In the US, branded entertainment is becoming increasingly core to advertiser strategies as companies attempt to appeal to and reach consumers in ways beyond traditional advertising. Branded entertainment provides an opportunity to tell a brand's story in an innovative way and to engage consumers using limited media dollars.

To build buzz and encourage engagement around Pepsi’s sponsorship of the Super Bowl Halftime Show and with the brand itself, we decided to create a halftime introduction film that would stitch together photos submitted by fans.

We kicked off the campaign six weeks before the game, with a social media push of digital influencers calling for entries from their online networks. Through digital and social we posted a daily pose for fans to emulate, shoot, and upload to the gallery on Pepsi’s halftime website. During the NFL playoffs we ran teaser ads calling for submissions, and we posted outdoor placements in top markets, even taking over the digital billboards in New York’s Times Square.

After the finished film aired at the Super Bowl we launched a microsite where fans could watch the video frame by frame to find their submitted photos and search for hidden Easter eggs.

Our 360 degree campaign generated a huge buzz for the Pepsi brand. Through a combination of paid, owned, and earned media we received over 126,000 user submissions for our halftime show spot, by far the largest and most successful engagement program of its kind.

After the game, fans continued to watch our “Anticipation” spot in search of hidden Easter eggs in the film, spending an average of 4' and 35" on the Pepsi website, and more than doubling the site’s page views a week after the Super Bowl. “Anticipation” was ultimately viewed over 2.24m times, and the campaign overall generated over 5.5bn impressions.

In the end, we created a fan-made film that delivers on the creativity and passion of our audience while also putting Pepsi’s marketing focus on the people who really matter: their consumers.