Speaking to an audience of digital out-of-home executives at the DPAA Summit this week, Pepsi CMO Todd Kaplan revealed the 125-year-old brand’s secret to remaining fresh, relevant and connected to younger audiences: a culture-first style of brand building.

“We don't chase trends. We chase consumers,” he told the crowd. But that also entails understanding why people are gravitating toward a particular platform, area or space. “At the end of the day, if that's where consumers are spending their time, let's try to understand it. It's not a matter of just being there and throwing an ad in their face when they're doing the trend. It's about endemically understanding what that is about, and why consumers are spending so much time [there].”

Pepsi has begun to embrace two fundamental things to support its culture-first approach, Kaplan said. The first is moving beyond the world of paid media and leaning into earned and organic social. The second: “a creative idea doesn't always have to be an ad.” And the manifestation of the two he calls a “culture bomb.”

“We build a creative idea that's specifically designed to create a ripple of earned media and digital organic discussion. And then we drop it like a bomb, and see it ripple through culture,” Kaplan said. “That's something that we don't put a lot of paid media behind. It doesn't cost a lot of money, but it's something that we've really started to craft over the years and generate a lot of talk and value for our category, for our brand.”

Here's his perspective on what constitutes modern-day brand building, how companies can navigate today’s fragmented media landscape, and real-world examples of how Pepsi is applying these strategies through products, content, ideas and experiences.

Also at the summit, Mastercard’s VP of Global Media Traci Spiegelman shared how the brand connects with audiences through sponsorships; the challenges it faces amid a cluttered media landscape; the evolution of its 25-year-long Priceless campaign; and recent purpose-driven marketing initiatives.

Until next week,

Kaylee Hultgren
Editor
Chief Marketer

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