Title	PEPSI MAX FRANCE
Brand	PEPSICO
Product/Service	PEPSI MAX
Category	G02. Challenger Brand
Entrant	PEPSICO Reading, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	BUZZMAN Paris, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Quitterie Alphand	PepsiCo	Marketing
Sebastien Le Miere	PepsiCo	Marketing
Morgane Miralles	PepsiCo	marketing
Aurelie Petit	PepsiCo	marketing
Alix Voglimacci	PepsiCo	Legal
Gregory Cherbal	PepsiCo	Legal
France Bernet	PepsiCo	Community Management
Georges Mohammed-Chérif	Buzzman	Creative
Thomas Granger	Buzzman	Creative
Margaux Hontang	Buzzman	Artistic Direction
Melvin Berréhouc	Buzzman	Creative
Sofiane Ouaddah	Buzzman	commercial director
Candice Pineau	Buzzman	Cheffe de Publicité
Céline Mazza	Buzzman	Planneuse Stratégique
Julien Scaglione	Buzzman	Directeur Social Media
Arnaud Cherbonnier	Buzzman	Social Media Manager
Charlotte Chadeau Assya Mediouni	Buzzman	Production

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

This work is relevant because we made a brave and bold move by creating a brand experience for our consumers which showed a different side to Pepsi Max and created an experience that our consumers could get involved in whilst it was happening- in real time!

Background

Here at Pepsi we wanted to educate the consumers on Pepsi Max’s taste in order to convert them. But this is a story of Davis Vs Goliath: Coke communicates massively on Coke Zero and benefits from loyal consumers who perceive the taste as superior. Pepsi Max, with has a lower number needed to punch above its weight.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We decided to assume our challenger role and to come back to the essence of Pepsi Max: humor and impertinence! We boldly revived the Pepsi vs Coke battle, teasing Coke’s most popular attributes to break down Pepsi Max’s taste and sugar barrier. We created social adverts that made a cheeky reference to Coke's adverts - thus reviving the battle and showing that Pepsi Max has a humorous side too.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

But being Bold means taking risks, so we set up a taskforce with our legal, internal community manager, brand and team to evaluate Coke reaction and assess risks, adjust copy writing, and set up migration plans. We used Facebook and Instagram for an engagement campaign to target our younger audience. We created a community of these social channels and responded to them in real time.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We posted the social adverts every two weeks over a total length of 10 weeks on social media platforms.

List the results (30% of vote)

- 90% of positive comments (vs 5% to 10% in previous campaigns), with consumers defending us against Coke fan, praising our humour, or vowing to try Pepsi Max - 10.3% engagement rate (vs 1.3% - 3% avg) - 5.6 Million Total interactions (29k reactions, 4k comments)

Please tell us about how the work challenged / was different from the brands competitors

This work was different as it directly challenged a competitor yet in a light hearted and humorous way. Coke v Pepsi has been around for decades but the battle had gone quiet until now- we moved it on to social media to attract our younger audience and create a reaction. We responded to our audience in real time hence them feeling part of the battle- we hope they were on Pepsi's side!