Pepsi strikes out with tasteless iPhone app

Sooner or later, all brands will have an iPhone application. This week alone saw the introduction of branded apps from TV Guide, Foxwoods Casino, digital imaging solutions provider Canon, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and even the Houston Zoo. Some of these branded apps are clever, some are useful and some are just dumb--you know, like pretty much any random grouping of non-branded iPhone apps. The only common thread connecting the apps is that they're all free, which is true of most branded iPhone applications; one notable exception remains food and beverage giant Kraft's iFood Assistant recipe app, which sells for 99 cents. "We look at iFood Assistant as a natural evolution from product to service," Kraft Foods director of innovation Ed Kaczmarek recently told AdAge. "We look at it as providing the consumer with a service that's of value, and we feel the 99 cent price, which is the same as a song, is a minimal cost, but it also signifies the content is more premium."

If iFood Assistant is an example of how to develop a branded app that delivers true value to consumers, then PepsiCo's AMP UP Before You Score app is the poster child for how not to extend your brand onto the mobile channel. This week the soft drink maker publicly apologized for the free iPhone app, which touts its Amp Energy drink by offering male consumers a "road map to success with your favorite kinds of women--24 in all," identifying women according to types including "Women's Studies Major," "Cougar," "Trouble" and "Out-of-Your-League Girl." The app offers a pick-up "cheatsheet" including "surefire opening lines," and encourages users to brag about their conquests via email, Facebook or Twitter. Consumers ripped AMP UP Before You Score in their App Store reviews: "Sexist and stupid" reads one reprimand, and another user calls it "a great new case study for branded apps gone wrong."

PepsiCo's handling of the resulting public relations debacle has been as hamfisted as the app itself. Turns out the company's idea of a public mea culpa is turning to its Amp Energy Twitter account, which boasts fewer than 1,100 followers. "Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women," the tweet reads. "We apologize if it's in bad taste & appreciate your feedback." (The post was later retweeted to Pepsi's official feed.) But so far, Pepsi isn't removing the app from distribution--a spokesman informs The Wall Street Journal the firm is still "looking at the situation and evaluating its options." There's also some question whether the controversy was exactly what Pepsi had in mind. "I guess [the app's] value is proven by the fact that we're talking about it," John Sicher, editor and publisher of trade publication Beverage Digest, tells the WSJ--and to compound matters, AMP UP Before You Score ranks seventh on the App Store's list of most popular free apps as of this writing. It's tough to determine who's the bigger loser here: PepsiCo for dreaming up such a shameless stunt, or any single guy desperate enough to download a free dating app sponsored by a soft drink corporation. -Jason