PepsiCo Pakistan

The Objective

Raising awareness and engaging Gen Z

Global beverage giant PepsiCo recently launched its new stronger, fizzier and tastier Pepsi in Pakistan. For this unique campaign, the brand sought to engage TikTok's Gen Z audience in a meaningful way in order to raise awareness of the new Pepsi and encourage users to try it.

The Solution

Hitting TikTok with a Hashtag Challenge & Branded Effect

PepsiCo chose TikTok because of the overlap of their target audience and TikTok user demographics. They introduced their first Branded Hashtag Challenge to the TikTok audience in Pakistan along with an engaging Branded Effect. The #NewPepsiHitMeLike campaign encouraged users to try the new Pepsi and share how it hits them.

The Branded Effect was creatively relevant to the theme of the campaign and engaging for TikTok users. Beginning with the new product image, users were prompted to begin recording after taking a sip of the new Pepsi, giving them creative freedom in demonstrating how the new Pepsi hits them. The Branded Effect used a combination of colorful animations and branding elements such as backgrounds and text to represent new Pepsi being "Stronger, Fizzier, Tastier." The TikTok community was encouraged to experiment with the branded effect and take part in the challenge.

PepsiCo selected a mix of popular macro- and micro-creators with extensive reach on the platform in Pakistan, allowing them to give the challenge their own spin and encouraging their followers to participate.

On TikTok, sound is everything! PepsiCo capitalized on this by creating their own catchy jingle for the campaign. Starting the track with "The New Pepsi Hit Me Like," users were intrigued not only to see the hit, but also to taste the new Pepsi.

PepsiCo ran additional TopView ads to support the challenge. These creatives featured popular celebrities such as Babar Azam and Young Stunners. To gauge maximum exposure and relatability, the brand also showcased some of the famous creator videos through the TopView asset. This boosted the campaign's performance on the platform even more. To increase engagement, the brand also used Spark Ads of popular creator videos to encourage users to join #NewPepsiHitMeLike.

The Results

Stronger performance

The approach taken by PepsiCo in curating the media and creative elements for this campaign was a huge success. The campaign surpassed all benchmarks, all within a 2 week duration. Receiving 8.96 billion video views on the Hashtag Challenge page, and around 11 million pieces of user generated content on the platform. The campaign also gathered a significant amount of relevant content, with the challenge reaching over 34 million TikTok users in Pakistan.

Another significant metric to highlight from this campaign was the astounding 2.2 million plus plays on the Branded Effect panel, which was exceptional in comparison to regional benchmarks. The results from a Brand Lift Study exceeded expectations even further, with a whopping 97% brand link ratio and 53% of users claiming the campaign made them want to buy the product.