I See You Dr. Pepper

On Saturday evening, I was calmly going about my business when I casually glanced at the T.V. as my dad was watching the NCAA Big 10 Football Championships. Then suddenly, BAM!!! Nope, Ohio State didn't score a touchdown. Something much better happened - an idea for my media blog immediately burst into my head. Let me explain what I saw: There was a break in the football game, and during that time, Dr. Pepper was holding a contest. They made a huge cardboard Dr. Pepper can, which contestants were supposed to throw footballs into. Whoever made the most shots out of the two contestants won $100,000 in tuition money, and the runner-up received $25,000. Everything in their set-up had Dr. Pepper branding - the bucket full of footballs was plastered with Dr. Pepper logos and the table had a Dr. Pepper tablecloth. The contestants were even wearing Dr. Pepper jerseys!
Why did I think that this one little contest held by Dr. Pepper was a good idea for my media blog? Well, I think that what Dr. Pepper was doing was a form of guerrilla advertising. Guerrilla advertising is an advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service.The term guerrilla comes from guerrilla warfare, which is a form of irregular warfare and relates to the small tactic strategies used by armed civilians. As you can see, guerrilla warfare and guerrilla marketing are similar in that they both are surprise attacks! Anyways, back to how guerrilla advertising and the Dr. Pepper contest relate. I thought that the Dr. Pepper contest was a good example of guerrilla advertising because they were advertising a sugary soda beverage at a football game. When you think about it, football games are supposed to be full athletes, and wouldn't athletes try to stay healthy to maximize their athletic performance? In addition, most ads during football games promote ways to stay healthy and become more active. Since the Dr. Pepper commercial was promoting a product that completely contradicts values held at a football game, I thought that their advertisement was a surprise attack on consumers. It came out of nowhere and was definitely not expected to be at a football game. Also, the way that Dr. Pepper went about advertising their company was not using the most obvious and average method. They created a contest, with everything in their branding, which was a surprising method of advertising.
I think one of the reasons Dr. Pepper chose to create a contest like this one is to advertise themselves as a company that cares about education. By giving out checks for tuition for college students, they want consumers to believe that they are a brand that believes in the importance of education. It also portrays them as generous company, because they are seemingly donating money to society. 
Overall, I thought that the contest Dr. Pepper held during the NCAA Football game was a form of guerrilla advertising. Be wary: the messages Dr. Pepper is spreading about their company may not be true! Here's a link to a video of the contest: https://twitter.com/i/status/1203150543151087616