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PepsiCo exec: Majority of social interaction will happen via mobile

A PepsiCo executive is excited about the increasing cross-pollination between the mobile and social-media spheres.

PepsiCo activated its sponsorship of Social Media Week on four continents and participating in a variety of panel discussions. Pode Ser is a mobile crowd-sourced activation that PepsiCo ran in Brazil targeting key influencers such as scholars, advertisers and Web celebrities that participated in a debate at Social Media Week.

?There is a Brazilian saying that we?re changing the tire as we?re driving the car, moving at an outrageous pace,? said Bonin Bough, New York-based global director of digital and social media at PepsiCo. ?Most of the Twitter activity is happening via mobile.

?What a unique opportunity for an organization to participate in that conversation in a way that engages consumers on a deeper level,? he said. ?People are excited and they believe that the majority of social interaction will happen via mobile, which is really a global trend.

?It is a changing dynamic, because as data plans and broadband access are becoming cheaper, there is more engagement via mobile phones and tablets?there is the opportunity to bring the entire world into conversations via a variety of mobile devices, not just phones.?

Mr. Bough conducted a four-day world tour, stopping in New York and Sao Paolo to participate in Social Media Week discussions, including a keynote at the kick-off SMW press conference on Feb. 3. He also gave a presentation for the London conference via Skype.

Mobile-social opportunities
For the Pode Ser initiative at Social Media Week in Brazil, Pepsi solicited suggested debate topics through the @PepsiBR Twitter handle from attendees and followers, who submitted ideas via mobile, with a moderator then picking a selection of these topics for further community voting via topic-related hashtags.

The panelists debated the winning topic while the process of selecting additional topics began anew at @PepsiBR.

The event brought online and offline audiences into the conversation in real time via mobile social media.

?The Twitter activations were about bringing together cultural influencers and asking them to participate around global conversations related to the Pepsi brand here in Brazil,? Mr. Bough said. ?We did a number of the keynote presentations here at Social Media Week.

?The question was, ?How do we bring audiences into the conversations in real time??? he said. ?Pode Ser is part of a larger program to inspire user-generated content, video and conversations via mobile and social media.?

During Social Media Week, PepsiCo associates?representing the globally-spread digital team as well as cross-functional groups such as nutrition?participated in panel discussions and activities on four continents.

PepsiCo sought to expand its partnership with women during Social Media Week with the launch of the Women?s Inspiration Network, or WIN.

WIN is an online interactive network offering a global female perspective of inspiration and idea sharing through experts, influencers and real women around the world.

Mr. Bough said that PepsiCo?s history of digital innovation and success has been made largely in collaboration with others?whether through joint efforts with mobile application start-ups such as Foursquare and Stickybits or with consumers themselves, as in the Pepsi Refresh initiative.

Launched during last year?s Social Media Week, the multichannel digital media-based marketing program Pepsi Refresh is expanding beyond its pilot market of the U.S. to PepsiCo?s global audience.

?Social Media Week is the only event of its kind and its size?it brings together all of the digital influencers in one week all over the world,? Mr. Bough said. ?We see this as representative of the next wave of what organizations are truly going to be focused on, which is the globalization of efforts, events and activities.

?Brands don?t just happen in specific geographies, so the question is ?How do we participate on a global scale in conversations but still make it relevant and engaging for consumers on a local level??? he said. ?User-generated content is key, as open source is the mantra of this era.

?It is not just about sponsoring and activating, it is about people interacting, participating in conversations and sharing what we are learning.?

Final Take
CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees