With a legacy of producing disruptive narratives, Pepsi® has always made its mark in step with popular culture and passion points such as music, dance, art, and interactive environments. Likewise, the design strategy for Pepsi has also made a significant shift to meet the accelerating demands of a digital-forward and social media-savvy world. To authentically connect with younger generations and further the mission of Pepsi to create a culture that promotes innovation, self-expression, and evolution, the brand’s design sensibilities have also evolved with the changing cultural landscape.
In 2022, the brand relaunched Pepsi® Black™ with a new packaging design and corresponding 360-degree campaign. The launch of the first Pepsi Black Zero Sugar NFT collection is another forward-thinking step in this direction. Looking at the popularity of current metaverse trends, Pepsi® wanted to create a communication touchpoint for metaverse consumers that would be anchored on the key proposition of Zero Sugar for future generations.
With the Pepsi Black Zero Sugar philosophy at its core, the Design Team created a set of 22 NFTs minted on the Polygon blockchain. Rooted in the brand beliefs, this is a series of collectible 3D art NFTs that speak directly to and connect with young Pepsi consumers. The design strategy included representing all seven passion points of the Pepsi brand executed in an appealing aesthetic for NFT collectors. The NFT art collectibles center on alterations of the classic Pepsi Black Zero Sugar visual, portraying poignant nuances of the brand passions, such as sustainability, rhythm, movement, creativity, art, and the progressing world of social media and gamification. Each piece visually captures the essence of the represented genres, including detailed elements such as fabric for fashion, soundbars for music, and moving blocks for games.
With three variations of each theme and four variations inspired by music, the Pepsi Black Zero Sugar NFT collection was listed on Open Sea, the world’s largest web3 marketplace for NFTs and crypto collectibles. The NFTs were given away free of cost to the winners of the #PepsiBlackeffect challenge conducted on the homegrown Indian social media platform, Moj. Consumers could enter the contest using the quirky Pepsi Black lens and flaunt their “max SWAG” personas for a chance to win. The NFT launch was met with excitement and consumer engagement with the contest was massive, with 1B total views and 317K posts of user-generated content created to win the brand’s first-ever NFTs.
Category:Graphic DesignYear:2023Designer:PepsiCo Design & Innovation, PepsiCo, New York, New York, USAManufacturer:PepsiCo, New York, New York, USA