Wow. That's horrible, Sloane. So sorry to hear, but appreciate you sharing/telling your story with transparency and tact. Huge learning here, for all of us in the space. The work you do is amazing. Props, lady. Please continue to let us know how we can support you, directly!

Sloane -So well said and I couldn't agree more!

So bummed this happened and wish it were not as common as it is. It goes without saying that I respect you all the more for sharing this, especially given your close working relationship with many involved in the execution of this program. This is not good business and is a terrible way to treat all those that have tapped their personal connections to bring urgent attention to such an important cause.

What is the official word from Pepsi on making this right? Or do they feel the *final* change in urls is the only needed fix? I've had my reservations about the Pepsi Refresh projects from the beginning, though I helped support Invisible People to win the project funding announced at SXSW. Yet it was an uneasy feeling all along – Pepsi, a brand with so many issues I won't get into here, doing something good. While it was unsettling, it is hard to walk away from the “good” part, especially in a case, like the Gulf, when that money is desperately needed.

As frustrating as all of this is and as much as I understand your desire to walk away from the mess, I'm pretty pissed off and fired up. What can we do to “re-launch” this and re-create the urgency of the first 48 hours? How do we turn this into a win for the gulf and not just a lesson in how big brands need to get their shit together? I suspect I'm not the only one that's ready to rally after reading your post…

I will do whatever is needed to help. Let me know what you need.

We regret that you’ve had such a negative experience with the Pepsi Refresh Project Do Good for the Gulf. And, we apologize for the technical difficulties with the site. We’re committed to making a positive impact on the communities in the Gulf States. We hope that this won’t deter you from pursuing a grant. We’d like to talk with you directly at your earliest convenience to get more feedback and to help us maximize the program’s success.

Sloane,

Think you/we are seeing a case of Cause Marketing Carpet Bagging. Perfect example of a good effort PepsiRefresh trying to coattail onto a high profile disaster/cause effort to engender (hopefully) consumer loyalty and awareness.

Given the need to move quickly to take advantage of the press window, they seemed to have rushed into this project without fully thinking through the marketing, technical and social issues that would come into play.

Let's hope they some how make it through and pull out a save.

@TomMartin

Very well written and well thought out. Thank you for providing full disclosure as well. I hope what this does is point out that even though during times of crisis when we need support like this, we also need efforts that are planned and organized. The Pepsi grants are amazing and could be so incredibly helpful but the fail here is that there was no real architecture for the program to provide them, from basic technical support on up. The intent is obviously good, but the execution has gone horribly, horribly awry and is potentially harmful.

Sloane,

This is not a rant, this is passion! And honesty! And your words are genuine and authentic and grounded in your commitment to the people, culture and environment of the Gulf-South. Unfortunately, neither PepsiCo nor the vendors, developers and PR companies that have so poorly engaged the public's participation can correct what has transpired.

As such large entities with so many other commitments and projects, it seems impossible for a corporation or any large company to fathom the challenges the gulf oil disaster has created for so many individuals. How could a PR Company or Pepsi act with the commitment and selflessness that passionate individuals do? I hope that a lesson-learned is that these “with-the-best-of-intentions-corporate-visibility-aimed-grant-giving-popularity-contests” must be designed to ensure that grants are awarded fairly. The entire process must be transparent and clear to all potential grantees and the resources must be in place from the outset to ensure that the process (and promoted brands) does not become a distraction from the cause itself.

I hope that your idea ends up in the top 10, and I'll keep voting for it!

And what do I think the Pepsi Refresh Project should to in light of putting something out there with seemingly good intentions but poor planning and a clearly bungled execution? I think that they should fund every single grant application that they received.

Inspired and with deep respect,
Alex

Champ – Thank you for your comment. It really means a lot. I know you understand as a web person that the architecture is critical in launching anything. I think what's most audacious is that there was no communication with people who had projects about what to do. I was at dinner tonight with a friend who works in SEO and he was talking about how if I had had the page directed to my site (like refresheverything.thecausemopolitan.com) that I could have changed the redirect at any point. And I was like, yeah, but how many people know how to do that?

For a massive scale project from a major brand, the sheer number of bugs makes me wonder why they didn't pause the campaign, fix it and relaunch. Or reset the voting and start fresh. Overall, I agree with you, potenially harmful.

