In Argentina, the brand name Pepsi is largely mispronounced
because the "ps" sound in the second syllable is very difficult to
pronounce. As a result, around 25% of the Spanish population in
Argentina ask for a "Pecsi" instead of a Pepsi.
Rather than trying to change the consumer, Pepsi's agency
proposed to change the brand name within its campaign. In what they
called the first "democratic pronunciation of a brand", Pecsi was
born.
Pepsi packaging was changed to read "Pecsi" and the new brand
name was publicized on TV, outdoor and in bars and restaurants. It
also created a "Pecsipedia" - site filled with proposed new
spellings for a range of often-mispronounced words, or other
linguistic inventions - particularly for English brands that are
hard to say in Spanish. So Twitter becomes "Tuiter" and YouTube
becomes "Iutú" Visitors could vote on their favourites or submit
their own. There was an augmented reality application to allow
anyone hold a dancing Pecsi can if they wanted. For those without
webcams, they could make a can on the tomapecsi.com.ar website
dance in different styles to different soundtracks.
As a result, brand preference went up by 10 points compared with
2008, brand recognition increased by 23% over the average for the
category. There were more than 160,000 visits to the brand site
tomapecsi.com.ar in four weeks and 4000 Facebook fans.