Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S11E01 - Number Fever: Surprising Stories of Bottle Cap Marketing

Episode Date: January 8, 2022

We’re back with our new season and the first episode is all about Bottle Cap Marketing. A bottle cap is a tiny thing but offers big opportunities. We’ll talk about how Coke figured out a way to help sophomores make friends, why a beer let other brands advertise on its bottle tops and how Pepsi staged a bottle cap promotion and almost made a $32 billion snafu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose. You're not you when you're hungry. You're a good hand with all teeth. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. Hans Forsberg lives in Sweden. When he was six years old, his parents bought him an electrical building kit.

That fascinated him and eventually led him to a career in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. One day many years later, he noticed a pair of magpies living in his backyard. Magpies are birds most often found in Europe and the western provinces of Canada. They are usually black and white, with a long diamond-shaped tail, and have a wingspan of 62 centimeters, or 24 inches. They mate for life. Magpies belong to the crow family and are among the most intelligent birds. Forsberg observed them curiously fiddling

with the complicated locks on his outdoor lanterns trying to get at the candles inside. And Forsberg wondered if he could teach them a trick. So using his experience in robotics,

he built an unusual bird feeder. At first, he simply put peanuts on the platform to get the magpies used to the feeder. After a few days, he rigged the platform with a big red button. When the magpies tapped that button, a mechanism would dispense a peanut. At first, the adult magpies were suspicious of the device and the noise it made, but their chicks were braver and mischievously curious. Kids will be kids. Within a few days, one chick caught on and kept tapping the button in exchange for food. Seeing that, his siblings quickly got in on the action, and soon the whole family was tapping the red button for peanuts.

Next, Forsberg placed two dozen bottle caps on the feeding station and created a hole in the platform. Because there were so many bottle caps on the small platform, the magpies would accidentally knock the bottle caps into the hole, which triggered a small metal detector, which triggered the mechanism to dispense peanuts. After two weeks, the magpies completely understood the idea. They would grab the bottle caps and deposit them into the round hole and get a peanut. Next, Forsberg took the bottle caps off the platform and spread them around his backyard.

Sure enough, the magpies would find the bottle caps, fly onto the platform, and deposit them into the round hole for peanuts. You can watch this amazing spectacle unfold on YouTube. Just search spoiled magpies. And now, the magpies search out

bottle caps on their travels and bring them back to Hans Forsberg's feeder where they trade the bottle caps for their prize. Trading bottle caps for a prize has a long history.

For at least 70 years, beverage makers have been concocting contests and mechanisms that persuade people to collect bottle caps for prizes. Those tiny bottle tops are valuable pieces of marketing real estate, and technology is reinventing them in remarkable ways. Some of the bottle cap contests are amazing, and some are for the birds. You're under the influence. Back in 1892, patent number 468,258 was granted to an inventor named William Painter. He had tried to find fame and fortune with a series of inventions, but nothing seemed to make him wealthy. Then he had an epiphany one day.

The key was to invent something that was disposable. Painter noticed the increasing popularity of carbonated drinks sold in drugstores and pubs, and he noticed they had a problem. Namely, the wood and porcelain bottle tops didn't keep a tight seal, allowing the carbonation to go flat. They were also unhygienic. So he created a simple design. It was a corrugated metal bottle top with a cork lining. The 24 crimped teeth gripped the bottle. The cork liner protected the liquid from tasting like metal, making it leak-proof and inexpensive to produce.

It also had one other feature. This bottle top was disposable, designed for a one-time use. So manufacturers would need a lot of them. Painter called his invention the crown cap, because when the bottle top was turned upside down, it looked like the queen's crown. Little did he know that his tiny bottle cap would become a prime piece of marketing real estate in the decades to come. When I was growing up in Sudbury

in the late 60s and early 70s, buying pop was a big treat. At that time, Sudbury was one of only two cities in Canada where Pepsi outsold Coke. The cocktail of choice for my parents and their friends was a rye and Pepsi, not a rye and Coke. But me and my friends didn't drink Coke or Pepsi as a rule. Or rye. We were 12.

