Saumya Rathor on Pepsi’s HUEMN connection & being a culture curator

HUEMN, an award winning RTW fashion label, recently collaborated with Pepsi to celebrate the empowerment of the youth of India with confidence. Over the years, Pepsi has been fortifying its youth-centric strategy with various campaigns as well as strategic associations.

HUEMN is homegrown in India and retails in India, Middle-East, China, Japan, Europe and the Americas. The brand completed 10 years recently and celebrated it with a fashion event to showcase its latest collection. The brand roped in Sara Ali Khan as their showstopper.

In conversation with Adgully, Saumya Rathor, Category Lead, Pepsi Cola, PepsiCo India, speaks about the beverage brand’s association with HUEMN, marketing strategies targeted at the youth, being a culture curator, Pepsi’s irreverent SWAG philosophy, and more.

What are Pepsi’s marketing plans to reach Gen Z consumers with focus on the new collection?

Pepsi, a brand that fosters culture, is collaborating with the fashion brand HUEMN on their newest collection to celebrate the spirit of the younger generation. Pepsi is a brand that has always resonated with the voice of today’s generation. This new generation carries swag and an inherent confidence in their own abilities. They are not afraid to express themselves, and fashion has always been an important tool through which youth can express their identities. As a result, this collaboration with HUEMN to launch this new collection celebrates this very philosophy of empowering the youth of India with self-expression, confidence, and a whole lot of swag.

From the design aesthetics of our collection to our showstopper Sara Ali Khan, herself a Gen Z, who is not only a youth icon but also an embodiment of Pepsi’s irreverent SWAG philosophy, everything contributes to our marketing strategy, which is focused to deepen our connection with the young generation.

How is this collaboration with HUEMN going to reflect the philosophies of both the brands?

While Pepsi has always been a culture curator, with a finger of the pulse of the youth of India, HUEMN has been a young homegrown brand, which has championed streetwear for the new generation. Our shared brand philosophy has always been rooted in empowering the youth with confidence, self-expression, and inclusivity for the longest of time. Hence, the integration of Pepsi’s iconic legacy with the excellent design sensibilities and aesthetics of HUEMN was seamless and we are very excited for this collection to reach our consumers.

How does Pepsi find avenues to reach out to its consumers across the year with collaborations and campaigns targeted towards the youth?

Pepsi has always had its finger on the pulse of pop culture. Extensive consumer research over the years has helped us stay ahead of the curve and activate storytelling that resonates with the youth. With content consumption increasingly shifting to digital media, leveraging topicality through fixed and fluid moments is very important to be relevant to consumers. Brands need to have unique insights along with interesting and actionable content to be able to communicate with their audiences, especially the new generation who believes in original ideas, snackable content and visuals. To that end, Pepsi has identified passion points such as Bollywood, fashion, and music to connect with the SWAG generation. At Pepsi, we are committed to bring forth ground-breaking narratives to further strengthen our connection with the youth of India.

What were the other successful collaborations and campaigns for Pepsi in 2022?

We have always endeavoured to redefine narratives in the marketing space with something never-seen-before. Right from the beginning of this year, we aimed to bring forward a compelling storyline that not only amplified Pepsi’s new ‘More Refreshing’ messaging, but was also underpinned by technology to capitalise on the youth’s growing dependence on technology. We used quirky and humorous content strategies to foster connections with the brand’s young audience, and our ‘More Refreshing’ campaign has also stemmed from this insight. Our goal with the launch of ‘Pepsi Black Zero Sugar’ was to address the evolving health-conscious Gen Z preferences.

As a brand, Pepsi has always been at the forefront of cultural evolutions, globally as well as in India. Our endeavour is to transform our communications to align with the evolving youth. Pepsi has always been a brand with a strong heritage in pop culture, so it was only fitting for us to bring that legacy into the new world of NFTs. Inspired by the brand philosophy of Pepsi Black, our recent ‘Pepsi Black Zero Sugar’ NFT collection was an ode to the younger generation who are deeply entrenched in technology. The NFT art collectibles were centred around the classic Pepsi Black ‘Zero’ visual, with designs around the ‘Zero’ inspired from varied consumer passion points such as rhythm, movement, etc.

How was the year 2022 for Pepsi from a brand marketing perspective?

Pepsi, as a brand, has always been a culture curator and has always endeavoured to bring entertaining campaigns for its consumers through the power of creative storytelling. With the acceleration of digitalization, the trends are evolving to accommodate virtual experiences which mirror reality coupled with a consistent metamorphosis of consumer preferences and requirements. In line with this, we have also evolved, customised, and personalised our marketing initiatives and communications this year to best suit the expectations and preferences of our consumers.

Our innovative and experimental narratives this year have been a testament to our evolving brand marketing strategy, from the industry-first use of ‘Deepfake’ technology in our ‘More Fizz More Refreshing’ campaign to our foray into the world of Non-Fungible-Tokens through our ‘Pepsi Black Zero Sugar’ collection.

What new collaborations can we expect from Pepsi in 2023?

We will continue to do bold, brave, and disruptive campaigns to push the envelope of creativity in the marketing and advertising space in India. While we do not provide forward guidance, we will let you know as soon as we firm our plans and get ready to make an announcement.