What if there was a magic button that could Refresh Everything?
How Pepsi's iconic RefreshEverything campaign became the FTW how-to manual for integrated advertising.
Back when I was running Kizmo in San Francisco.
We were working with with Pepsi to conceive, execute and deliver one of the first integrated brand campaigns ever.
It was a time when bandwidth was low.
Social was young, and people were sharing share-worthy content. With just 2 weeks to deliver, we had to focus on creative solutions. With a quickness.
What if we delivered a content-rich creative strategy without actually having to create content? What if we designed a campaign powered by people? A destination for inspiration, creativity, and opportunity.
In 2009.
The new Pepsi Generation, refreshing the world in real-time.
Pepsi's story of "rethink the past, refresh with the new," struck a chord. More so when they gave us an early look at their upcoming Bob Dylan/Will.I.Am TV spot.
Crystal clear, our mission was to refresh every experience that people have with Pepsi. Starting with refreshing the "refresh button". A central theme that would be used across all channels.
The RefreshEverything button was designed to be placed anywhere to literally refresh every experience--online and off--to become a Pepsi experience.
The Results
Leveraging Pepsi's owned content, with a generous helping of user-generated content, I delivered a first of its' kind campaign that set the bar for Pepsi's digital strategy ever since.
- A campaign that inspired people to tell powerful, creative stories for Pepsi's content curation team.
- After launch, Pepsi chose to pass on the Super Bowl advertising madness to invest in the RefreshEverything Brand Experience story.
- Pepsi asked people to invent and deliver ideas that would make the world a better place, committing $20 million in grant money to fund the winning causes.
— But wait, there's more
