First things first, Triller is a social video app that is gaining acceptance as an alternative to TikTok. The app was created in the U.S. and just like TikTok, it is an upcoming hub for content creators to participate in branding and influencer marketing. Triller is positioning itself as a brand lab for promoting new products through influencer marketing and for introducing new trends for Gen Z youths and millennials. In an attempt to attract brands, Triller has launched Crosshype, a cool feature that allows brands or agencies to discover all the suitable influencers on the platform. One such brand that has used Triller in the best way possible is Pepsi. It launched a music competition where aspiring music artists could contest and get discovered using the hashtag #YourWildestDreams on Thriller.

What was Pepsi’s influencer marketing on Triller all about?

Pepsi threw a magnificent “Your Wildest Dreams” concert on Triller’s social media platform in 2020. Star musicians such as Chance the Rapper, Ava Max, Demi Lovato, and Chloe x Halle actively participated in the music event. Being a music-first platform, Triller was perhaps the perfect candidate to use for this ad campaign. This was a virtual visual audio streaming concert made live on Triller all over the world. It was one of Pepsi’s first-ever social media music competitions in partnership with Rock the Vote. The partner organization, Rock the Vote is a non-profit organization that empowers American youths in the U.S. to vote during election time. 

More Details About The Pepsi-Triller Campaign:

Background

At around the time of September 2020, the decision to do some promotional content. Influencers began to urge participants to make their own music tone, lyrics, and stage performance or dance. Each influencer’s post was required to include the hashtags #YourWildestDreams or #PepsiWildCherry to invite people to join the music competition. The campaign started just like the usual way American Idol kicks off. Over 6 weeks, interested ones will get registered and upload their video auditions using the Pepsi Wild Cherry hashtag and filter on or before December 15, 2020. 

The contestants are then selected by a panel of judges in different stations all over the country. Thereafter passing the first two selection phases the chosen ones are allowed to perform at the Triller House in downtown Atlanta. The finalists and the subsequent winner will receive mentorship from some of the top artists in the music industry and do a live stream performance of their song on Thriller. Additionally, the winner of the competition will be featured in the Pepsi Wild Cherry ad commercial. Fans who did not enter the contest can still submit their custom music videos for a chance to win a $250 gift prize.

Aim & Objective

The essence of their involvement in all these is to keep their brand presence noticeable as the frontiers of music and pop culture. Here is how it went down – Pepsi displayed their soft drinks to customers; there was sheer awareness to the young audience to “rock the electoral votes”; and some of the same audience chose to walk their road to fame by participating in the music competition. The objective of the campaign was to advertise Pepsi cola drinks using a music promotion form of marketing approach.

Strategic Approach

From the hashtag #YourWildestDreams, you may notice that Pepsi is selling youngsters on the idea that anyone can start from nothing and make it to fame. This strategic approach has been perceived to follow the same methodology brand sponsors used in the American Idol, The Voice, and America Got Talent. In this very specific campaign, some influencers focused on spreading the word, while others were engaged in singing, or lip-singing to a beat while performing and dancing. Hip-hop played the biggest role in the ad campaign and as a result, it brought many youths together.

There is no doubt that the #YourWildestDreams Pepsi ad campaign wasn’t done just for inspiration but also for increased sales and profit. That is why, for every user-generated music video, Pepsi is receiving free advertising from hashtags and filters.

Influencers Who Actively Participated

Several Triller influencers and celebrities including nano and mid-tier influencers were invited by Pepsi to participate in the Hip-hop contest. There were over 20 hip-hop influencers, all of which were well-known on other social media platforms. Star musicians such as Chance the Rapper, Ava Max, Demi Lovato, and Chloe x Halle actively participated in the music event. The retired music artist Fat Joe was the lead judge. Moreover, TV personality Kenny Burns and rappers Mike WiLL Made-It and Mulatto were part of the panel of judges. They crowned T-Lyon as the winner of the entire competition, awarding him the chance to chase his ‘wildest dreams’ after he was projected as the face of the Pepsi commercial in early 2021.