Tom,

So here's the thing. The oil spill was over 100 days ago, the project was announced about a month back. My question is if the site needed more time to launch properly, then why not delay the start of voting? Was the site not tested? Was the load not tested? How it is possible that they can't redirect the URLs or even have the courtesy to message everyone to tell them about what is going on?

Press handle press. Tech handles tech. But unfortunately the big man up top is responsible for it all goes wrong. The big man in this case is Pepsi. I want to know what they see as a solution. I also am torn about what to do myself. I have an email from Pepsi in my inbox now so I'm guessing there is a second chapter coming to this story.

Bonin – I appreciate your comment (and email) about my post and your quick response to the frustrating situation happening this week around the voting for the Refresh Everything for the Gulf site. I would very much like to discuss with you on the phone what is being done to remedy the situation and so will follow up via email to set up a call for tomorrow (Thursday).

I would like to say that your comment about “pursuing a grant” misses the mark. I already have a grant in the running. My problem is with the site's key functionality that wasn't working properly when it launched, it lacks search and is being poorly managed, hurting the chances to find good grants and deterring me from further promoting the site (in its entirity) or my project in particular.

Hey Sloane,

I must say I really do NOT like these vote campaigns for the reasons you listed and so many more…but I understand the draw.

Damn, this all sucks. Obviously you wrote a powerful post, because as I was reading I truly felt your pain! Gotta be a better way to get the money to the people. Your time (and everyone else's) is far too valuable-no one should have to endure all of this while working for social good. For me what is so frustrating is that not everyone wins. There are always a huge number of organizations that put the time in and get essentially nothing from it.

Hoping that one day these companies get a clue and do things differently. Maybe we need to start a movement that creates a better way and leaves these competitions out in the cold…count me in on that one!

Thanks for your efforts…perhaps some good will come from all of this to make it worthwhile!!!

Heidi Massey

I agree with your sentiment and unfortunately I see this in the non-profit sector quite often. Good intentions that just have a poor implementation or are rushed to launch.

Frankly, it sounds like the refresh needed to push pause, admit faults and refresh the entire thing. I hope that we the community can learn from this, not only for large scale projects, but even for the smaller items.

Kristy – Thank you. And especially for kicking off the comment thread. It's funny but in the online space I'm usually so optimistic and look beyond fault to support causes and initiatives. I know I'm being as real as possible above, but I still worried about pressing publish. Your comment right off the bat let me know I did the right thing.

Thank you Susan. Means a lot coming from you with your projects, passion and endeavors. Will keep everyone updated as the month unfolds. What if they funded ALL the projects as part of their blunder, that would be really standing up for the Gulf, right?

Callie – Wow. You're amazing. I instantly feel better, thank you. In response, yes, really frustrated mostly because of all the small orgs out there wanting to do good and taking the time out of acts that DO have a return, straight fundraising, to enter a contest with no guarantee and then not have it work properly and not have anything done about it. It's like throwing your hands up and saying, “well we tried, it didn't work right the whole time, but we got most of it.” Is that what Pepsi is going for? Mediocrity?

I have no “official word!” That's what I'm saying, there are no email from Pepsi, no tech blog to check, nowhere to go and look and say “oh, ok here is what is up.” It's about my project, but everyone else too. At first I was worked up about the URLs…then I got to looking around the site and I was like “wait a minute, where's the search?” and then it dawned on me. Cheap imitation. I think to do this right, they either (this is me putting my marketing/brand/strategy/connector hat on):

1) Fund ALL the projects on the site.
2) If that's too much run a rapid fire 24 hour contest where all votes count during that time period only.
3) Take the site down, build in search and what else should be there and then relaunch.
4) Fold Gulf into the regular Refresh page so it can be searched there as an extra category and relaunch when it's stable.

I will think about how you can help. And sign you up for the team. Stay tuned my friend. Stay tuned.

My guess — it took them forever and a day to get the idea through approval process at Pepsi. By then, they were up against a timeline because they wanted to hit the street while the story was still mainstream news. As soon as that leak got stopped, the news cycle days became limited. The story would start to go cold and the sensationalistic news media would find another hot story… so they rushed it to market before it was ready.

IMHO

Obviously they aren't as good at charitable giving as they are at selling high fructose corn syrup.

