It happened first in Argentina, then in Spain and now it is happening in Mexico.
In a brilliant move to recognize the cultural differences of these countries, Pepsi, the world-known soft drink of Pepsico, has become “Pecsi” in the Mexican market.
Adapting the word Pepsi to the different ways that people from all over the world pronounce it is a marketing strategy that surely will produce good results for PepsiCo–the world’s second-largest food and beverage company with consumers in more than 200 countries. In Argentina, Pepsi is already called Pecsi, and in Spain, Pepsi is called “Pesi.” Nobody can complain about this strategy. On the contrary, many Spanish-speaking people would feel more comfortable pronouncing Pecsi or Pesi, rather than Pepsi.
Three years ago, Pepsico launched a very funny and successful marketing campaign in Mexico named “Wiwichus.”. The “wiwichus” were five small characters that people could exchange in convenience store for a determined number of Pepsi bottle caps. The campaign involved the use of applications to download “wiwichus” in personal messages as well as ringtones for mobile phones.
The funny thing about the campaign was that the word “wiwichu” came from the way Spanish-speaking people sing the part of a certain Christmas song that says, “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” We is pronounced as ‘gui’/wi’ and two consecutives ‘gui’ along with the you, create the sound “guichu”/wichu.
Mexican people loved the “wiwichus,” sang the American song and bought a lot of Pecsis to acquire them. I need to say that during that time I also got my own “wiwichu.”
With campaigns such as these, PepsiCo shows that they know their markets well, and that they are willing to adapt their products to the idiosyncrasies of their customers from around the world.

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