We drank Royal Crown Cola. Royal Crown was invented way back in 1905 by a family named Hatcher, who owned a grocery store in Georgia. They sold a lot of Coca-Cola in their store, and when they asked Coke if they could get a commission on their huge sales, Coke said no chance. So the family stopped carrying Coca-Cola, rolled up their sleeves and created their own cola to compete with Coke

and called it Royal Crown Cola. The hatchers were very inventive. Royal Crown Cola offered the first canned soda, the first caffeine-free cola, the first 16-ounce soda, was the first to use nationwide taste tests, and was the first to bring diet cola mainstream. Jim Henson even did commercials for Royal Crown Cola back in the day. I sing the praises of Royal Crown Cola. I hate folk singers with a message.

It is such a wow, you should buy some now. Great lyrics. Royal Crown is its name, it has quick, fresh energy, and you will love RC like me. Is that the end? There is no end to the praises I sing of Royal Crown Cola. As kids, Royal Crown Cola, or RC Cola as it was called, tasted as good as Coke or Pepsi to us. But that wasn't why we drank it. We preferred RC Cola because you could win money under the bottle caps.

When you pried the cork liner out, there were prizes of 5, 10, 25, or even 50 cents printed under the cap. That was big cash to 12-year-olds. And the best part was, just about every other RC Cola bottle was a winner. So when we won 25 cents, or if we hit the jackpot with 50 cents, we would buy more RC Cola and even have enough left over for candy. It was seventh heaven. There have been many inventive contests and promotions using bottle caps over the years. Back in 2015, Koch came up with an interesting idea for college kids. The first few days of

college or university can be lonely times for students. They're new in town. They don't know anybody yet. Breaking the ice and starting conversations isn't easy. So Coke had an idea. It wanted to give students an excuse to start talking. To do that, it stocked vending machines at colleges with special bottles of Coke. The promotion was dubbed the Friendly Twist. When students purchased a bottle of Coke from these vending machines on campus,

they discovered it was impossible to open the special bottle caps by themselves, no matter how hard they tried. But there was a reason for that. The tops were specially designed so that each bottle cap was made to interlock with another. And when two people connected them and twisted, both bottles would open. Because two bottles were required, it got students talking to one another and meeting one another and opening new friendships. Coke posted a video of students opening their bottles with new friends, and it got over 8 million views on YouTube. Plus, the promotion was a perfect social media idea, as students shared photos all over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It was a friendly twist to breaking the ice.

In Vietnam, Coke posed an interesting question to its advertising agency. What if empty Coke bottles had a second life instead of being thrown away? So, together with its ad agency, Coke came up with a novel idea. They created a set of red screw-on caps that transformed empty Coke bottles into something handy, fun, and usable.

For example, one of these new red caps transformed empty Coke bottles into a spray bottle. Another turned Coke bottles into pencil sharpeners. Another turned bottles into toy squirt guns. Still other red caps turned empty bottles into soap, shampoo and condiment dispensers, lamps and even connected two bottles to become dumbbells. There were 16 different bottle top uses in all. Empty Coke bottles were essentially turned into fun tools. The customized bottle caps were free when purchasing a multi-pack of Coke.

The campaign generated a huge amount of media exposure, including a YouTube video that was viewed over 4.2 million times. Over 50,000 red bottle caps were distributed during the promotion, giving 50,000 empty Coke bottles a second life. Each year, the beer industry spends billions of dollars asking people to drink responsibly. Yet, bins drinking is still a huge problem around the world.

In Colombia, a beer called Aguila created the Beer Cap Project. Aguila is the most widely consumed beer in Colombia, so it had a big audience. And it did something that had never been done before. Aguila let other brands take over its bottle caps. Here was the thinking. Responsible drinking means following certain steps. It means eating while drinking.

It means drinking water while partying. And it means taking a taxi or Uber home instead of driving yourself. So, Aguila invited bottled water companies to put their logos on the bottle caps of their beer. And they invited food companies to put their logos on the caps. And they invited taxi companies and ride services like Uber to do the same. And under those bottle caps were free products and big discounts from each of those brands. So the caps could be exchanged for free water, free food, and discounted rides home. That meant when people opened an Aguila beer, they had the opportunity to drink responsibly.