I don't understand why companies do these things in house at all when it's not their core-competency.

A $2.6m campaign is a lot different than administering 2 x $1.3m sets of micro-grants.

Seems like a classic case of mistaken transference when they think that their skills at one thing can help with another because the goals are the same but the environment/audience/mechanics are really too different to just mail it in.

go Sloane!! stuff like this needs to get posted because otherwise no one can learn from their mistakes or understand what it all looks like from another point of view… thank you for your insight & this great learning tool for the rest of us.

@TomMartin – totally agree with u about the whole green-washing thing– it's one of the reasons why we built SocialVest as a people-centric platform which is best explained in @ElkinsSocVest's post here: https://www.socialvest.us/blog

As someone who is responsible for launch large scale web projects like this, I know what can go wrong but when you are doing good work, you've got to get it right. For something this important a brand like pepsi who wants to showcase their social responsibility and commitment to the community has to get it right. To get it wrong not only impacts their brand but stops them from doing what's most important – fund projects that help people.

Sloane, you know I'm a NOLA supporter and a you supporter. Whatever you need…

Thanks Jason. Yes, you do “get it.” And it's hard to write these things because you know I like to be optimistic and give the ole benefit of the doubt. But this is simply unacceptable.

The regular Refresh has challenges of its own – it's just gotten worse by adding in the complexity of this new platform. I know the intention is there, but with a big brand (and big bucks into this microsite) it's not ok to botch it.

I appreciate your support, will keep you posted…

Karina – Thank you. You're right. The point of view here is meant for everyone to learn from. It's the whole green washing, carpet bagging, and celeb focused pieces that corporations do that turn me away from wanting to represent or promote them. It does have to be about the people and be people-centric. I am looking forward to seeing how socialvest does when it starts picking up traffic. And if you ever need to bounce ideas off of me about how something will “come off” or if you're taking enough due diligence, I'm here to talk.

Cade – I think the idea is there. Help people and fund projects instead of spening $50 million on a Superbowl ad, and for that I do give Pepsi credit. To hire 6 Ambassadors, to launch the site – it's all been a huge shift and push for them and they didn't have to do this.

They are global, and they might argue they are about more than high-fructose corn syrup. But your reaction is certainly felt by many. So I guess the next question is what is the implication? What if people out there are now more frustrated by Pepsi than ever before? What happens then? You can't mail it in, you're right. But worse, what if squeaking by is enough for them? That's not good news for any of us looking for push the envelope on true corporate social responsibility.

Tom – Of course you're right! No question about it. And I know there are other complexities too. Like for example, they haven't gotten the traffic on the main site they were hoping to get (insider knowledge that I know to be true). Hence the push at SXSW where social media influencers are and the push for this Gulf special contest. They're trying to get more people to the site and voting and trying different approaches. But both SXSW and this contest are, again, imitations of the real thing and that's bad business. Half-thought out pushes created by PR machines without the mechanics attached are not built to succeed.

I wonder if the lead developer is reading this and shaking his head in agreement because he boasted these exact concerns but was shotdown by the machine insisting this went to market before it was ready.

I agree. This project is basically under minding itself. The idea is to support non-profits who are supporting the gulf, but by asking 100 non-profits to exhaust their resources asking for votes and then awarding funding to 10 of them, you end up with 90 non-profits who got no return and are now unable to do any big fundraising pushes because people have now tuned them out. I thought this type of challenge would be dead by now.

David – We do see this often in the nonprofit sector and it's so hard, isn't it? Because we want to push corps to act responsibly and step up their game but the corporate 9-5 blah blah blah just gets in the way of true innovation. How does that change?

I would just about die if they admitted fault and did something remarkable. Imagine the press! People love when others admit failure and grow from it. PopTech's theme this year is failure! To admit that, fix it, and refresh (so to speak) would be maybe more impressive than the entire campaign.

Would you agree?

Heidi – Thank you! As the Chicago lead for Gulf Coast Benefits on August 25th, I appreciate your understanding of the complexity I have gone on, and internal struggle, over this one.

I want to promote the platform because the projects are good. But until I'm convinced otherwise, I don't know if I want to support Pepsi anymore (or their partners).

The rebellion you're talking about is there. I think it's there in supporting local, in the return to small business, and speaking up when we're frustrated. Let's keep supporting each other and we'll find ways to (even slowly) push the needle forward.

