PepsiCo 1965 “Come Alive” Promotion First Prize, an Amphicar!

[Mark Richardson]

In the early 1960’s Pepsi came up with a new slogan – “Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi generation.” – in an effort to compete with Coca-Cola.



This new Pepsi slogan, seemingly overnight, transformed a boring beverage into something nobody would be embarrassed to be caught drinking. These ads targeted the young and those who thought themselves youthful and quickly generated buzz turning Pepsi into a hip, cool brand. The “Pepsi Generation”, a simple slogan and advertising gimmick, turned the company upside down with a slew of televisions commercials and radio jingles filled with energy, quick pitches, celebrities, and parody.

This included a one-minute spot showing a young couple out for a picnic with an Amphicar and a cooler full of Pepsi. They drove “whoosh’ into the water and out to have their lunch. See this ad here:

Amphicar corporation got involved and offered 16 national Pepsi bottlers discounted prices ($1200 promo discount) on cars and one lucky winner would win an Amphicar! Check out the letter from Ranchero Motors and 4 page color entry form found in the Bearcat Files!

I have the list of the VIN numbers of the cars sold, is your car a Pepsi car? Four cars on the club vin list match!

J Rutelli 1964 Red

R Thielen 1964 Blue

J Passolt 1964 White

D French 1964 Red

 

[Mark Richardson]

 

[mschlem]

My car (103127 stamped as a 1965) was listed as sold to Pepsi, but I have no indication it was branded as such like the photo you included. My assumption was that some Pepsi distributor just took advantage of the discount offered for a personal vehicle.

Marc.

 

[Mark Richardson]

Marc,

Yes, that is most likely what happened. It was a significant savings at that time when the cars were still factory fresh.
If not used for promotion the owners do not know today if they were Pepsi cars.

The list I have has 16 cars on it, 4 of which are known members of the club. Still 12 cars out there that the owners do not know they have a Pepsi car! Send me your vin and I will tell you if you have one.

 

[Mark Richardson]

Another Pepsi car document found.

 

[Jared_Guynes]

In the early 1960’s Pepsi came up with a new slogan – “Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi generation.” – in an effort to compete with Coca-Cola.

View attachment 3300 View attachment 3301

This new Pepsi slogan, seemingly overnight, transformed a boring beverage into something nobody would be embarrassed to be caught drinking. These ads targeted the young and those who thought themselves youthful and quickly generated buzz turning Pepsi into a hip, cool brand. The “Pepsi Generation”, a simple slogan and advertising gimmick, turned the company upside down with a slew of televisions commercials and radio jingles filled with energy, quick pitches, celebrities, and parody.

This included a one-minute spot showing a young couple out for a picnic with an Amphicar and a cooler full of Pepsi. They drove “whoosh’ into the water and out to have their lunch. See this ad here:

View attachment 3308

Amphicar corporation got involved and offered 16 national Pepsi bottlers discounted prices ($1200 promo discount) on cars and one lucky winner would win an Amphicar! Check out the letter from Ranchero Motors and 4 page color entry form found in the Bearcat Files!

I have the list of the VIN numbers of the cars sold, is your car a Pepsi car? Four cars on the club vin list match!

J Rutelli 1964 Red

R Thielen 1964 Blue

J Passolt 1964 White

D French 1964 Red

This is amazing history and data, I really appreciate you sharing it! Thank you!

 

[Dave_French]

Thanks to Allan who looked through his files and discovered that our 1964 Amphicar was one of the Pepsi cars, and was one of ten made with an Ivory color. Somewhere between 1964 and 1993 (when we bought it) a prior owner made it a two tone, with red below the belt line. Fortunately we retained the ivory color when we restored it in 1996.

 

[Mark Richardson]

This is a confirmed Pepsi car if yours.

Sold at a discount to a bottler in Ft. Wayne who used it for promotional purposes.

Yes, thanks goes out to Allan Woodcock for helping identify this car!

 

[Mark Richardson]

Adding to the history of this Pepsi Campaign is this just discovered letter to all Pepsi employees offering them Amphicars at discounted prices late in 1964. This means that there are cars out there that were not officially purchased by Pepsi bottlers to use as promotional vehicles, but employees who used them privately.

 

[Mark Richardson]

This is the form used to confirm purchase of Amphicars by Pepsi Bottlers. It includes specific instructions to pay for and receive the cars.

 

[RalphF]

Reminds me of something funny I ran across but I don't think I shared it here. When the "Come Alive" promotion was translated to other languages, one translation of the slogan was that Pepsi would bring your relatives back from the dead. Didn't go over too well!

 

[John Howland]

My car (103127 stamped as a 1965) was listed as sold to Pepsi, but I have no indication it was branded as such like the photo you included. My assumption was that some Pepsi distributor just took advantage of the discount offered for a personal vehicle.

Marc.

I was recently contacted by Alan and it seems I have a Pepsi car too. It’s a late model with a heater up on the fender, Black krinkle dash, raised lips on the side panels and black in the front luggage compartment and engine bay. The Vin is 103145. It was hiding all its life since someone titled it using the engine number! It’s now on the club VIN list though.

 

[AHite]

In the early 1960’s Pepsi came up with a new slogan – “Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi generation.” – in an effort to compete with Coca-Cola.

View attachment 3300 View attachment 3301

This new Pepsi slogan, seemingly overnight, transformed a boring beverage into something nobody would be embarrassed to be caught drinking. These ads targeted the young and those who thought themselves youthful and quickly generated buzz turning Pepsi into a hip, cool brand. The “Pepsi Generation”, a simple slogan and advertising gimmick, turned the company upside down with a slew of televisions commercials and radio jingles filled with energy, quick pitches, celebrities, and parody.

This included a one-minute spot showing a young couple out for a picnic with an Amphicar and a cooler full of Pepsi. They drove “whoosh’ into the water and out to have their lunch. See this ad here:

View attachment 3308

Amphicar corporation got involved and offered 16 national Pepsi bottlers discounted prices ($1200 promo discount) on cars and one lucky winner would win an Amphicar! Check out the letter from Ranchero Motors and 4 page color entry form found in the Bearcat Files!

I have the list of the VIN numbers of the cars sold, is your car a Pepsi car? Four cars on the club vin list match!

J Rutelli 1964 Red

R Thielen 1964 Blue

J Passolt 1964 White

D French 1964 Red

I was recently contacted by Alan and it seems I have a Pepsi car too. It’s a late model with a heater up on the fender, Black krinkle dash, raised lips on the side panels and black in the front luggage compartment and engine bay. The Vin is 103145. It was hiding all its life since someone titled it using the engine number! It’s now on the club VIN list though.

I've always wondered where the Amphica/Pepsi commercial was filmed. The road runs out into the water way too gently to be a boat ramp. It looks more like an old 2 lane road that got flooded when a lake was built. It looks like the Amphi hits the water at about 50mph. Look closely at the woman's face when they hit. She is not smiling. Based on the shrubs in the background I'd say it was filmed somewhere out west.
Also, the "come alive" logo was used for several years. I recall a big "Come Alive" Pepsi billboard in my home town right next to the town's cemetery. We all thought it was hysterical.