• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 22, 2019

Instagram is hot, so it’s a fitting partner for summer. 

Pepsi thinks so, anyway. The brand is leveraging the platform’s popularity by offering more than 200 customized augmented reality filters and stickers created with Instagram. 

The #Summergram campaign filters are accessible by scanning QR codes accompanying sassy summer-themed statements on the labels of more than 200 million Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Zero Sugar bottles in stores across the country during the summer months. 

The statements — “Call Me On My Shell Phone” and “Catching Rays,” for example — will also be featured on more than 30 million fountain cups in local restaurants and foodservice partners. 

The objective, of course, is to encourage consumers to use the QR codes to unlock the filters on Instagram Stories, apply them to their videos, and share them on social or add them to their Instagram Stories. 

To help drive sharing, Pepsi has enlisted two major social influencers, Chrissy Teigen and DJ Khaled. 

The brand is also offering Giphy stickers (available in the Instagram Story portal’s digital Giphy library) that can be shared in consumers' own Stories. 

Pepsi is promoting #Summergram — which uses the tagline “Grab Summer By the Bottle” — with a 15-second video (below) on its social channels. 

Beyond Instagram, the campaign boasts 25, 15-second TV/digital ads from VaynerMedia that spotlight the AR effects. At least one, #CabinCalling, has now bowed on TV. 

Pepsi has also invested in some 2,300 billboards in key markets around the country.   

To kick off the campaign, Pepsi yesterday hosted events in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami, featuring larger-than-life inflatable versions of characters appearing in the filters, including a flamingo and a crab. Teigen made an appearance at the New York event, which was set by Khaled. 

Acceleration handled PR and events, and ThinkMotive handled AR and was the AOR for program development.