Alex – Aw man, I just can't tell you how much your comment means to me. Passion! Why didn't I think of that? I mean, yes I know that, I just feel that cutting down a brand that is trying is a rant, but you're right and I stand corrected.

To fund every project would be amazing. Even to admit fault would be incredulous. Will let you know what happens after I talk to the Pepsi team today.

A more likely scenario is that Pepsi or their marketing team made media buys and PR pitches first, and tech was an afterthought.

So now you have this hard, somewhat arbitrary deadline and a bunch of pissed-off, frenzied, tired developers trying to get it done. It's frustrating for everyone involved, including end-users.

How to make it right? Huge needs to fix the frakkin tech issues. And Pepsi would do well to pony up some more cash for Gulf charities.

Sloane,

Ugg. I also blogged and promoted the Gulf Pepsi Refresh Project, and it's frustrating to think I've led my readers astray. I'm pretty sympathetic to minor site bugs, but if you're administrating a campaign that is fueled by social media, your sharing features have to be executed flawlessly. Search functionality, presentation, SEO, all of that stuff is frustrating, but the inability to harness social media in a social media campaign? Sorry, Pepsi. You messed up BIG TIME.

And I don't like these popular voting contests because, like you said, it's a huge popularity contest that often leaves smaller organizations lost in the clutter. If contests are going to use social voting, I think it's better to have a panel of experts pick ten finalists and award “people's choice” grants based on popular vote as well as “experts choice” grants picked by judges. That way the cool kids get their time to shine, and the up and coming thought leaders can get in on the action, too.

So sorry for the woes, Sloane! You've got my vote.

Lauren McCabe

Sloane,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POINTING THIS OUT!!!!
This whole campaign frustrates me so much as an Executive Director. I have had other organizations go through the same thing you are going through in terms of tech issues and I find it upsetting that this keeps on happening.

I also feel these contests steal so much valuable time from organizations. Time is our most precious resource in a young non profit. I dread the thought of bombarding our community with emails daily asking them to vote with the chance that we might not get the money at all. I rather use our limited resources to just apply for a grant or make my organization more awesome so people will want to notice it more.

Lilith Fair as well had a contest where charities competed for 25000. My organization would be way more thankful for a $5000 check where we didn't have to do anything rather than having to compete against 4 other great organizations with the possibility of getting nothing.

I think this is a great topic for an SXSW panel.

Thanks for writing this.

Typo-I rather use our limited resources to apply for a grant or make our organization more awesome so people will be more inclined to donate.

oh girl you know I will!!! you're a thought leader in this space and hopefully Pepsi is reading your blog…

OMG – totally a SXSW panel… I've got one in the panel picker going up votes (ironically) on Monday. Recently, there's been a couple controversial articles on GOOD that explore this whole cause-consumerism thing and we think it would make for a great debate at SXSW — I dare someone from PEPSI to sit on the panel and debate with us!~

I am appalled at Pepsi, but not surprised. I for one am always frustrated by these online giving voting campaigns, because of all of the hoops through which one must jump to provide support. The fact that so many of these are run through Facebook adds to the problem, because it is so hard to tell just what one is joining. Do I have to join a group? Install an application? Will all of my friends be spammed whether I want that or not?

However, out of bad always comes good, at least where you are concerned. Your post is so well written, I imagine the Pepsis of the world reading it and trying to figure out their “Sloane strategy” for their next campaign.

The last time you posted something like this, Twitter changed their entire technology model overnight to meet your requests!

Sloane, you know the old saying: No good deed goes unpunished.

What a terrible thing Pepsi has put you and others through. I agree with you on every turn, but especially this one: THIS IS PEPSI. This isn't some bobo brand doing a promotion for the first time. How could Pepsi blow this? Instead of goodwill its bred resentment and frustration.

What should you do? That's a question only you can answer. Only YOU really know if this is worth continuing. From my perspective after hearing everything you've done, I think you are a doing a disservice to yourself and your cause if you waste one more minute with Pepsi Refresh.

They should be giving you a million dollars for things you've done to get $25,000.

I saw that Weber Shanwick is doing PR for the campaign. They have a well respected Boston office at which I know someone to whom I've sent your post. Forget the public relations, I told her. Pepsi needs to start making amends publicly and should start with you.

