SodaStream Calls an Audible

Updated

It wouldn't be a new SodaStream commercial without a little last-minute controversy.

CBS rejected the Super Bowl ad that SodaStream was hoping to introduce during this weekend's Super Bowl broadcast.

The spot that the company behind the fast-growing soft drink system was hoping to air was a spin on the old PepsiCo ads where Coca-Cola delivery drivers take to sipping Pepsi beverages.


Hopefully SodaStream will take a page out of the GoDaddy playbook and eventually release the banned ad on YouTube, but for now it will have to settle for a slightly tweaked version of its current spot featuring exploding soda bottles.

"We are trying to take it to a more provocative level and we probably went too far for Super Bowl standards," Ilan Nacasch -- SodaStream's chief marketing officer -- told The Wall Street Journal.

There's nothing wrong with a little controversy. Companies are reportedly paying a record $3.7 million to $3.8 million for each 30-second spot in this weekend's broadcast, and SodaStream may be the smallest of all advertisers this year. SodaStream -- with its $1 billion market cap and roughly $508 million in projected revenue this year -- will need to get more bang out of its marketing buck than Coke and Pepsi do.

Rejected ads can be a blessing. SodaStream's commercial that was banned in the United Kingdom back in November has now been streamed nearly 2.6 million times on YouTube.

Even if it settles for a tweaked version of its "SodaStream Effect" spot -- the one that disses Coke and Pepsi by pointing out how one SodaStream system can spare the planet 2,000 trashed bottles a year -- it will now be generating more carbonated buzz.

"Did you know that the ad that these guys wanted to run was rejected by CBS last week?" a buddy may tell his friends.

It's a smart way to draw attention and milk more value out of a costly Super Bowl commercial.

Get busy with the fizzy
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The article SodaStream Calls an Audible originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz owns shares of SodaStream. The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and SodaStream. The Motley Fool owns shares of PepsiCo and SodaStream. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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