The Crystal Pepsi Trail
- Brand
- Pepsi
- Year
- 2017
- Objective
- Product launch
- Industry
- Food & drink
- Mechanic
- Runner
- Agency
- Barbarian
Objective
PepsiCo aimed to generate nostalgia-driven buzz around the return of Crystal Pepsi, a discontinued 1990s soft drink being relaunched to shelves. The campaign needed to create viral engagement and social conversation while introducing the product to both original consumers and new audiences through an entertaining, shareable interactive experience.
Solution
The Barbarian Group created an Oregon Trail-inspired web game hosted on CrystalPepsi.net, a retro 90s-themed microsite featuring '90s aesthetic elements like webrings and marquees. Players guided a wood-paneled station wagon (instead of a traditional wagon) across the trail, with Marc Summers as guide and references like 'your Tamagotchi has died of dysentery.' The experience integrated period-accurate brand partnerships (JNCO Jeans, Tamagotchi, Hasbro, Creepy Crawlers, Bedazzler) and required roughly 8 minutes of gameplay to earn an entry into a sweepstakes. Winners received a six-pack of the newly released Crystal Pepsi.
Results
The campaign generated approximately 130,000 social media mentions and 300 million impressions. It was a finalist in the Gamification category at the 9th Annual Shorty Awards.