Pepsi’s Triller Case Study Results

Below are the results according to MediaKix.

Combined Social Reach of Pepsi:

Total number of sponsored posts: 56

Triller followers targeted: 1,464,206

Engagement:

Likes: 20,636

Comments: 1,012

Engagement rate (overall average): 0.13%

Views: 16,720,400

Total Hashtag Views (#YourWildestDreams #PepsiWildCherry): 74.4 million

The engagement on this influencer marketing was incredible but in-depth analysis reveals that the engagement rates of some of the influencers were shagging. Thus, such influencers did a sort of ‘hit-or-miss’ strategy of posting multiple times to increase their odds of success.

Interestingly, many of the top trending posts under the hashtag #YourWildestDreams were from some of the participants. This attracts the family, friends, and acquaintances of participants to view the posts on such a new app as Thriller. This provided small upcoming artists the social platform to be able to rise to fame. Furthermore, to be able to rank high on search results under the hashtag if they produce fun content. For example, the Artist Jufu trended with his song “Who Are You” which had more than 500k posts and reposts of the song, its energetic beat, and numerous videos that applied the tune.

Takeaway Lessons

1. The Creative Use Of Competitions, Giveaways, And/Or Sweepstakes Can Drive Influencer Marketing To Huge Success.

Many influencer marketing case studies profit from their campaigns across all market niches. Check out some of such influencer marketing case studies below

• The influencer marketing case study of Lays #SmileDekeDekho
• Case Study Of Sleepwell’s Influencer Marketing Campaign Strategy In India for 2021

2. Pepsi leveraged the use of Triller which is a smaller platform with less competition to generate a higher engagement rate.

If, for example, the same music contest was done on Instagram or Facebook live video, smaller artists may not have had much breathing space due to how saturated and competitive such social platforms are. The smart thing Pepsi did was to incorporate nano and mid-tier influencers. They already had followings in various channels and some more attention to the Triller app. For example, Montana Tucker who has a measure of experience and social media followings was invited to do her dance performance to the song ‘Body’ by Megan Thee Stallion. Montana, as a mid-tier influencer, increased their followings even further by dancing across Hollywood Boulevard with a shining stack of Pepsi in her arms and posting it on Instagram Reel to make it ‘viral’.

3. They used what was deeply desired by the target audience as a hook.

For too many young ones between the ages of 8-26, music has a special seat in their daily life. This influencer marketing case study teaches us one thing. Using trending music within a sponsored post is an effective way to capture new audiences. Marketers must learn to use what is deeply desired by the target audience as a hook in their advert content.

4. Pepsi always engages with its consumers where they are found

The brand’s effort to follow the trend and meet consumers where they would be found (social media sites) is a worthwhile lesson. In the early 2000s, they promoted their products mostly on television, street banners, and at times on internet blogs. For the 2010s, they took all their ad promotions to the internet especially YouTube, social media apps, and online ads. In the present years of the 2020s, they are still engaging with their consumers online and keeping up with trends to evolve whenever the trend evolves.

5. Pepsi created a win-win scenario deal with all partners involved

As aforementioned, Pepsi partnered with Rock the Vote and Triller to make the campaign happen. The soda brand, Pepsi took advantage of the Croshype feature on Triller and the fact that content on this platform is more easily shareable to reach new audiences organically. On Triller, users can’t only view the sponsored post but also interact with the featured music to reproduce their creative version. Hence, for every user-generated music video shared, Pepsi is receiving free advertising from the hashtags and Triller is getting more publicity. In other words, Pepsi displays their soft drinks to customers; there is widespread awareness among the young audience about the non-profit organization “Rock the Votes”; and Triller gets more and more visitors who will download the app to view the hip-hop contest.

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Hobo.Video is a video app similar to Triller. The main difference is that Hobo.Video is also an ecommerce platform, harnessing the increasing popularity of short videos. Here, brands and influencers have a chance to collaborate. Our incentive benefits allow both brands and influencers to earn high and increase their market presence. Hop on to the new influencer marketing trend by joining us. Learn more about us here.