Case Study
Pepsi Philippines finds its groove as the perfect mealtime pairing
Key Results
+14pp
lift in brand favourability
+53%
engagement rate (vs industry benchmark*)
866K
live views
*within the CPG vertical in Philippines
The opportunity
As Filipinos spend a lot more time at home since the pandemic, meals have become an important source of comfort and enjoyment. At the same time, 80.9%1 of the country have developed an even deeper love for music, be it in simple enjoyment of it or in top-of-your-lungs karaoke sessions. At the intersection of the two is where 80.3% of Filipino music enthusiasts have also indicated that food and drink is a top interest2.
When Pepsi Philippines (@pepsiphl) learned that the music and food communities are on Twitter and that they are passionate, driven, and engaged, @pepsiphl spotted a golden opportunity to engage with that audience.
In order to reinforce its position as the preferred beverage during mealtimes, @pepsiphl launched #PepsiHitSaSarap (Delicious Meal Hits with Pepsi) – a music and entertainment-driven campaign to remind the audience of the way Pepsi perfectly pairs with their favourite foods.
What came across loud and clear is that sharing meals over a Pepsi is ‘hit sa sarap’ – hip, fun, and joyful.
The strategy
The campaign featured big-name singers, actors, and influencers like Kathryn Bernardo, Daniel Padilla, and SB19 to engage audiences in a fun way while chatting about recipe recommendations, favourite meals and mealtime habits, and enjoying Pepsi.
Pepsi used a combination of multiple ad formats to bring the campaign to life, with the message of ‘Pepsi is a meal’s best friend’ being front and centre.
#PepsiHitSaSarap kicked off with a highly engaging Video Poll that featured the campaign ambassadors, who asked the audience to choose their favourite Pepsi meal pairings, such as ‘Pepsi + fried chicken’ or ‘Pepsi + sisig (a Filipino popular dish)’.
To drive massive awareness at launch, @pepsiphl used multiple Timeline Takeover and Trend Takeover campaigns to nab people’s first impressions of the day. A custom Branded Hashtag featuring an emoji further endeared audiences to the concept of #PepsiHitSaSarap.
@pepsiphl ran artist-specific Video Ads, each with a unique song to promote the pairing of Pepsi with a food item, to appeal to different fandom communities. To further drive conversation and engagement, Pepsi also utilised Conversation Buttons, which sent the audience an auto-response with a description of their personalities based on the food hashtag that they Tweeted.
As the highlight of the #PepsiHitSaSarap campaign, @pepsiphl live-streamed a virtual concert using Twitter Live. The fun event was filled with music, conversation, and games - over a meal, of course. During the live stream, audiences were also invited to donate meals to families affected by the pandemic simply by Tweeting, commenting, or sharing the live event using the branded campaign hashtag #PepsiHitSaSarap.
A Like-to-Remind Tweet was rolled out to drive excitement, so fans could be notified once the event went live.
01
Tap on the power of communities on Twitter
By tapping into Twitter’s rich music and entertainment communities, @pepsiphl was able to connect with these audiences where they are and in a way that’s meaningful to them, landing the brand message all the more poignantly.
02
Leverage multiple Takeovers to maximise awareness
To drive mass awareness, @pepsiphl deployed Timeline Takeovers and Trend Takeovers multiple times, doubling down on the campaign message that Pepsi is the perfect meal pairing.
03
Create a fun virtual event with Twitter Live
By live-streaming a jam-packed, celebrity-filled event with Twitter Live, @pepsiphl was able to land the brand message in a fun and entertaining way.
04
Maximise impact with #OnlyOnTwitter ad solutions
With Video Polls and Conversation Buttons, @pepsiphl was able to engage with the audiences in fun and memorable ways, while building deeper affinity with them.
The Success
#PepsiHitSaSarap was a delicious success from both a campaign performance standpoint and a brand effect standpoint. The campaign on Twitter outperformed local industry benchmarks in several measurements.
The kick-off Video Poll garnered 50K votes with a 53% higher engagement rate than industry benchmark (i.e. a 2.09% engagement rate for this campaign vs 1.37% for the beverage category in the Philippines).
The various artist-pairing Video Ads saw more than 16.2M video views, with 4% higher view rate than the local industry benchmark. And finally, the virtual concert enthralled 866K views on Twitter alone – almost 2x compared to the results on other social media platforms.
The strong performance of the Twitter campaign helped Pepsi achieve +29pp lift in campaign awareness, based on a Nielsen Brand Effect study3. In the same study, Pepsi’s top-of-mind awareness as a cola brand which is associated with mealtimes, saw a jump of 15pp4.
And most importantly, there was a massive lift of +14pp in favourability5 towards Pepsi for the cola category.
Twitter has consistently been a great, reliable platform for us to reach and engage with our target audience. Specific to our #PepsiHitSaSarap campaign, our conversations with our audience got amplified and achieved virality through the combination of our Pepsi account’s and endorsers’ followers and of Twitter’s solutions across the various phases of our campaign. From implementing the tried-and-tested Timeline Takeover and Trend Takeover features to newer solutions like the Conversational Ads, Twitter delivered on brand reach and massive traction.
Source:
1. Global Web Index, Philippines, Q4-2020 to Q3-2021 - % of Filipinos who are music enthusiasts
2. Global Web Index, Philippines, Q4-2020 to Q3-2021 - % of Filipino music enthusiasts who are food lovers
3. Nielsen Brand Effect Study for Pepsi Philippines, August 2021 - October 2021, “Which of the following Hashtags have you heard of? (Please select all that apply).”, Exposed Engagers vs Control Group
4. Nielsen Brand Effect Study for Pepsi Philippines, August 2021 - October 2021, “Which of the following comes to mind first when you think of mealtimes?”, Exposed Engagers vs Control Group
5. Nielsen Brand Effect Study for Pepsi Philippines, August 2021 - October 2021, “How favorable is your view of Pepsi?”, Exposed Engagers vs Control Group
Solutions Used
Audience insights
Successful marketing efforts start with knowing your audience. X's tools help you dig deep.
Creative canvas
Brands are connecting with people on X in unique and creative ways. And so can you.