
Posted by: Sonya | February 09, 2010 at 05:48 PM
Thanks for your feedback and to many of you for your kind words. We believe the Pepsi Refresh Project is different from other online contests in that it’s a movement and not a moment. We're awarding $20 million this year to support projects big and small that move communities forward.
Now that we've launched the first round of voting at www.refresheverything.com, we're excited to see the public take part in this effort. More than 141,000 votes were cast in the first three days! Our leaderboard is changing daily and features a variety of ideas from individuals, small towns, young nonprofits and major organizations, all with a desire to make a difference.
We’ll announce the first round of Refresh Grant winners on March 1. These winners will not only receive the funds they need, but through our partners, they’ll also receive the guidance and support they need to turn their ideas from wishful thinking into reality.
Posted by: Bonin Bough | February 12, 2010 at 04:38 PM
I became a fan of Pepsi Refresh and Bonin at social media week recently. He continues to respond to critique and conversation about the project with an open mind and responsiveness -- just as best practices of social media dictate. And I would hardly call this program jumping on the bandwagon as one commenter did, but instead just a company embracing the fact that marketing can't stop, but it can do it in a way that reflects the wave of the future AND try to be beneficial.
To those detractors of the program, wouldn't you at least agree its better than a sharp stick in the eye -- or another SuperBowl ad? I would also invite you to review the toolkit available to those who are applying. Just the thought and planning that goes into uploading an application will push more people forward to getting their good idea implemented, whether they "win" or not. This will hopefully create a trickle down benefit of the program.
I just think that a program of this scale by a major corporation can't help but contribute to some change for the better.
Posted by: Moss Appeal | February 14, 2010 at 09:55 AM