Pepsi woos millennials this summer with Swag campaign

New Delhi: Swag, the four letter pop-culture word which represent the confident young millennial generation, has become Pepsi's advertising lingo this summer.

The beverage brand from PepsiCo India stable has launched a high-decibel summer campaign 'Har ghoont mein swag' (loosely translated to swag in every gulp of the drink) targetting millennials highlighting their attitude of self-belief which leads to self confident actions.

Created by advertising agency Wunderman Thompson, the ad features a young college student who stands up to the principal who has imposed a strict dress code in the campus. The film highlights how millennials are taking on the arbitrary rules imposed on them albeit with a hint of swag.

Tarun Bhagat, director-marketing, Hydration and Cola, PepsiCo India said that their consumer research pointed out that the Indian youth has never been more confident and aspirational as they are now but at the same time, they are effortless and armed with self-belief.

"They know that they no longer need to follow a set path to fit in. Through our conversations with consumers, we found that the one word that resonates most strongly with consumers is swag. It is a synonym for their confident spirit and is a sentiment which is prevalent in young consumers across the country," he said.

Pepsi’s targets Generation Z which the company defines as the consumers belonging in the age group of 18 and 24 years.

Apart from television, print, outdoor and digital Pepsi will leverage music (partnering with music reality show), cricket (during India vs Australia series) and Bollywood. The 360-degree marketing campaign will also activate ‘Away from Home’ (AFH) consumer hangouts such as Domino’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Subway and movie plex chain PVR. The new campaign will also see collaborations with popular actors Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani.

Noting that millennials pay attention to brands which have a personality and are speaking about the things which are most relevant to them, PepsiCo's Bhagat said that it is a generation which believes in strong, original ideas, snackable content and visuals.

"It’s not about being present everywhere anymore, rather it is about being present at the right moments," he added.

Last year, Pepsi brought lead actors of popular Hindi film franchise Fukrey for the summer campaign. Continuing its play in the fun packaging it created “Foodicon" bottles, which featured images of various street foods. We have chosen 35 food items popular among youth across regions from samosas, pakoras to momos. In 2017, the brand used colloquial pop-culture words in eight regional languages on its cans and PET bottles.

Like its previous campaigns, Pepsi will further amplify the concept of Swag through its packaging (bottles and cans) which will carry the new symbol representing the word.

Senthil Kumar, creative chief at Wunderman Thompson said, “Pepsi has always been the cult brand that creates and curates culture for the young and the restless with every new campaign. This new generation is armed with self-belief and Swag, read as effortless cool, in every step of their individual and collective journeys. This summer, Pepsi celebrates this bubbling self-belief and sizzling Swag of India’s young with the new campaign.”

Priya Gurnani, creative head at advertising agency Publicis Worldwide, Bengaluru, said using wit as an act of rebellion is a great story.

"It attacks the issues that the millennials face today intelligently. The ad builds up really well. My discomfort is with the way it leads to the brand. Is the plot hinting that like the protagonist had only one piece of clothing left to remove, the Pepsi bottle also had one sip left to be consumed? This isn’t clear," she said.