Special Australia + The Glue Society make every Pepsi logo a portal into an alternative universe
Special Australia in collaboration with The Glue Society, has now transformed every Pepsi logo – on cans, on billboards, vending machines, in films, in social, anywhere.. into a portal to an alternative universe called the Pepsi-verse.
Simply hold a scanner on your phone up to any Pepsi logo to open a portal on screen in its place, then revealing a moment inside the Pepsi-Verse. As well as every logo becoming a bespoke media channel, in film, social and outdoor people will also be able to get various unusual glimpses into the universe – each one showing how things work there very differently and in an entertainingly better way. The Pepsi-verse is a wonderfully strange place where socks are never lost and Aliens don’t abduct you, they entertain you.
Says Vandita Pandey, CMO PepsiCo: “Pepsi Max is a brand that wants to be known for championing progressive and alternative thinking and this campaign is the perfect platform to do it. We are so excited to now create a whole universe of our own that literally lets us demonstrate the fun and positivity that comes from thinking about life in an alternative way.”
Says Julian Schreiber CCO/partner, Special: “It’s rare you get to say you’re excited to be creating an alternate reality, particularly one that transforms something as iconic as every Pepsi can and logo into a way of visiting it. Even the way the content for the universe has been created is very alternative in style from what you’ve ever seen before from the brand itself.”
Says Tom Martin, CCO/partner, Special: “And this is just the beginning of what people will see in the Pepsi-verse. People will see only some parts in their socials and on TV, but there’s bespoke content and digital experiences that you can only get by using the portal yourself.”
Content on television, cinema and social media will announce the new universe and the portal, inviting people to scan and search for more. And more fresh content and glimpses of the Pepsi-verse keep being launched, rewarding people for picking up a can and visiting the Pepsi-verse again and again.
To try out the scanner yourself with any Pepsi logo visit meanwhileinthepepsi-verse.com on your mobile device.
Special became PepsiCo’s lead agency of record last July following a fully competitive pitch. The brands they now work on include Pepsi Max, as well as a wider portfolio of brands.
Agency: Special Australia
CCO/ Partner: Julian Schreiber & Tom Martin
CEO/Partner: Lindsey Evans & Cade Heyde
CSO/Partner: Dave Hartmann
CD/Creatives: Toby Moore, Luke Thompson & Noah Regan
Designer: Bella Plush
Team Lead: Michelle Braslin
Business Director: Maddie Armstrong
Senior Producer: Bill Doig
Creative technologist: Laurent Marcus
Sevda Cemo _ Head of Film and Content Production
Paul Johnson _ Executive Producer
Nick Lilley _ Head of Stills & Digital Production
Sonia Ebrington _ Senior Integrated Producer
Steph Wilkinson _ Social Integrated Producer
Fraser Kelton_ Social Films Editor
James Simmons – Digital Director
Greg Thai – Digital Producer
Writers’ Room: Special x The Glue Society:
Tom Martin, Paul Bruty, Julian Schreiber, Pete Baker, Toby Moore, Millicent Malcolm, Luke Thompson, Luke Nuto, Bella Plush, Noah Regan, Jonathon Kneebone, Laurent Marcus
Production Company: Revolver
Directing Collective: The Glue Society
Directors: Paul Bruty, Luke Nuto & Millicent Malcolm
Managing Director/Co-Owner: Michael Ritchie
Executive Producer/ Partner: Pip Smart
Executive Producer: Jasmin Helliar
Producer: Nicole Crozier
Director of Photography: Dale Bremner
Production Designer: Damien Drew
Casting: Toni Higginbotham Casting
Wardrobe: Olivia Simpson
Post Production: The Glue Society Studios
Post Producer, Colourist, Animator, Online Compositor: Scott Stirling
Editor: Luke Crethar
Lead Animator & VFX Compositor: Svetoslav Atanasov
VFX Compositors: Andy Lion & Viv Baker
Digital Production Partner – Unbound
CMO Snacks & Beverages: Vandita Pandey
Head of Marketing Beverages: Tracy Hardwick
Marketing Lead: Jamie Bruce
Marketing Manager: Tiana Handel
Brand Manager: Candy Wong
Brand Manager: Anita Cheng
Consumer Insights Planner: Judith Meyers
33 Comments
My gosh that’s horrible. What a wasted opportunity and embarrassing moment for special
This is wild. Hats off for getting this up on Pepsi.
entering a cokehole
I’ve worked on Pepsi and to get this up is a massive testament to Special. They aren’t easy and this is a lot of fun. Nice one.
Got excited for this, put my camera up to the logo and then realised I had to go to a website to turn the Pepsi logo into a portal and bounced (too hard). Guess it was just a way for Special to do TV ads and pretend it was a digital idea.
Is that the award board on the press release? The films are really, truly, not good.
This is a fun idea but the low production value completely ruins it.
I get it that Lo Fi ironic is uber cool at the moment, but this just looks like a bunch of spec ads for a film course at Tafe.
HORRIFIC –
A massive pitch with the best agencies in the country to create this????
Special are better than this.
I read the press release, saw who was involved and was genuinely excited to pour some Pepsi on my whiskey. I watched the films and thought ‘What the fuck went wrong?’
This is right amount of silly and slick. When Coke is trying to own nothing but generic Gen z yoloing it’ll cut through. Nice one.
It’s like V Energy’s V Skills campaign, only 6 years later and without the purpose. Not that every campaign needs it, it’s just that these aren’t particularly entertaining either.
Attempting to rip a Signfield bizzaro world with straight and flat executions. Lol. Maybe you should have done the opposite. 5 outa 10.
Why do big brands always feel the need to pitch everything out?
Yeah m8888
Pepsi are tough. This is interesting. Nice on Special.
The website works really well surprisingly
It’s fun, could be worse
That’s a win.
Good one Millie & Co.
And props to all on having a writer’s room.
Well done Special. Especially great casting.
This is what happens when you bring your good ideas to bad clients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hYZaqYCZyQ
how many producers do you need to change a lightbulb?
Loved casting this job! Thank you again The Glue Society!
X
Love it!
Casting and creative is cool, but the shot composition is lame.
Go Bella!
Take another swill of that cola flavoured cool aid and you’ll be through the porthole in no time!
CRINGE!
You’re doing amazing sweetie <3
Given that leaving toxic comments on Campaign Brief is almost a full-time side hustle for many of my fellow ad-wankers I’m genuinelly surprised to see the flack this one is getting.
It’s fun as hell and tonally bang on for Pepsi. To be fair, the whole Rick and Morty-style multiverse gag is pretty well-worn territory at this point but the executions on this one save it for me. I dig.
It says a share in over 1M in prizes. Nothing but crappy videos. Your falling down again