Then the beer brand took it one step further. They posted billboards in different countries asking other beer brands to join them in the Beer Cap Project. The billboard said things like, Dear Heineken, how about joining a Colombian beer to help stop bins drinking this year? Even local craft beers were invited to participate. It was a highly unusual and smart use of bottle caps, and the cause was an important one. And by removing its logo from its caps, Aguila got even more attention and goodwill. Don't go away. We'll be right back. New year, new me. Season is here and honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics,

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So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your back all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. We'll be right back. app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a selly and an official sports betting partner of

the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Technology is opening up even more innovative opportunities for bottle caps these days. Dutch beer Grolsch figured out a way to link smartphones to its tops recently. They did it by embedding a Bluetooth beacon inside specially made bottle caps. When Grolsch drinkers opened a bottle of beer, the beacon was instantly activated.

That beacon would send a signal to a server, and when a smartphone was tapped against the bottle, the phone owner would be sent a digital key to unlock a free movie of their choice from a list. The free movie promotion was a huge success for Grolsch because the activation was so simple. It removed the friction

of having to type in a special code or having to navigate pages on a website. As a result, there was a high degree of engagement and it gave beer drinkers

a reason to choose Grolsch. It was also shades of the future as beacon-enabled bottle caps are opening the door to a lot of creative marketing opportunities. But not all bottle cap promotions go exactly as planned. Coke has a sub-brand called Vitamin Water. Back in 2013, Vitamin Water developed a bottle cap promotion. The contest was aimed at both English and French Canada.

It went like this. Under each bottle cap were two words, one English and one French. Customers were encouraged to save the bottle caps and form humorous sentences with them, then send the bottle cap sentences into vitamin water to win prizes. English folks were to use the English words, French folks would concentrate on the French words. One day at a restaurant in Edmonton, a couple ordered A vitamin water. The husband opened the bottle and looked under the cap. The first English word was U.

The second French word was R-E-T-A-R-D. They were stunned at first, then appalled. His wife had a sister who was developmentally delayed and didn't find it funny at all. An angry letter was written to Coke and posted on Facebook where it was shared over a thousand times. Someone else in another city had a similar surprise when their bottle cap said, You douche!

As it turns out, the words on the bottle caps were paired randomly. The French words, on their own, were innocuous as retard means late and douche means shower. But when paired with English words, they took on offensive meanings. It was an oversight. Coke and vitamin water apologized immediately, destroying all the caps with words printed on them. And put the lid on the promotion. On the evening of May 25, 1992,

a reported 70% of the Philippines' population were gathered around their television sets. It was a big night, because the winning number in a huge Pepsi contest was going to be revealed on the Channel 2 news program in Manila. I won! I won! Look for the winning number in Sorry Sorry's source every day, also on TV, radio, and newspapers.

You could be a millionaire. The contest had been running for four months. Under the caps of specially marked bottles of Pepsi were three-digit numbers. Every night, the TV station would reveal that day's winning number in Pepsi's Number Fever promotion. Most daily prizes were small, just 100 pesos, the equivalent of about $5.

But that night, on May 25th, the grand prize-winning bottle cap number was to be announced, and only two bottle caps in the entire country contained the magic number. At that time, the Philippines had a struggling economy and there was widespread poverty.

The two grand prizes were worth one million pesos each, the equivalent of about $40,000. That was a lot of money in 1992. The average monthly salary of a Filipino family then was $100. A win was perceived to be life-changing. The contest created a frenzy. Kids were searching everywhere for bottle caps. Families were squirreling Pepsi caps away in bags. People were rummaging through garbage cans, and some even fought in the streets over found bottle caps. Pepsi's number fever

became a national phenomenon. The contest was so popular, it was extended for five additional weeks. So, when the winning bottle cap number was announced that night, it captured the attention of the country. Then came the big moment. The winning bottle cap in Pepsi's number fever was finally revealed. It was number 349. Shrieks of joy could be heard in one neighborhood, then in the next neighborhood,

then in the next neighborhood after that, then entire neighborhoods lit up. As a matter of fact, shrieks of joy could be heard all over the Philippines. But how could that be? There were only two grand prize winners. As it turned out, Pepsi had made a slight mistake.

