Dr. Pepper's Chinese Democracy press release

[Jacksnazzy]

i wrote an email to the dr pepper company:

dear mr. kooluris,

certainly you didn't anticipate with such a huge reaction because of this announcement...

i'm asking myself if the GNR camp was informed by your company about this marketing gag. is this the first step to a big promotion for the upcoming album chinese democracy ?

sincerely,

XXXXXX



answer:

Hey XXXX?the gunners camp wasn?t in the loop initially, so you can imagine how excited we are to have Axl?s support?we are fully confident that Chinese Democracy will be out in 2008?we can?t wait!

C K

[bodine]

Very exciting news and just one more reason to love Dr. Pepper, which by the way, is the best tasting soft drink in the world.  If anyone feels otherwise, please meet me in person so I can slap you with my white glove and challenge you to a duel.

After 3 sips of Dr. Pepper I am so bloated and cannot drink anymore.  It has a good taste, but too filling.

lol how many people from here do you think are drinking Dr. Pepper today for the first time (or at least the first time in years)?

[ppbebe]

awesome reply. humble and witty.

love the last line "And as some of Buckethead's performances are on our album I'll share my Dr. Pepper with him."

bh bring your own glass with you!

[crazycheryl]

I think it's awesome that this company has put it's mouth where it's money is - what an awesome idea! I would do the same thing if I had the money. Thank god someone has stepped up to push this issue. Although Dr. Pepper gives me heartburn, I'd drink it just to celebrate the fact that the album has come out!

I say it will be 2008! Thank you Dr. Pepper. What other companies can we get to do this? Nike? ITunes? Ahhhh, just dreaming. But I love this!

[ppbebe]

there must be quite a few huge fans in the beverage giant. Or they wouldn't dare liken cd to their dearest product in the press release to make the news on the radio and at all the music sites and business sites.

Actually, Cadbury/Schwepps has used viral marketing and music in relation to their products (7-up, for example) in the past.

I remember seeing a 80s axl pic with a can of 7 up in his hand. Anyone has it handy?

[elmir]

assuming that a can costs 20c in the US.....with 303,616,998 people living in the states....
that's a meager $60million dollars out of the bank....almost 5 times as much as what Geffen paid for CD...

i'm glad Axl called their bluff...he may be confident now, but Mr. PR Chris is going to start shitting pretty soon if Axl decides to deliver....

[patmac54]

assuming that a can costs 20c in the US.....with 303,616,998 people living in the states....
that's a meager $60million dollars out of the bank....almost 5 times as much as what Geffen paid for CD...

i'm glad Axl called their bluff...he may be confident now, but Mr. PR Chris is going to start shitting pretty soon if Axl decides to deliver....

Yea, but i'm sure that if Axl were to get the album out this year, each copy would come with a free Dr. Pepper coupon redeemable after purchase of the album. 

[jarmo]

assuming that a can costs 20c in the US.....with 303,616,998 people living in the states....
that's a meager $60million dollars out of the bank....almost 5 times as much as what Geffen paid for CD...

And you got research showing that every one in the US definitely wants a free can? 





/jarmo

[CheapJon]

I remember seeing a 80s axl pic with a can of 7 up in his hand. Anyone has it handy?

it's in the rare pics thread

[elmir]

And you got research showing that every one in the US definitely wants a free can? 





/jarmo

no, but if i was on the corporate board of Dr Pepper, that's the only thing i'd be interested in....

[jarmo]

And you got research showing that every one in the US definitely wants a free can? 





/jarmo

no, but if i was on the corporate board of Dr Pepper, that's the only thing i'd be interested in....

That'd be the worst case scenario for them, definitely not us, but I'm sure they have an idea of how many cans would be given out.

Realistically speaking.


/jarmo

[elmir]

That'd be the worst case scenario for them, definitely not us, but I'm sure they have an idea of how many cans would be given out.

Realistically speaking.


/jarmo

yeah, they most definitely do...i just hope that it isn't a bluff...and they're hoping to get some free publicity counting on Axl not delivering....because if he decides to play along with them....someone could in real trouble...

[ppbebe]

Many big companies often execute give away sales champagnes.

[russtcb]

Yes I realize that, but when was the last time he didn't sign his name as W. Axl Rose?

I know I'm reading too much into this, maybe it was written by a PR person, and was an oversight.
And, you'd think DR. Pepper would mention this HUGE challenge on the Promo section of their website.
 Like I say, it was just something odd I noticed.

