Pepsi, Twitter Ink Yearlong Deal

Twitter has inked its most extensive partnership to date, this one with Pepsi. The global partnership, dubbed "Live for Now Music," coordinates with Pepsi's current campaign and new global positioning. It will span 52 weeks. The program, which has been in the works since late last year, has three aspects and relies heavily on video, both live streaming and original content. Mr. Bain said the program does not require Twitter to make any updates to its platform. Pop-up concerts will be held in small venues around the country beginning at the end of June. They will be announced on Twitter one to two weeks in advance and will be streamed live on the platform through the @Pepsi handle. Twitter users will also be able to influence song choices at the concerts. Shiv Singh, global head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages, says the concerts are meant to be "spontaneous." He declined to comment on artists that will be featured. The brand also will be working with Twitter to determine trending topics related to music by analyzing the platform's hundreds of millions of tweets. Those topics will be compiled into a short, weekly video digest, which will be embedded on Pepsi's Twitter page every Wednesday. Finally, the brand will give away free music downloads via its @Pepsi handle. Pepsi plans to use Twitter's ad products -- Mr. Singh says they have worked "very well" in the past -- to draw attention to "Live for Now Music." "This further reinforces Pepsi's position as being a curator, sponsor, creator, supporter and participant in pop culture and music, specifically," said Mr. Singh. Mr. Bain said "Live for Now Music" is the second program to come out of the relatively young brand-strategy group, which is run by Joel Lunenfeld. Mr. Lunenfeld joined Twitter less than a year ago from Atlanta-based digital agency Moxie Interactive, where he was CEO. The first program to come out of the group was the AmEx Twitter Sync Campaign, launched at this year's South by Southwest Interactive. Mr. Bain wouldn't discuss how lucrative these types of partnerships are for the six-year-old platform, saying only, "We'd like to do more deals like this. ... Any opportunity to get strategic with a marketer and agency is rare." Pepsi isn't the only one getting strategic with a popular digital platform. Rival Coca-Cola announced a global partnership with Spotify in April. The music-streaming service will be the centerpiece of Coca-Cola's "Year of Music" campaign in 2013.

Pepsi, Twitter Ink Yearlong Deal

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