Joe
@joewaters

Sloane – All of the 4 options you outline above should be under consideration by Pepsi right now. I'd like to see them own this, own the mess, apologize for it and outline clear steps for how they plan to “make-up” for it. Sounds like you are/will be in touch with Pepsi today to talk about this at greater length, so look forward to hearing more about how that went and next steps.

Who knows – you may be running the entire cause arm of Pepsi before the day ends! Offer still stands, as many others have pointed out in comments as well: let us know what you need.

Thought leader AND doer!

As of sometime today, the www. and the old www. short URLs are now properly redirecting to the gulf. pages, so all the old links will work. It's a shame they didn't work to start with, and that the system was unstable (i.e. didn't work) for the first couple days, but it does indeed seem to have settled down. This part of the tech fixed. But confidence in the rest of the tech, voting system, et. al. behind it still shaken.

(i.e. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”)

But I know that's only a small part of a number of much larger issues.

I had some of the same questions when it launched (“what, no acceptance email?” “wait, it already started?” “wait, why is the display wrong in Firefox and Safari?” “wait, how can I find other projects?” “wait, how can I find other types of projects, or where they are focused in the Gulf, etc.”).

Every time I said wait, I waited, and thus I've held back from promoting my own project and others, because I'm torn. And I'm sure I'm a small example of many other people and organizations that are torn about how to move forward. And that's sad, not for me, but for everyone that cares and wants to give back to the Gulf.

There is a role for major companies to help allocate attention, dollars and support for worthy causes. But there are deep-seated issues about the tactics used, the intrinsic motivations in people the tactics tap into, and the “fit” between the company and the causes. Ideas are fine, but execution is everything.

You know this better than me. Looking forward to Pepsi's response, and the follow up. Saving my deeper, more thoughtful responses until then.

Is there still time to put a panel proposal together?

I will say, with a full 'it is what it is now' attitude, that you just described STEP BY STEP the EXACT same experience I had with the AOL Ambassador of Lifestream voting contest. A technology company no less. Obviously, the outcome of that was less important as a whole(benefiting/being detrimental to only me, not the entire gulf coast) but this highlights a HUGE accountability issue with companies using social media for promotion and viral marketing with the promise of 'giving' something in return for that promotion and then failing to do so once they've received *their* benefits. No technology isn't perfect. However, since we KNOW technology fails, it MEANS that it is your RESPONSIBILITY to do any/everything necessary to fulfill your end of the agreement despite that. It's using the “Oh no, I didn't get that email sent with high importance and meaning, whoops. Darned technology” excuse to your boss thinking you'd be let off the hook. I don't think so. You're still responsible for whatever was intended by that email you may or may not have received.

Overall, it highlights the fact that companies are diving head first into using social media and community involvement PURELY to benefit themselves without thinking of, or being held to the consequences of not giving back equally.

Though this is still happening, it's speaking up like you are Sloane that will change our economy in the long run. Transparency and authenticity WILL be necessary eventually in the world of social commerce. And if companies don't hold up their end of the bargain, we will not be rendered powerless anymore, but will have a loud and meaningful voice.

Is it too late to submit a dual SXSW '11 panel Sloane?!

Responsible Social Media Practices: Why Social Media “Strategy” Is More Than Viral Marketing, A case study approach by Stephanie Dub and Sloane Berrent (copy write 2010, as I reread this I realize I'm not kidding on the copy write )

TribeCon2010?!

I'm so sorry that you had to go through this, but I'm so proud of you for speaking up and out. True strength, my love!

Steph

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. As we discussed, if you'd like to prepare a response to the post above, I am willing to post that on my blog. I'll also be writing about what we talked about to share with everyone here updates from your team and what the latest is on the campaign.

Tiffany – I would agree with your synopsis. Thing is, if the tech is fixed and nothing else is done – well then what? I wonder what the next steps become if they are NOT willing to spend more money. I think they should admit their mistake to be able to move forward, but I'm just not sure that is going to happen.

Taylor – Well if anyone has heard this story from start to middle to where we are at now (I wouldn't call it finish but who's to say)…it would be you.

And your thought provoking analysis is critically important to me as someone who is also going through this process with me and is very aware of the tech it takes to make campaigns like this a success.

