Cola is the most popular soda in the USA, with two brands dominating the category, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi has gone on for over 100 years. Currently, Coca-Cola is the larger brand.

When consumers order a Coca-Cola in a restaurant that only serves Pepsi, they’re often met with the question, “Is Pepsi Ok?”. And to some people, Pepsi is not okay. The response to the question is so popular that it has become an actual joke.

As the challenger brand, Pepsi has a choice. We can ignore the joke, or we turn it on its head. The brand asked us to put our front foot forward with a confident tone, shouting, “No, Pepsi isn’t just okay, it’s #MoreThanOk, in fact it’s awesome!”.

The objective of the campaign was to get people talking about Pepsi, garnering advocacy and the highest online SOV at launch.

The Super Bowl is the most viewed TV program in the USA, with ~100MM people tuning in. In the USA, it’s a cultural phenomenon with parties and historically features the best and most creative TV ads. Super Bowl 53 was the perfect stage to launch Pepsi’s new campaign. This year, the Super Bowl was in Coca-Cola’s hometown, Atlanta, so we had to show up to make a statement. Featuring A-list talent in our digital, OOH an TV creative, Pepsi asked the USA the question everyone is already asking—"Is Pepsi Ok?”, and we proudly declared that it’s more than okay!

Research led to a phased approach, mirroring consumer habits. There are distinct behaviors taken before, during, and after the big game, and our media plan followed those behaviors.

o Pre: Get people talking

o During: Own the conversation

o Post: Keep people talking

We segmented media in phases, aligning with consumer behavior to drive advocacy and the highest SOV. The audience we focused on was broad (18+) to drive cultural relevance among all adults.

Pre-Super Bowl:

-Pepsi purchased OOH placements in Atlanta (home of Super Bowl 53), to make sure Pepsi was proudly visible in our competitor’s hometown.

-Launched the campaign using the power of influencers to seed the message and get people talking across social media.

-Digitally surrounded moments of pre-game excitement, seeding teaser content on social platforms and YouTube featuring the A-list talent from the ads.

During

-With the promoted trend takeover on Twitter, we dominated Game Day conversation, where the majority of conversation happens around the Super Bowl.

-Launched the TV commercial during the game

-Distributed GIPHY branded GIFs across social platforms to be a part of conversation

Post

-Continued momentum surrounding post-game excitement.

Implementation & Placement

Pre-Super Bowl: Get people talking

-OOH ads surrounding the highest trafficked areas of Atlanta

-Influencer and brand posts on social media to tease and seed the conversation

During: Own the conversation

-Paid social, primarily focusing on Twitter

-GIF takeovers on GIPHY, inserting the Pepsi commercial in cultural conversation

-Launch the spot during the game

Post: Keep people talking

-Social, GIPHY, online video, and influencer posts on social platforms to maintain conversation, TV ads for continuity and reach

Timeline:

5-week long campaign, with majority of spend in the few days leading up to game day, and game day itself

Scale:

o 98MM viewers of TV ad

o 242MM+ total impressions

Reach-

Over 10 billion earned media impressions from PR tactics

98MM viewers watched the Super Bowl

Over 250MM views of Pepsi branded GIFs on GIPHY platform

63MM Facebook impressions

45MM impressions with influencer posts on social channels

72MM YouTube impressions

45MM impressions on Twitter

Engagement-

2x social engagement vs. 2018 Super Bowl campaign

10x engagement benchmark on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for Influencer posts

Achievement against business targets on the day of the Super Bowl -

#1 Share of Voice

10-point Increase in SOV from previous year (Super Bowl campaign)

5:1 ratio of positive sentiment on social

23x higher SOV vs. Coke

Brandbowl53 winner of CPG vertical (Twitter)