Small vs. big. Coke over Pepsi.

Nothing wrong with Pepsi’s new optimism and the big traditional thinking behind it, just as long as you remember life’s moments aren’t all happy and they aren’t only shared by teens. The brand resentments I had are alive and well because Coke once again connects on a smaller one-to-one level in a way Pepsi hasn’t. Guess Pepsi isn’t tired of relying on the same my/the/next/our/your generation iterations every 10 years, not to mention the done to death borrowed interest of pop culture and history. (Not to mention Coke’s Table spot from last year connected the world better than the Pepsi’s always been here with you during only the good times theme.)

Again, lifelong Pepsi drinker here—trust me, I’ve drunk more Pepsi and Mt. Dew than anyone at the brand or their agencies combined, guaranteed—and when you connect with everyone in the demo on a smaller, more personal level, the message will resonate a lot more. A group vibe is different than an individual one, because well, you tend to succumb to groupthink no matter how optimistic it may be.

(I also think there’s an honesty, a directness to advertising that brands haven’t explored yet, but could help them connect more with consumers. I’m referring to something similar in look and feel to the current trick de jour of hidden-camera spots. When real people start having real conversations with product as incidental to the scene, a directness will emerge that slick productions are missing.)

(Update: Check out the clip here via Adrants as audio has been disabled thanks to the DRM movement.) Coke’s approach seems to own Pepsi when it comes to recent advertising. It’s maybe not as deep an emotional moment as I might like to see, but the awkward slash tender moment is there. (Minor nit really, but I don’t care for the creepy liquid effect between the two people as a I thought the cool animation by itself got the point across.)

Back to optimism, did the first guy through the wall really have a Pepsi in his hand? Doubt it. He had a six-pack and was about to practice his own brand of glasnost with a blonde on the other side, bet. (Really, talk about optimistic: Who wasn’t getting laid that night given the atmosphere.) Yeah, that comes off as being quite literal, but there’s another point there. That part of the country who voted for Obama may be in an optimistic mood right now, (as am I if you can believe it), but it wasn’t teens who got voted in, nor was it teens who tore down a wall.

It was their parents.