A computer glitch had printed the winning 349 number under 800,000 bottle caps. There were hundreds of thousands of people who believed they were now millionaires. Some even had dozens of 349 bottle caps in their possession. When they showed up at Pepsi's bottling plants the next day to claim their prizes, they were stopped at the gates and told the company had made an error

and that no prize money would be given out. Mass outrage and riots erupted. Boycotts and protesting ensued. Pepsi claimed that only two winning bottle caps had a special security code.

Winners shouted that none of the promotional material said anything about a special security code. Winners shouted that none of the promotional material said anything about a special security code. Pepsi was forced to put up a barbed wire fence around their buildings. Homemade bombs were heaved

at their bottling plants. The entire number fever promotion was intended to be a fun way to increase Pepsi's revenues. And it did. Market share jumped from 19% to over 24%. Sales increased a reported 40% during the contest. Bottling plants ran 20 hours a day, doubling their usual production. Total cost of the promotion was to be a manageable $2 million. But now Pepsi executives were fearing for their lives.

Furthermore, honoring 800,000 bottle caps with 349 printed on them would cost Pepsi $32 billion. To put that in some perspective, the entire gross domestic product of the Philippines that year was $52 billion. With that, the nervous Pepsi brass convened for an emergency meeting at 3 a.m. They couldn't possibly pay out $32 billion. So, it was decided that, as a goodwill gesture, they would offer $20 to anyone holding a 349 bottle cap. Some accepted the $20, which cost Pepsi about $10 million. But others did not. They felt Pepsi was a massive multinational corporation that should make good on their mistake.

Pepsi refused. The rioting intensified. Over 35 Pepsi trucks were overturned and burned. Molotov cocktails continued to be tossed through the windows of Pepsi offices. Pepsi executives hired bodyguards. One said they were, quote, eating death threats for breakfast. At one point, grenades were thrown. Five people died and many more were injured.

Thousands of legal actions were launched against Pepsi, including a $400 million class action suit. The Philippine Department of Trade stepped in and fined Pepsi 150,000 pesos, and the government tightened up its regulations for contests. To be 349'd became slang for being duped. But as days and months passed, the anger started to subside and the protests stopped. But the lawsuits dragged along. By the end of 1994, 689 civil suits and 5,200 criminal complaints had been thrown out of court. Some cases still lingered through to the year 2006, where a Philippine Supreme Court ruling found that Pepsi hadn't been negligent and wasn't liable for damages due to the error.

With that, the temperature of Pepsi's number fever finally came back down to normal. Thirteen long years later. It's amazing what can be wrought from a simple, tiny bottle cap. Hans Forsberg taught magpies to retrieve bottle caps and exchange them for food. Now, he's teaching them to retrieve all kinds of litter, from cigarette butts to empty pop cans. Coke in China figured out a way to keep empty Coke bottles from becoming litter and instead transformed them into handy tools around the home. It's also remarkable that a tiny bottle cap can contain a beacon that can communicate with a smartphone.

And you know that's only the beginning of what's possible. Aguila's idea to use bottle caps to combat the dangers of binge drinking was a big idea contained in a tiny bottle cap. And Coke's notion to help college kids start conversations on the first day of school was a nice little icebreaker. But both Coke and Pepsi also had their troubles with bottle caps. One, an unfortunate combination of words,

and another that was almost a $32 billion snafu. Little did William Painter know his tiny invention would lead to so many eventful situations. And if there's one key to a successful bottle cap promotion, it's this. Watch out for them computer glitches when you're under the influence.

I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Research, Susan Kendall. If you liked this episode, you might also like Vending Machines, Coin Operated Marketing. Season 8, Episode 4. You'll find it in our archives wherever you listen to podcasts.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for some fun behind-the-scenes stuff. At Terry O. Influence. See you next week. Fun fact. William Painter also invented the bottle cap opener. It resembled ornate keys used to unlock church doors. And that's why openers are often called church keys.