Pepsi Sweeps Lets Consumer Design 500 Million Cans
Pepsi is getting consumers’ creative juices flowing with an online contest that asks people to design a new look for its cans.
The effort is part of Pepsi’s ongoing campaign, in which it changes the look of the can 35 times this year. The promotion is designed to reach younger customers with a flair for creative and an affinity for the brand.
Consumers can enter the contest at DesignOurPepsiCan.com through May 10. On the site, people can download a blank Pepsi can template and create a one-of-a-kind design with their own software or use tools, including decals, colors and logos offered on the contest page.
Since the contest launched April 1, dozens of people have submitted their designs, which are displayed in Pepsi’s can showcase on the Web site.
Pepsi will post the top five semi-finalists’ designs on the site where consumers will pick a winner through an online vote June 1-18. The top vote-getter will receive $10,000 and have his or her winning design featured on 500 million cans nationwide.
To help promote the contest, Pepsi is using a little star power from artists The All-American Rejects, Big & Rich and Pharrell Williams. The musicians have created their own designs for Pepsi that will be distributed in the coming months, the company said. Each can will feature a Web site that will offer exclusive footage and details on new projects.
Online materials, e-mail blasts, out-of-home billboards and outreach to graphic design schools support the contest. Tribal DDB manages the online elements; TracyLocke & Hollywood Highlands handle the billboards.
Sister company Frito-Lay broke new ground into consumer-generated marketing last fall with a contest that invited people to create their own Super Bowl ad for the Doritos brand. Frito reviewed more than 1,000 contest entries.
