{"id":1041,"date":"2010-01-11T15:42:20","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T10:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramble.sunmatrix.com\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2026-02-26T18:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:14:45","slug":"pepsi-refresh-monthly-grants-for-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/pepsi-refresh-monthly-grants-for-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Pepsi Refresh: Monthly Grants for Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pepsi wants to make the world a better place and so it has up to $1.3 million in Refresh grants to give out every month, ranging from $5,000 through to $250,000.<\/p>\n<p>The social investment campaign can be seen online at www.refresheverything.com, and is being presented as Pepsi\u2019s alternative to spending on television advertising at the Super Bowl this year.<\/p>\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tA7b0LA-oJg?fs=1&#038;playsinline=1\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"fullscreen; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>From January 13, US residents can submit an idea online, choosing categories of health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education.<\/p>\n<p>From February 1, 2010, visitors to the site will be able to vote on ideas, with the first 32 awards being announced on March 1.<\/p>\n<h2>The clever part is the trade<\/h2>\n<p>The headline here is not just the money. It is the positioning. The real question is whether you can trade a single paid burst for a repeatable participation loop without losing clarity or trust. Pepsi is framing this as an alternative to a single high-cost burst of attention, and shifting that investment into a participatory program where people submit, rally support, and vote.<\/p>\n<h2>Why this format can generate momentum<\/h2>\n<p>It works because the format creates a loop people can re-enter. Each month resets urgency, gives participants a clear job to do, and turns support-building into something visible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extractable takeaway:<\/strong> If you want participation to create reach, make recruiting support effortless and make the cycle easy to repeat.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A clear incentive.<\/strong> Monthly grants create repeated urgency, not a one-off moment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Built-in categories.<\/strong> Health, arts, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education make participation easy to understand.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Voting creates distribution.<\/strong> If your idea needs votes, you recruit your network. That recruitment becomes the media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In large-scale brand purpose programs, participation grows when funding, voting, and sharing are designed as a repeatable cycle rather than a one-off moment.<\/p>\n<h2>What to watch if you run campaigns like this<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Transparency.<\/strong> People will want to understand how ideas are evaluated and funded.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Participation fatigue.<\/strong> Monthly cycles help, but the experience has to stay simple to repeat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proof of impact.<\/strong> The long-term credibility comes from showing what the funded ideas actually achieved.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>What to steal from Pepsi Refresh<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make the trade explicit.<\/strong> Position the program as the alternative to a single high-cost attention burst.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design for repeat participation.<\/strong> Use a simple monthly rhythm, clear categories, and a predictable submit-and-vote flow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Let supporters do the distribution.<\/strong> Require votes so participants recruit their networks, and that recruitment becomes the media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>A few fast answers before you act<\/h2>\n<h3>What is the Pepsi Refresh Project?<\/h3>\n<p>It is a social investment program where Pepsi offers monthly \u201cRefresh grants\u201d and invites people to submit community ideas and rally votes to get them funded.<\/p>\n<h3>How much funding is available?<\/h3>\n<p>Up to $1.3 million in grants per month, with awards ranging from $5,000 to $250,000.<\/p>\n<h3>When can people submit and vote?<\/h3>\n<p>From January 13, US residents can submit ideas. From February 1, 2010, visitors can vote, with the first 32 awards announced on March 1.<\/p>\n<h3>What categories can ideas be submitted under?<\/h3>\n<p>Health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the strategic alternative being positioned here?<\/h3>\n<p>Pepsi is presenting the program as an alternative to spending on television advertising during the Super Bowl, shifting that spend into a participatory grant platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pepsi wants to make the world a better place and so it has up to $1.3 million in Refresh grants to give out every month, ranging from $5,000 through to $250,000. The social investment campaign can be seen online at www.refresheverything.com, and is being presented as Pepsi\u2019s alternative to spending on television advertising at the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/pepsi-refresh-monthly-grants-for-ideas\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pepsi Refresh: Monthly Grants for Ideas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Pepsi\u2019s Refresh Project offers up to $1.3M in monthly grants for ideas. Submit from Jan 13, voting from Feb 1, awards announced Mar 1, 2010.","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,19,150],"tags":[7196,7192,5919,372,7194,371,369,7190,7191,1345,7193,4678,370,7195],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-power-of-online","category-social-media","category-social-service","tag-brand-purpose","tag-cause-marketing","tag-crowdfunding","tag-fund-for-good-ideas","tag-grants","tag-grants-scheme","tag-pepsi","tag-pepsi-refresh-project","tag-refresheverything","tag-social-campaign","tag-social-investment","tag-super-bowl","tag-the-pepsi-refresh-project","tag-voting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-content\/uploads\/pepsi_refresh_project.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYpE1-gN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16214,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/16214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}