I have a friend who works with Pepsi in a country I won’t tell you about. And to make sure he doesn’t lose his well paying job and his kids don’t end up in a Madrassa, I will not name him either. A few years ago he spoke to me about a very exciting project he was about to start work on. It involved music, it involved Pepsi, and it involved a musician he really really respected.
The same friend came to me, a few months later, dejected and angry that Pepsi had turned down the idea of a music show with one of his favourite musicians.
While this guy was a good friend I didn’t make much of his problem and definitely didn’t understand his anger. Then around 2009 I discovered Coke Studio. And yesterday it hit me, like a ton of bricks. Like those text book epiphanies that can make your eyes pop faster than 18 espressos. Suddenly his anger made sense to me, only it manifested itself as schadenfreude for the misery of my least favourite people in the world. Marketing minions.
Pepsi had just passed on Rohail Hyatt, the same guy who later went on to create Coke studio. Coke studio was an idea that originated in Brazil, but the popularity it enjoyed in Pakistan is beyond measure. And I’m not even talking about the thunderstorm that swept across the internet.
Wonder if Pepsi gift wrapped the guy though, when they sent him to Coke. Such classic corporate-unimaginative-beliefless-spineless-loser hacks. I would have gone on for longer but I think those guys have learned their lesson. And they probably learn it every time someone forwards them a link, or they catch a glimpse on TV or hear a song popularised by Coke Studio.
Ha ha ha!!! Makes me want to go find them, when they are feeling like miserable pricks, point at them and laugh.
The same friend came to me, a few months later, dejected and angry that Pepsi had turned down the idea of a music show with one of his favourite musicians.
While this guy was a good friend I didn’t make much of his problem and definitely didn’t understand his anger. Then around 2009 I discovered Coke Studio. And yesterday it hit me, like a ton of bricks. Like those text book epiphanies that can make your eyes pop faster than 18 espressos. Suddenly his anger made sense to me, only it manifested itself as schadenfreude for the misery of my least favourite people in the world. Marketing minions.
Pepsi had just passed on Rohail Hyatt, the same guy who later went on to create Coke studio. Coke studio was an idea that originated in Brazil, but the popularity it enjoyed in Pakistan is beyond measure. And I’m not even talking about the thunderstorm that swept across the internet.
Wonder if Pepsi gift wrapped the guy though, when they sent him to Coke. Such classic corporate-unimaginative-beliefless-spineless-loser hacks. I would have gone on for longer but I think those guys have learned their lesson. And they probably learn it every time someone forwards them a link, or they catch a glimpse on TV or hear a song popularised by Coke Studio.
Ha ha ha!!! Makes me want to go find them, when they are feeling like miserable pricks, point at them and laugh.
