FiG is a strong believer in going to your audience, and if they watch TV then that's where you go. Advertising is more fragmented and you have to integrate campaigns across multiple media channels. But that's the subject for a different post.

So how does Pepsi plan to fight back?

The answer: By "secretly hiring" Coca-Cola's spokesman: Santa! Of course when he's "on vacation" at a beach party!

The new campaign features a perfect summer time beach party with a crowd including Santa and his elves dancing to Montell Jordan's "This is How We Do It". Santa goes to the beach bar to get a drink, and the bartender hands him two bottles of Coca-Cola--wouldn't you do the same thing based on his Christmas ad performance with Coke since the 1930s?!

But Santa shakes his head saying "make it Pepsi".

The real gem of a line in this ad is when Santa says "I'm on vacation! I'm going to have a little fun!" followed by the slogan "Summer Time is Pepsi Time". Selling coke is what Santa does to pay the bills, drinking Pepsi is what he prefers to do on his own time.

Isn't it a relief that Santa doesn't have to breach his contract by drinking Pepsi?