1) The Dr. P "people" are saying this leaked early....which might be why the site's not up yet.

2) The press release IS up on a site owned by Cadbury/Schwepps (http://www.brandspeoplelove.com/).   Unless there's been some hardcore hacking of their site......the Press Release is legit.

I just went to poke around that site and found nothing in their press releases about this. Maybe the whole thing did leak a little early?

At this point, I'm just hoping this isn't some crazy April Fools joke that leaked early.

[Jacksnazzy]

it's no april fool. it's legit.

[xj220]

Two things: Axl indirectly implies it'll be out this year by assuming he'll have a drink to share and BUCKETHEAD IS ON THE FUCKING ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

I was wondering if anyone would finally notice this "little" detail...

Just because he said that he'd share is DP with Buckethead does NOT mean it's coming out this year.  Yeah, it is implied but he never said "it's coming out this year."  He could have said it as a knee-jerk reaction to them saying Buckethead won't get one.  I don't want to be an asshole, but you guys shouldn't get your hopes up by reading into things too much.  Personally, I think it's quite humorous and might help nudge Axl in the right direction.

The guy hasn't said anything at all publicly since last August.  I don't think he makes public statements on a knee-jerk reaction.  So of course everyone's going to over-analyze this small statement - given the infrequency of comments from Axl there's nothing small about it.

Call it what you want, I still think it's Axl trying to be witty.  Nothing more, nothing less.  I've gotten my hopes up too many times to have them dashed again and again.  I'm still a GNR fan through and through, but I'm a lot more wary of anything that comes out now.  More than likely what will happen is the coupon with the CD or a way where you can go to drpepper.com (or whatever it is) and register to get a free coupon.  They wouldn't do something like this unless they knew they could take the hit of it actually happening.

[pilferk]

assuming that a can costs 20c in the US.....with 303,616,998 people living in the states....
that's a meager $60million dollars out of the bank....almost 5 times as much as what Geffen paid for CD...

i'm glad Axl called their bluff...he may be confident now, but Mr. PR Chris is going to start shitting pretty soon if Axl decides to deliver....

Go back a page or two and you'll see why the numbers work out....I posted a pretty detailed explanation there.

First off....your costs are inflated by a factor of 3x to 4x.  A can costs somewhere between .05 and .08 cents to manufacture and bottle.

While the offer will be open to all, I'd bet that, at the max, you're talking about a 10 to 20% "adoption" rate.  Even that would be high in comparison to other "free" promotions (Nestle has done it with their Caramel Crunch Bars, Mike and Ike recently did it, Dale and Thomas did it with gourment popcorn) adoption rates.

So, max...the company is risking about 4.8 million.  Not a huge amount.  And I'd bet the wheelhouse is more like 500k, because I'd bet the "adoption" rate is MUCH lower than 20%. 

Really, it's not going to cost them nearly 60 million. 

[kollemann]

Chinese Democracy starts now or soon

[pilferk]

Yes I realize that, but when was the last time he didn't sign his name as W. Axl Rose?

I know I'm reading too much into this, maybe it was written by a PR person, and was an oversight.
And, you'd think DR. Pepper would mention this HUGE challenge on the Promo section of their website.
 Like I say, it was just something odd I noticed.

1) The Dr. P "people" are saying this leaked early....which might be why the site's not up yet.

2) The press release IS up on a site owned by Cadbury/Schwepps (http://www.brandspeoplelove.com/).   Unless there's been some hardcore hacking of their site......the Press Release is legit.

I just went to poke around that site and found nothing in their press releases about this. Maybe the whole thing did leak a little early?

At this point, I'm just hoping this isn't some crazy April Fools joke that leaked early.

http://www.brandspeoplelove.com/csab/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

Click Newsroom.  Then Click News Releases.

Voila.

[fuckin crazy]

That'd be the worst case scenario for them, definitely not us, but I'm sure they have an idea of how many cans would be given out.

Realistically speaking.


/jarmo

yeah, they most definitely do...i just hope that it isn't a bluff...and they're hoping to get some free publicity counting on Axl not delivering....because if he decides to play along with them....someone could in real trouble...

It is a straight up plug and chug formula. I'm sure the math people at Schwepps have graph of the function that shows exactly where their profits maximize.

Perhaps, there is a business major on the board that has had calculus recently that can explain it better than I ever could.