How PepsiCo makes winning Super Bowl ads time and again

PepsiCo uses an iterative approach to development, getting consumer feedback on creative early on. This approach of learning and optimizing early has proven to significantly increase the creative impact and ROI of Pepsi’s advertising across the board. 

Typically, PepsiCo’s teams first develop several alternative animatics to bring their story to life in different ways. Then they research the animatics with consumers using the Zappi Amplify Ad System. Robust analytics such as second-by-second emotional response and detailed consumer feedback help the teams to identify which parts of the  creative are more powerful so they can dial them up, and which resonate less and might need cutting or changing. 

Let’s take a look at three examples of this approach in action.

Research indicated that consumers easily understood and appreciated the distinctiveness of the idea and they loved the way the product truth of leaving orange dust on fingers was brought to life. The four ads came in the top third of all ads tested for their creative impact, ability to drive immediate sales, and their potential to drive longer term impact on the Cheetos brand. 

Through the second-by-second emoji analysis and open responses for all four ads, the team identified the opportunities for optimization. They were able to retain the most humorous and emotive creative elements from each of the four versions — like putting MC Hammer’s face on a baby — and bring them together into a captivating story arc. 

The final creative then struck the right balance of humor and cultural sensitivity, and produced happiness, love and laughter throughout. Read more about this ad in our full case study.

The animatics had high potential to drive short and long term sales. They had the ability to stand out, were highly distinctive, and easily cued the Lay's brand. Yet there were clear opportunities to make the ad more engaging and faster-paced. Consumers indicated which jokes didn’t land well and where music might be needed. 

The team worked with the creative agency to dial up the fun and surprising elements, and make the story more emotive. While keeping the format and the role of the Lay’s brand across the memories, they brought in new, more entertaining stories. From the second-by-second emotional responses the team could see that memories featuring both actors together elicited more positive emotional responses than the individual ones, so they focused there.

With these changes in place, the team arrived at a highly entertaining final creative that elicited 20% more positive emotions than the animatic, without losing the strong brand recall and distinctiveness.

Both versions with animals showed potential for high creative impact, landing in the top 20% of all ads in the database. The stronger of the two versions was used as the basis for the final creative. 

Research showed many strengths in the way this version communicated the flamin’ hot flavor — through the music, the animals and their funny reactions. But message clarity was an area to optimize. The second-by-second emotional reactions showed that the intensity of emotions was relatively low in the last five seconds, which was the part that communicated the key message “Flamin’ Hot unleashes your wild side.” It also showed that scenes with animals moving to the beats of the song were the most entertaining. 

The last few seconds of the commercial were reworked. Instead of a sloth slowly putting a flamin’ hot Doritos in his mouth, the final ad features a dancing meerkat followed by the key message, which is reinforced in the last seconds with the animals partying. This made the final creative even stronger — landing the key messages and ending on an emotional high.