GOLD

Pepsi, "#PepsiMusicNow," OMD US (Local)

Pepsi needed to reclaim its reign as THE brand associated with music by engaging their consumers in a new yet authentic way. This meant throwing out traditional methods of creating and disseminating content. Instead of polished images that take weeks to produce, social, approachable images were published to appeal and relate to the audience. In summer 2012 Pepsi launched their declaration to live in the moment of pop culture and music – the shift from the Choice of the New Generation to the Voice of the NOW Generation! At the core of Pepsi's marketing efforts and brand sensibility is music. It is the thread of the brand's DNA. During the past three decades, Pepsi has established itself as THE beverage brand associated with music and pop-culture - and it continues to strive for that brand association. Pepsi is also a brand that is evolving and changing with their Millennial audience - a brand that is becoming a more social brand than a 'banner-brand' in the digital media space. It's a brand that realizes it needs to activate its messaging in the same way the audience is operating and reacting - in real-time. A major challenge that was apparent for a brand whose core association is music was the audience’s evolving consumption habits: younger consumers don’t want to pay for music but will pay with their time for live, new music experiences. Pepsi knew it had to give the consumer a unique and fresh musical experience they wouldn’t get anywhere else, and had to engage them, in a digital and mobile comfort-zone: social media. #PepsiMusicNow, launched in partnership with Twitter, was intended to drive mass conversation around music and capture the minds of music enthusiasts to position Pepsi as part of the pulse of music, Twitter's largest interest category. Pepsi brought the Twitter consumer three different music experiences that they couldn’t get elsewhere. First was free music downloads on Amazon to attract new followers and drive loyalty and earned media. Second, Pepsi brought the experience of weekly, custom short-form videos of what was trending and relevant in the music world. Partnering with music-staple and production partner FUSE TV, they produced premium content clips to keep consumers engaged and on the pulse of pop-culture. Last, #PepsiMusicNow brought the audience closer to their favorite artists with four live-streamed concerts within Twitter - a first-to-market Twitter experience. With performances by artists such as Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj, fans could be a part of the show wherever they were. These live-stream, in-Tweet shows trended globally. #PepsiMusicNow took audience and brand insights aligned with the marketplace challenges and delivered a best-in-class experience. The results, both from Twitter and from 3rd-party conducted research, concluded a massive success for the brand. A Nielsen Brand Effect study concluded that Pepsi did significantly increase the brand’s association with music; social conversations were 20% higher than pre-program levels, while exposed Twitter consumers intent-to-purchase increased by 22%. The free music download portion was huge; Amazon saw the highest redemption rates for music downloads they have ever seen. The live-stream concerts brought increased engagement rates, hundreds of thousands of streams and significant coverage across media vehicles like The New York Times, Bloomberg Business Week, Billboard and Ad Age. This campaign was key in re-establishing Pepsi as a social, musical and relevant brand to an increasingly influential audience.