How much do you think 40 mentions through social media is worth? What is the ROI in social media. Do Facebook likes mean that your product is gaining traction? If people are mentioning you on Twitter, does that mean they are trying, using and being loyal to your product, or are you just a flash, a mention, a brands 15 minutes of fame. More importantly, would you spend over 8 million dollars and consider that a successful advertising spend?

In 2014, Coca-Cola stepped down as long time sponsor of the Academy Awards. Between 2009 and 2013, Coca Cola spent over 40 million dollars on advertising and branding for the awards show, mostly pushing their ubiquitous Diet Coke brand. Oscar and his bright, shiny coat just got to be to expensive or to boring for the soft drink giant and where one brand leaves, another one jumps at the chance to be affiliated with celebrities, movies, fashion and music at the biggest awards show of the season.

This year, Pepsi stepped up and paid around 1.9 million dollars per 30 second TV spot to be the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage of the event. That price point doesn’t even include the product donated to the event- and in one seemingly simple and funny joke, their biggest competitor, Coca Cola got some of the best air time of the night. Halfway through the broadcast, Ellen thought it would be funny to order pizza for some of the Oscar nominees as the show is notoriously long and don’t provide food and beverages for any attendees. Because ABC was not prepared for this antic, and because the chances of the largest rival of Pepsi having logo presence on a pizza box was an unfathomable issue, out walked a clueless pizza delivery man who gave Coca-Cola free brand exposure and logo presence during the show while celebrities interacted with the pizza, and the box. It was free, amazing advertising for Coke, who gained about 4,978 social media mentions after viewers noticed that Pepsi’s top competitor showed up. In comparison, Pepsi only had about 5, 018 mentions during the entire Oscars show. So I ask you again, are 40 social media mentions worth 8 million dollars?