Pepsi’s Millennial Message Goes International

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Today’s Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Akanksha Aurora who weighs in on Pepsi’s latest marketing campaign in India. Similar to recent efforts by Pepsi in the States, the brand’s marketing team has been reaching out to millennials with a message of optimism. I’ll let Akanksha take it from here… Remember, you can communicate directly with the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com.

Pepsi’s Millennial Message Goes International

The youth of Hindustan — better known across the world as India — has been enthralled by Pepsi’s star-studded Youngistaan campaign. Launched in 2008, Pepsi gave India’s youth an opportunity to voice our opinions on an international platform by conducting surveys and and encouraging video responses. This was then followed by a series of ads that addressed youth-oriented pro-social issues such as bullying and youth causes mentioned in the survey. By allowing us to speak our minds it really won our hearts!

Without making us feel like too much of a target, the campaign allowed us to define the concept of Youngistaan by asking what it meant to be us.

The first ad featured Bollywood idols and popular debutantes Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone as well as an all-time favorite of mine, Shahrukh Khan, better known as the King of Bollywood, and a perennial favorite. Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone became an instant hit with young people after their debut movies. Although neither of the two appeared in films with youth-centric themes, their attractiveness and magnetic personalities made them instant youth icons.

This campaign made us realize our potential as the youth of India –the largest youth population in the world. It created an aura of optimism, enthusiasm and adrenaline with its catchy slogan “yeh hai youngistaan meri jaan”. [translation: this is youngistaan, my life!]

The suffix “stan” could have been referring to a planet or a place, but the campaign used it to represent a state of mind. To me, it presented Indian youth in a refreshingly new and unique light. It celebrated our attitude and optimism without branding us or trying to bracket us into any single category. With its versatility and many possible interpretations, every single one of us could feel proud to be a Youngistaani.

About Akanksha
By the time she got to the much-dreaded, self-esteem destroying wasteland also known as high-school, Akanksha began to develop an interest in writing. Suddenly, all the words she ever knew began to creep into her dreams, and discover all her darkest thoughts and feelings, before silently but permanently immersing themselves within her soul and transforming themselves into fiction. In addition to that, the French language is her drug and acne is her worst enemy. She laughs a little too much and is a romantic in the extreme sense.

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Categorized under: Youth Advisory Board

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