Pepsi Challenge is updated with global reach in major social push
Pepsi is leveraging social in a new pop-culture oriented-version of the Pepsi Challenge to make a broader push across the global marketplace.
The campaign, #PepsiChallenge, encourages consumers to take on different challenges for life experiences and rewards in technology, music, sports and design. Its tone of corporate social responsibility, both globally and locally, points to a recognition of the millennial generation?s sense of responsibility to give back, key to reaching younger consumers on mobile.
?Social was once a way to reach a niche audience, but that?s no longer the case,? said Dan Cropsey, executive vice president of Networked Insights, Chicago. ?Pepsi is smart to reach millennials via social, but our research shows that individual social channels matter as much as content.
?Having said that, Pepsi is demonstrating that it speaks millennials? language by signing Jerome Jarre, a fellow digital native and Vine star,? he said.
Solar lighting
PepsiCo, the Purchase, NY, food and beverage conglomerate whose brands include Pepsi beverages, did not provide details about the challenges.
Fans can participate in the #PepsiChallenge, which PepsiCo described as its biggest socially-led, content driven initiative ever, by following Pepsi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in their local country, as well as visitingwww.PepsiChallenge.com.
Inspiring the masses on mobile to live for now.
As part of the campaign, Pepsi, through a partnership with Liter of Light, a global provider of free ecologically sustainable lighting solutions, will bring cost effective solar lighting solutions to communities in need while recycling plastic bottles.
Every time consumers use the #PepsiChallenge hash tag on public Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube profiles, Pepsi will donate $1 to Liter of Light to help bring light globally to people who need it most.
?Raised on social media, millennials have come to expect one-on-one conversation from a brand or spokesperson,? Mr. Cropsey said.
?McDonald?s Pay with Lovin? campaign tried to engender the same sense of community and affinity for the brand. Although media coverage of the campaign skewed negative, our research shows that consumer response was actually positive,? he said. ?Conversation volume surrounding McDonald?s increased, and most posts demonstrated positive emotions from amusement to love to trust.
?It?s feasible that many of the same emotions will be associated with the Pepsi Challenge.?
The technology challenge will include a collaboration with UrtheCast, which will provide footage from a full-color Ultra High-Definition video camera in a film adventure shot from space.
In the design challenge, fans will be asked to re-envision the facade of a Pepsi can with their own creative designs and flair.
The campaign also will include a focus on Rock In Rio Brazil, the world?s largest music festival, and sporting events and experiences.
The year-long campaign is designed to galvanize consumers around the world to defy convention and live for now.
Pepsi?s 1975 challenge originally took the form of a taste test. At shopping centers and other public places, a Pepsi table had two blank cups, one containing Pepsi and one with Coca-Cola. Shoppers were encouraged to taste both beverages, and then select their preferred one.
The representative then revealed the bottles so the taster could see whether he or she preferred Coke or Pepsi.
The test results leaned toward the opinion that more Americans preferred Pepsi.
In 1981, Pepsi ran a Pepsi Challenge Payoff contest that awarded a prize to anyone who could gather lettered Pepsi bottle caps that spelled out the word ?challenge.?
The new Pepsi Challenge will augment global challenges with regional ones.
For instance, ?Crash the Pepsi IPL? will challenge consumers in India to create and submit a Pepsi ad that could be aired during the Indian Premier League games. A food-focused challenge will be aimed at Thailand.
The campaign?s global ambassadors include singer Usher, tennis star Serena Williams, Colombia and Real Madrid soccer star James Rodríguez, Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, fashion editor Nicola Formichetti and social media influencer and Snapchat star Jerome Jarre.
Pepsi has become a mobile marketing leader by emphasizing meaningful consumer content ? whether that is providing compelling entertainment or useful information.
Delivering meaningful content, via social.
Its recent 2015 Bring Happiness Home program, for instance, called on Chinese around the world to share Spring Festival stories through self-made videos. The campaign underscored how the intimate nature of mobile allowed marketers to build engagement in the familiar territory of reunions.
Pepsi also has continued to gulp up mobile advertisement opportunities skewed toward iPhone and iPad consumers with iAd campaigns that stand out with interactive components.
Share a Coke
?The campaign has some parallels with last summer?s Share a Coke phenomenon,? Mr. Cropsey said. ?The campaign increased sales because it combined nostalgia and social share-ability.
?The Pepsi Challenge has the nostalgia component, but combining online and offline may be more difficult for Pepsi,? he said. ?Instagramming a Coke with a friend?s name has a much lower barrier to entry than doing good deeds and documenting via social.?
Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York