Pepsi is all about “unapologetic enjoyment.” What could be more unapologetic than learning how to dance?
That is the idea behind Muevelo Con Pepsi, a metaverse experience where consumers can learn dances corresponding to five Latin music genres: Banda, Cumbia, Norteño, Salsa and Reggaeton from celebrity creative director Beau Casper Smart.
Pepsi wanted to tap into the popularity of TikTok dance challenges to delight consumers where they are spending time. “Consumers are spending a disproportionate amount of time on digital and social. All of these new generations are truly growing up in tech, so that’s why we said, let’s experiment with Metaverse and bring this experience to life,” said Esperanza Teasdale, vice president & general manager, Hispanic Business Unit, PepsiCo Beverages North America.
The dance challenge, which includes the opportunity to unlock special giveaways, is part of the brand’s push to reach Hispanic audiences across the US. The 62 million Hispanic consumers in the US, represent about 20% of the population, 20% of these people are Gen Z. The idea behind these kinds of activations is to build loyalty that will last a lifetime, Teasdale told Brand Innovators.
There are several key passion points among the range of Hispanic consumers: music, sports and food. “Being able to pull that element of the culture forward is the best way to engage, because there’s just so much authenticity and richness in those aspects,” she said.
“Within a specific ethnicity of Hispanic consumers, which is not a monolith, there are nuances, there’s uniqueness,” added Teasdale. “All those real life situations create really wonderful spaces for us to elevate, shine a light on so that we can then engage the consumer. We really try to lean into culture and reach the consumer with authenticity.”
To support the metaverse effort, Pepsi created a collection of cans dedicated to the five music genres, which gives a nod to the people and cities in which these music genres are part of the community. Musicians on the cans are holding instruments unique to their genre. For instance, on the Los Angeles Banda can, there are street vendors, lowriders and brass instruments known in Banda music. New York’s can celebrates the city with landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and Yankee stadiums, along with the conga drums that highlight Salsa. The Miami can celebrates Reggaeton with vintage Cuban-style cars, views of Miami Beach and palm trees.
“We were really proud of the fact that we were able to deliver these beautiful designs on our cans, which is really the first time that Pepsi has celebrated the Hispanic culture on can,” said Teasdale. “We know for sure that cultural relevance and authenticity drives purchase interest. Our job really is to make sure that we’re leveraging all the insights we have and honestly trying to embed them more into other brands.”
The metaverse activation, which kicked off in April, engaged about 6x the number of people they expected to, and the campaign has already seen more than half a billion media impressions.
“The sky’s the limit,” said Teasdale. “How do we get our own brands to embrace and understand that embedding the Hispanic consumer into their business is good for business? And so how then do we socialize the importance of scaling the insights to drive the cultural relevance that any brand or business will need in order to capture future growth?”
