Case Study: Tet-Themed Campaign Strikes A Sweet Spot For Pepsi In Vietnam

September 29, 2018

Leading up to the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) in mid-February this year, Pepsi’s marketing team faced an intense competition to engage consumers, particularly millennials, in the nation, as beverage brands went heavy with festive-themed campaigns.

With the majority of Vietnam’s population under 35, Pepsi decided to connect with digitally savvy millennials by flipping traditional Tet advertising—which tends to be mushy—on its head. But along with telling a more lighthearted and relatable story, the brand knew it was just as important to invest in the right channels to make sure the story reached consumers.

Pepsi learned that not only was the campaign a brand-building success, but working with analytics partner Kantar Millar Brown, it also gleaned invaluable insights on how to craft future digital campaigns in the market.

Putting a digital-era twist on Tet

Compared to previous generations, Vietnamese millennials don’t feel the same nostalgia about Tet. They’ve grown up with a flourishing economy and widespread online access, and as a result, they’re much more immersed in and engaged with the digital world. Long story short, traditional family gatherings are deemed boring to millennials. But in the eyes of their parents and grandparents, youngsters are missing out on the true meaning of Tet—gathering with loved ones—because they’re trapped in a digital “bubble.”

Based on that insight, Pepsi took a lighthearted approach to tell millennials that Tet’s true meaning remains about family and connection, but whether the holiday is exciting is ultimately up to them. If they think Tet is bland because it “lacks salt” (“thieu muoi,” a popular phrase in Vietnam), they should just “add salt” (“them muoi di”).

Compared to previous campaigns, the brand tried investing more heavily in YouTube to tap into the rise in watch time in Vietnam during the festival, and to see how much it could boost the brand’s reach beyond TV. Pepsi’s YouTube creative included a 30-second spot that was also featured on TV, three custom Mastheads, and a five-minute viral video featuring famous actress Ngoc Giau.

Breaking down each channel’s impact on brand metrics

To study each channel’s performance, Kantar Millward Brown conducted a CrossMedia^™ study of 1,000 carbonated soft drink consumers, aged 15–45, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Ultimately, the goal was to figure out where Pepsi’s ads were most effective—and efficient—based on consumers’ self-reported media consumption habits.

Based on the results, Pepsi could see how effective its digital ads—especially on YouTube—were in reaching younger consumers.

The brand also saw how YouTube worked as a valuable complement to TV, helping drive 13% incremental reach to light TV viewers (watch less than nine hours per week).

Pepsi’s YouTube-specific set of creative helped drive 34% of the campaign’s impact on awareness, 20% of its impact on association with Tet, and 13% of its impact on purchase motivation. And considering their individual cost for boosting brand metrics, YouTube and other digital ads were by far the most efficient.

Most notable to Pepsi was the fact that once Tet 2018 concluded, the brand significantly improved its top-of-mind awareness among Vietnamese consumers compared to 2017, edging them much closer to the top position in the soda war.

Lessons Learned

Pepsi’s marketing team chalked up the success of its Tet campaign to three crucial factors:

1) Tap into insights that make consumers tick.
When attention is at a premium, reaching your audience comes down to taking risks. By exploring a new insight—like the fading interest in traditional Tết celebrations among millennials—Pepsi was able to delight a younger audience with an entirely new, relatable story.

2) Complement traditional touchpoints with digital.
You know what reaches more people than just TV or YouTube alone? According to the research, using YouTube and TV in tandem does the trick. Pepsi used YouTube to both showcase its TV spot and take its storytelling even further with long-form creative that reinforced its key message.

3) Tell a consistent story across touchpoints.
With online and offline worlds getting more muddled every day, it’s important not to think about channels in siloes. Ads at each touchpoint should offer something new to grab attention while carrying a common thread that tells a consistent story, such as Pepsi’s digital “bubble” imagery and salty message.