Share your more thoughtful and deeper response on the post I'm putting live today about the follow up.

Hey Sloane (and Heidi),

I know I'm late to this party, but still thought I'd pipe up. Sloane, you probably don't know who I am, but I've been paying attention to you off and on for close to a year now, so I have a good idea about who you are and where your heart's at with this stuff.

I certainly don't have the answers to these types of situations, but when you guys were talking about “true” corporate social responsibility, and coming up with a better way to do this stuff, supporting local, etc., it got me wondering if there's anything in the ItStartsWith.Us system you could use to come up with some new ideas on ways to build communities that could support organizations working for social good.

I can't remember the last time I included a link to my site in a blog comment, but in this case I think it's appropriate. I believe I've built a system to change the way a lot of us look at community involvement, especially when it comes to established organizations (or even fledgling and growing communities anchored by a concept) getting involved on a personal level with projects important to the majority of the group.

Perhaps something like this could be used by certain nonprofits to raise up their own community of people who care, and would be ready and willing to support their cause both physically and financially?

If you think there's anything of value here, let me know and let's talk about it. I agree that there's a better way to do things, and this is one of my ideas:
http://www.itstartswith.us/workwithus/index.html

Megan – It's hard right? Because this money could have just gone to traditional marketing. It's frustrating to no end. We want to see campaigns like this, but how do you reconcile?

Lauren – I agree with you. When I was in the MySpace/Wall St. Journal competition to attend the World Economic Forum, that is exactly what happened. There was a public vote – and then a panel of judges making the final call.

SXSW panel picker is the same actually. Thw voting public is only one part of the vote, one-third comes from judges and another third comes from SXSW organizers.

This seems to also help beat concerns over proxy and misleading voting. I support this model as the way these contests should go – get your people to support you – but let experts really ascertain the merit and value of winners. Thank you for sharing this, excellent points!

Karina, Emily and Steph – There might be. I'm going to email Hugh Forrest at SXSW Interactive about this and will let you know what happens. The overall panel submissions are closed, but this sounds great to have as an add-on. Stay tuned. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Quote:
Lilith Fair as well had a contest where charities competed for 25000. My organization would be way more thankful for a $5000 check where we didn't have to do anything rather than having to compete against 4 other great organizations with the possibility of getting nothing.

I love this statement. Yes. A lot of orgs should feel the way you do. It's a matter of “risk” right? How much are you willing to bet to get $25,000 vs. $5,000. You're right, that $5,000 coming without as much work is worth the same in value cost as the other amount.

The other thing to note is that grant writers are paid staff. So them writing for you is part of their job and not diving into the well of resources for supporters, an important distinction.

Dave – Ha! I love that you remember that Twitter post.

In this case, I'm flattered you'd say the “Sloane Strategy” but honestly it just seems like solid marketing practices to me.

What your comment touches on that others haven't is that act of trusting this campaign, which I hadn't even thought of in the way that if I share my information what happens to it. I think this is huge. We know every time we join a group/ website / application that there is no template for what happens next.

Who's to trust this group not to spam all your friends?

And signing in is a pain! Remember for MySpace you had to sign in to vote for me? That was a HUGE ask for people.

More than anything, I just want Pepsi to acknowledge their error and fix it in some way publicly saying “yeah we messed up here.”

Adding more money to the pot for Gulf Coast nonprofits I believe would be a start.

Joe – My favorite line from your comment: They should be giving you a million dollars for things you've done to get $25,000.

It does feel that way. Not in the sense that one idea is mine and better than the rest, but YOU understand (more than most) how much I put into thought and building the proposal and the time to put it all in. I spent that time (not making money mind you since I work for myself) and I did it on good faith.

Which has been shattered.

I imagine they feel like they can't give more money because they would have to with everyone campaign that went wrong or had an error, but this is just not good business.

I heard just today that one of the top 2 spots for the $250,000 ALREADY WON a Refresh earlier this year, which I thought was against the rules. That's awful to not have been caught in the process and it's causing an organization to ponder if they should be a whistly blower or leave this one go…

It's putting us all in a tight spot. But let's keep the discussion going, keep pushing forward.

