Authenticity is the key for PepsiCo’s content creators
- 26 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Influencers often grumble about overly-prescriptive briefs from brands. Now PepsiCo has solid evidence that supports their complaints.
“We’ve done some experiments recently with content creators where we broke them up into three different groups and gave three different briefs,” explained chief creative officer Chris Bellinger at Google’s Cannes Lions press briefing on Monday.
One of the briefs was very prescriptive: “All your talking points: 17 pages of the things that you’re supposed to hear”. Another was completely open, inviting creators to say what they thought of the product, and the third was a “light-touch mix” between the two others.
“The content that is currently resonating, driving higher ROI and more view rates is the open-ended brief: just letting a content creator speak from their point of view, from their authentic voice,” Bellinger said.
Those given highly detailed briefs appeared very anxious, he said. “They’re just not working, because you can tell when a content creator is just reading from a script. Immediately your brain shuts off, because you no longer want to listen to them.”
Bellinger said that PepsiCo’s creative strategy has already shifted in this direction: “It’s putting the content creators at the forefront and our brands are along for the ride, instead of vice-versa.”
“We now have shifted the majority of our assets and resources towards influencer management relationships,” he said.
“You have to be a part of culture, you have to be a part of the conversation, and content creators is how you do that. Let’s be honest, everyone hates advertising!”
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