PepsiCo’s Four Principles for Harnessing Emerging Culture to Engage Millennials
At MediaPost’s Engage: Millennials Conference on September 16th, Carlos Saavedra, senior director of culture marketing and innovation at PepsiCo North America, discussed how the brand’s in-house studio, Creator, uses emerging culture to engage with millennials.
Creator believes that emerging culture is critical to what will be mainstream in the future. The team explores the edges of culture and works with up-and-coming companies to co-create innovative customer experiences. Saavedra said that marketers have to move away from talking about culture through the ethnicity lens because that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Culture goes beyond ethnicity and into specific passion points, such as music fashion, art, gaming, and technology. He shared four principles based on this insight that brands can use to engage millennials.
Principle No. 1: Explore the fringes.
Creator’s mission is to find culture on the fringe that will become mainstream. Research revealed that the fringe DIY beverage community was on the rise, so Pepsi invited the beverage creation and consulting company BEVLAB to develop an experimental beverage laboratory at World Maker Faire 2015, where the brand’s new line of soft drinks, F!ZZ, was debuted.
Principle No. 2: Culture isn’t a spectator sport.
You can read decks and listen to presentations, but you really need to go out and participate. Creator used emerging culture to create a bigger role for Pepsi with the Bioreactive Concert at SXSW 2014. The brand partnered with Lightwave, Fast Company, and DJ A-Trak to create a one-of-a-kind interactive experience. Lightwave wristbands tracked biometric data, like movement and temperature, of fans to unlock music and refreshments. The data fed into the show to create a fun experience that fans enjoyed while creating interesting moments for the brand.
Principle No. 3: Play by millennials’ rules.
Words are out of fashion, so brands have to communicate with images. More importantly, they have to make sure it feels genuine when they insert themselves into millennial conversations. SoBe, Pepsi’s brand of teas, fruit juices, and enhanced waters, has great equity, but was not top of mind for most people. Creator renewed interest in the brand with the SoBe Creators Project. The team hand-selected five emerging artists who fit with the brand’s attitude of experimentation and were looking grow their careers. The artists were given the resources and access to do just that, and the artwork they created was shared on social media with the hashtag #RideTheWild. At the end of the program, they were taken to Miami, the birthplace of SoBe, to showcase their artwork.
Principle No 4: Hire for the future.
You don’t need to hire people who are similar to the ones already at your company. Your brand needs different talents and perspectives. PepsiCo published a listicle on Mashable about jobs of the future called “Seven Unbelievable Job Titles that Will Actually Exist in Ten Years.” One of the job titles is “Vicarious Videographer,” someone who captures unique experiences for others who stay home. Another future job title is “Culture Intelligence Agent,” which is a title currently held on the Creator team. This is someone with experience in virtual reality or publishing who mines the cultural landscape to identify emerging trends.
Source
"Harnessing Emerging Culture to Engage Millennnials." Carlos Saavedra, Director of Culture Marketing and Innovation at PepsiCo North America and Leader of PepsiCo Creator. MediaPost Engage: Millennials Conference, 9/16/15.