Steph,

GIRL. I was going to mention your contest in my post above but I got so wrapped up in all that wrong with this one that I plum forgot when I pushed publish. YES, this is what happened to you. The voting was off – the first push you did got lost because I tried to vote for you (on multiple browsers mind you) and it wasn't working. Which is crazy to think from a technical company – but even in Pepsi's case…they have hired a HUGE firm to do these sites…that hasn't helped has it.

I wrote in a comment response below about writing to SXSW about this panel. I say we do it.

Wow, Sloane. This is unthinkable.

I have very mixed feelings about Pepsi Refresh. You're right when you say that people vote and think they have done something, when in fact the nonprofit rarely gets anything in return. It consumes nonprofit resources without producing results (except for the most popular organizations that generally have access to more resources, anyway.)

Not to mention the fact that Pepsi sells bottled water + soda. Rather than trying to re-vamp their image as a socially-conscious corporation, maybe they should sell products that aren't fundamentally bad.

I'm so sorry that you went through these issues with the Gulf competition. I hope you find another way to pursue the idea.

Hugs,
Milena

Wow, Sloane. This is unthinkable.

I have very mixed feelings about Pepsi Refresh. You're right when you say that people vote and think they have done something, when in fact the nonprofit rarely gets anything in return. It consumes nonprofit resources without producing results (except for the most popular organizations that generally have access to more resources, anyway.)

Not to mention the fact that Pepsi sells bottled water + soda. Rather than trying to re-vamp their image as a socially-conscious corporation, maybe they should sell products that aren't fundamentally bad.

I'm so sorry that you went through these issues with the Gulf competition. I hope you find another way to pursue the idea.

Hugs,
Milena

[...] the importance of listening and responding. It links to this post by Sloane Berrent about the Pepsi Refresh project and some technical issues with it, and how this had made the blog post writer feel, and then an [...]

Another good conversation. #UnRefreshing How Pepsi’s Cause Marketing Annoys Me http://www.jessicagottlieb.com/2010/05/unrefres…

PepsiCo CEO – ‘If all consumers exercised…obesity wouldn’t exist’ http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/05/01/pepsic…

Thank you Milena for your insights. As always, I'm inspired by you.

[...] Sloane Berrent participated in the project and points out a few “wrongs” with the campaign in her blog: [...]

[...] for news that NeighborGoods had been accepted into the contest. As Sloane mentions in her piece, Pepsi Refresh for the Gulf is an Epic Fail and Here’s Why, it’s almost impossible to win the Refresh Everything challenge unless you get onto the [...]

[...] first, I didn’t want to just say “this sucks”, without proposing a solution. But perhaps, by raising the issue, we can start to problem-solve this one out. I’ll certainly be paying [...]

I spoke to a Denis Dowd from Corporate Consumer Relations who assured me that what we all saw this morning and most of the day (until I brought it to their attention was not what I really saw) He said that I placed 11 after the final update and the fact that the website still read 9 after midnight and today was a cache error.

When I pointed out how the finals page skipped #9 (as in 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11) it was corrected within the hour to support their explanation.

Although everyone at Pepsi told me the 'good news' that I can still compete. I pointed out that my text voting is no longer active. (It seems like I won and they removed my idea then decided they did not want Lost Pet Home in the finals and forgot to restore it fully.)

Requests for the point spread of how I dropped 2 spots in less than 30 minutes or the final tally were denied. When I asked for the Mr. Dowd's manager I was told she was on vacation and he would have “someone reach out to me”. (That seems to be their catch phrase.)

So no, Lost Pet Home will no longer compete in a contest that we feel we already won! I will posting contact information on my Facebook for all of the people who keep emailing, texting, messaging, commenting and calling me.

I will now shift my efforts towards shedding light on this rigged competition! Please continue to support us during our journey ahead.

~Trina Marleese Parham

I successfully posted my project in August for September voting only to find out at 1:30am the day of voting that my animal charity was conveying pictures of animal abuse?!!?! Rather then remove the image and let us continue I was told all decisions are final and resubmit for the next voting period. That sure is helping out a worthwhile causes isn't it!

Now comes the strange story of the project run by a pepisco sponsor who is in the top ten of the 250k category and gets beat by the members of it's own alliance. This has happened two months in a row and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again.

I was indifferent to Pepsi and Coke until now.

[...] Pepsi Refresh for the Gulf is an Epic Fail, and Here’s Why [...]