Brief:

• Pepsi is sponsoring a virtual hip-hop competition on video-sharing app Triller to promote its wild cherry-flavored cola. The soda brand is collaborating with rapper Fat Joe on the "Your Wildest Dreams" contest, which will give the winner a spot in a Pepsi Wild Cherry commercial next year, per according to a company announcement.
• Aspiring artists can upload their video auditions using the Pepsi Wild Cherry #YourWildestDreams filter and hashtag by Dec. 15. Fans who don't want to enter the contest can submit videos for a chance to win weekly prizes including $250 gift cards for streetwear brands.
• Culminating Pepsi's campaign, the top three finalists will compete in a livestreamed event from the Triller House in Atlanta, one of the collaboration houses the video-sharing app created for social influencers to produce content. In addition to Fat Joe, producer Quay Global, on-air personality Kenny Burns and rap artists Mike WiLL Made-It and Mulatto will appear on a judges panel to help select a winner. In addition, the soda brand will run "Pepsi Live" performances by emerging artists filmed at the Triller House throughout the competition.

Insight:

Pepsi aims to reach a younger audience by sponsoring a hip-hop contest on Triller, the music video app that's emerging as a rival to TikTok. The virtual competition is a twist on popular reality shows like "American Idol" and "The Voice" that run on network TV, except that Pepsi seeks to engage people on their smartphones. The soda giant is giving people an incentive to participate in its campaign, even if they don't want to enter the contest, by offering weekly prizes such as the gift cards for streetwear. By asking people to share their auditions on Triller, Pepsi can extend its reach as others watch the videos and submit their own. The competition show is another sign that brands have ramped up their collaborations with hip-hop performers to reach broader audiences.

For Triller, the "Your Wildest Dreams" show can help to boost downloads as the app seeks to take on its bigger rival, TikTok. The social video app has worked to avoid being banned in the U.S. because of national security concerns related to parent company ByteDance, the Chinese company caught in the political crossfire between the U.S. and China. As TikTok faces the threat of a U.S. ban, rivals like Triller have boosted their market share this year. TikTok's rivals captured 44% of the market for video-sharing apps in August, up from 24% in January, Sensor Tower research found.

Amid the growth in its audience, Triller has sought to monetize its platform by offering more ways for marketers to buy ads. The company in October partnered with advertising technology startup Consumable to sell programmatic ads between short-form videos. Consumable's platform pairs videos with digital display and video ads, seek to catch the attention of consumers whose limited attention spans make them difficult to engage. To help advertisers measure the effect of influencer campaigns on foot traffic, in-store sales and TV tune-in, Triller last month selected Influential as its influencer measurement and social data provider.

Pepsi's sponsorship of "Your Wildest Dreams" follows the brand's other recent efforts to engage consumers on social sites. With many people preparing Thanksgiving dinners for the first time while avoiding contact with friends and family during the pandemic, Pepsi last month promoted its apple pie-flavored cola with a social media challenge. The soft-drink brand asked people to share pictures and videos of their unsuccessful attempts at baking dessert on Twitter or TikTok for a chance to win a free bottle of Pepsi Apple Pie.