Pepsi & Milk? A TikTok Success Story
We turned internet lore into reality by harnessing the power of TikTok. Spending my college years out in Utah, I have always loved unique soda combinations, but I have a special affinity for adding cream! During the summer of 2022, the Utah born “Dirty Soda” trend took off online. We knew the practice of adding dairy and flavors to sodas like Pepsi would be engagement GOLD, especially because a small, yet vocal, community of Pepsi + Milk fans already existed.
Our first Pilk TikTok garnered 1M+ views, 87k likes, and 2.6k comments—all organic. We built on this momentum, extending the Pilk concept to more TikToks and other platforms. Together with Pepsi, we saw our TikTok campaign as what could be a catalyst for the entirety of their Holiday messaging. Pilk and cookies sure has a ring to it. We were right!
The TikTok that Started it All
In order to test our hypothesis, I wanted to tap into an additional trend: having words appear on a cup when a lighter liquid was added. This visual device combined with the unique flavor combo stopped thumbs and brought them to our comment section.
Pepsi’s Holiday Hero 0:30
The Today Show
Circling back to TikTok
Paired with the Holiday TVC, these videos helped round out the campaign back on TikTok, capturing attention and successfully encouraging people to try it for themselves.
Credits
My Role: Art Director (Taylor Whitlock Smith)
Creative Director, Art: Felipe Pavani
Creative Director, Copy: Andre Bittar
Copywriter: Carrie Zettler
This campaign was in partnership with PepsiCo’s in house creative department as well as production partner Direct Focus. After initial success on TikTok, the concept was passed on to PepsiCo’s internal team to produce the videos with Lindsay, with Vayner owning the social components.