FBC – 448 – Pepsi’s secret weapon for great success

Pepsi's secret weapon for great success.

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I just discovered one of the deadliest weapons that Pespi was using for years that greatly contributed to their success.

The most surprising thing about it is that it's something you would never suspect or even think of.

Still, it is so critical that I now wonder why there aren't more people using this method in their business.

This is super fascinating and I suggest you tune in to today's episode

—

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

“High expectations are the key to everything.”
, Sam Walton, founder Walmart

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Martin Ebongue

Online Entrepreneur & free spirit:

Proud Owner Of The 50K Emails A Day Done-For-You Software

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Your Podcast Host

International Speaker | Podcaster | Free Spirit

Freedom Is A Choice: So choose wisely...

Welcome to the Freedom By Choice Podcast with your one and only hoste Martin. This podcast is reserved for freedom aficionados and entrepreneurs looking to create the lifestyle of their dreams.

In this podcast you will find all the support and answers you need to start, grow and scale a business that gives you the freedom you deserve.

I have compressed years of trials and errors, into easy to consume episodes, to take you from where you are now, to where you want to be.

I wanted to talk to you about this initiative that I find really, really awesome. And it teaches you a lot about life and values.

So I saw an interview recently where the guy was asking, OK, you send out a bunch of CVS, then you get to this interview and how do you ace it?

So there are a lot of people who will tell you need to sound confident, dress like this, you know, prepare those questions and prepare something about the company to show them that you've done your research and prepare these questions about what you want to do in the next five years and what's your biggest flaws and stuff like that.

So you will hear a lot of things like this. But there is something that you won’t necessarily hear because you don't know that it actually exists and maybe not enough people care about this, but this is super, super, super crucial and so important in life.

So I really like this this initiative. It was an initiative by Pepsi Cola. So basically what they used to do was they call you at, I don't know, like your interviews at 2:00 or something. But when you get there at 2:00, they will actually have you wait in the waiting room or something for a good 30 to 40 minutes.

OK, so basically you get there, you get greeted by the secretary and everything, and then they put you in a situation where you're waiting for them, OK, basically it was done on purpose.

So it wasn't like they're busy doing something and they're just late. They're not late. They’re doing it on purpose. And they were observing what the candidates were doing, OK.

And mainly what they were observing was how rude or how polite that person was with the receptionist. These are human values, right, so it gives them an indication of how you will be behind closed doors, you know, once they hire you, are you going to be a complete jerk or are you going to be someone that's pleasant?

And so if you were rude to the receptionist, for example, you can say very rude or something. And then once you're waiting, you're like moaning and going to the receptionist and barking at the receptionist and stuff. They will know because they were watching.

OK, and then obviously you won’t get the interview because what they were looking for was people who were going to integrate well in the company, and if you're the biggest jerk on the planet, then it's not going to work.

Pepsi's secret weapon for great success

This is something I'm really big on. First of all, the respect that people give to anybody. OK, so I will greet the janitor the same way I will greet the CEO. I will say hi, please. Thank you. Goodbye. You know, I will do this.

I don't care if you're a janitor or if you are something else, because these are just human values, you know, and there are so many people who interact with someone and they feel they have power over, you know, like a waiter or, you know, like a receptionist or something.

There is nothing wrong with being a waiter. It's just in people's in people's minds, if you're a waiter, you're at the bottom of society, which is really not the case because, you know, it's a job just like any other job that puts food on the table.

You need to respect everybody's job.

The Better Product Rarely Wins, The Better Distribution Does

I used to obsess over building the best possible thing, convinced that if it was good enough the world would find it. It did not. I watched clearly inferior products outsell mine simply because more people saw them, and it broke something in me until I finally accepted the lesson. Being the best kept secret is not a badge of honor, it is a slow death. The companies that dominate are almost never the ones with the finest product. They are the ones who solved distribution, who got in front of the customer again and again until buying became the obvious default.

Once I understood that, I stopped polishing in private and started fighting for reach. Every extra week spent perfecting a feature nobody asked for was a week not spent getting seen. Product quality keeps customers, but distribution is what gets you the customer in the first place, and you cannot keep who you never reached. I talk about winning on distribution in my Diary of a Virtual CEO newsletter and share the origin of that shift on my story page. On go to market and getting seen, the HubSpot blog and the strategy pieces in Harvard Business Review are both worth studying. Build well, but distribute relentlessly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Pepsi's secret weapon in the cola wars?

Generational loyalty. Pepsi targeted younger consumers with bold campaigns while Coca-Cola defended its existing base. The lesson for solopreneurs is that the next generation of buyers usually rewards challengers who speak their language. Picking a younger niche and building for them often beats fighting incumbents on the incumbent's terms.

How can solopreneurs apply this generational play?

Identify a customer segment that incumbents ignore: younger, niche, or culturally specific. Build for that segment with products, voice, and channels native to them. Solopreneurs serving Gen Z creators with TikTok-first content built audiences in 18 months that traditional brands cannot replicate even with bigger budgets.

Why do market leaders often miss younger audiences?

Their existing customers fund their salaries, so they listen to them more than to non-customers. Innovation budgets get cut to protect quarterly numbers. Solopreneurs have no such constraint. They can ignore the existing market and serve the emerging one without internal resistance, which is a structural advantage.

Is targeting younger audiences always the right move?

Not always. The pattern is to target whichever segment is underserved by incumbents. Sometimes that is younger. Sometimes it is a specific industry, geography, or income tier. The principle is to find people who are paying attention and willing to switch, then build a product they prefer to the alternative.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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