Pepsi: Test Drive [video]

Credits & Description:

Agency: OMD
Agency Country: USA
Agency City: NEW YORK
Competition: 193 2014 AME Awards
Category: UM15 social video
Category Group: use of medium
Brand/Sponsor: Pepsi Max
Item Company: OMD
Item Country: USA
Creative Director: Bryan Master
Production Company: N/A
Production Company Producer: N/A
Product Type Carbonated Beverage
Campaign Start 03 / 10 / 2013
Campaign End 03 / 31 / 2013
Campaign Ran US
Campaign Description corporate identity building
Marketing Context
Pepsi Max was still a relatively new innovation brand that tends to get shadowed by the rest of the Pepsi Trademark portfolio. The brand needed help finding its place and it identified a formula for creating content that allowed the brand to ignite candid conversations among the target consumer by genuinely entertaining them.
Through past success efforts, the brand had begun to identify a fun content ‘formula’ that was not only resonating with the consumer-audience, but helping define the brand – and what consumers came to expect from the brand. Part recipe, part media science, part luck…
Through the massive success of a viral video, the brand has not only found its voice, but identified and confirmed a formula for future success!
Campaign Planning
Great content is only half of the battle – the clip would need some strategically placed paid media support. Twitter and YouTube were the no-brainer options for distributing, amplifying and optimizing the media.
The spark was ignited by a tweet from Gordon himself, releasing the clip to a passionate fan base. From there, the video became a hot conversation topic that couldn’t be ignored.
Through close analysis and evaluation, the paid media portion was even paused as the video hit that ‘viral’ point, where it was evident that it was going to take on a life of its own.
Marketing & Media Strategy
The strategy was to reach the intended audience (males) with engaging content that would spark dialogue and association with the brand. The brand was still relatively new and needed that ‘wow factor’ to break through the clutter of a crowded marketplace.
The strategy was simple – distribute amplify a piece of engaging content within social and video platforms to a maximum audience, in order to increase awareness of the brand and purchase intent.
Creative Strategy
The video was produced after identifying a formula for success: a prank/candid camera-style video featuring a sports icon/celebrity-in-disguise, performing their skill-set to an unsuspecting audience, generating a conversation about “is it real or fake?”
This secret-sauce formula was a result of previously successful brand executions in this vein, such as the ‘Uncle Drew’ video series, which featured NBA Superstar Kyrie Irving in disguise as an old man who dominates an unsuspecting street-game.
It was also essential to have that ‘is it real or is it fake?’-mystique – this produces not only increased/multiple views-per-viewer, but also intrigue amongst consumers who haven’t seen it yet.
Evidence of Results
Pepsi Max climbed the popularity ladder - the viral impact produced was one of the greatest earned media success stories for the client as earned media amplified our paid exposure by 1000%.
The brand also got credit from its audience organically – “Pepsi Max” was mentioned in tweets almost as much as the trending hashtag, #GordonTestDrive.
The video resided at the top of YouTube’s homepage as the most-viewed video for four days – exposure you can’t buy, for a value of $1.7MM – and over 3,200 tweets resulted in 3.5MM earned impressions.
The target really liked the video - 84% of Twitter posts had positive sentiment and has yielded over 2.4MM shares online – 1MM more than the Red Bull Stratos Jump.
For a brand challenged with their awareness levels and growing consumer-base, this was a great jumpstart to help broaden awareness and affinity of the brand – to the core-Male demo, to Jeff Gordon’s more than 400K+ Twitter followers and to a broader demo and audience of video-content lovers who consumed the video.
Target Audience
The MAX audience - late Millennial and Gen X men (age 25-34) – have a passion for entertainment, especially pranks. Their camaraderie is often developed through this type of humor, which becomes a go-to anecdote or social currency that they use to spark conversations with their peers.
This audience also loves to consume video online. When they love it, they share it, then they watch it again, and they share it again! This would prove to be the key to success of the viral effect.
Additionally, this success opened-up the MAX conversation well-beyond the intended Male audience – having reached viral-status, the brand was able to gain exposure to a mass audience, helping with overall Pepsi Trademark brand health and halo-effect.