Inside Pepsi’s pop-up diner in New York

Pepsi on Friday opened the doors to the Pepsi 125 Diner, a pop-up restaurant in New York that doubled as a tribute to the brand’s history as an advertiser—and as an advertisement in itself. The space—located in the SoHo neighborhood at 477 Broadway—was created to celebrate the brand’s 125th anniversary and show off Pepsi’s new logo. It features sets from classic commercials, Instagram-ready displays of brand memorabilia and a booth resurrecting the “Pepsi Challenge,” all bathed in a bluish light. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Diners are served food that feature Pepsi as an ingredient, from Pepsi-flavored bacon to “Colachup,” the Pepsi-infused ketchup the brand rolled out this summer to accompany a hot dog promotion. Beverage choices include out-of-circulation classics such as Crystal Pepsi, Pepsi-Cola Maple Syrup and Pepsi Blue. Read more: Pepsi CMO on the cola’s 125th anniversary marketing The restaurant features an appetizer, entrée and dessert for $50 (bar drinks are extra), and will do two seatings a night over 10 days. There’s an opportunity to do more, perhaps in other cities. The New York pop-up is sold out and has 17,000 people on the waiting list, said Todd Kaplan, chief marketing officer of Pepsi. “Consumers are looking for immersive experiences,” Kaplan said in an interview at last week’s opening event. “Having the ability to spend two or three hours with a brand—how does that feel? What does it taste like? We think that experience will really help deepen our connections. We also hope to generate a good amount of talk value.” While big events like the diner are just a sliver of Pepsi’s overall marketing mix, they help distinguish the brand—and that can aid consumers who are “overwhelmed” with messages today, Kaplan said. “You’ve got every song ever recorded on your phone, and you don’t know what to listen to. There’s every show on your streaming device and you don’t know what to watch. You can order any cuisine, but you don’t know what to get for delivery. Consumers have this always-on, on-demand access which is such an amazing thing in the time we live in today, but it can be quite overwhelming to have that infinite amount of choice,” Kaplan said. “Brands can play the role of helping consumers make quicker choices in that context of consumers overwhelmed with messages,” Kaplan continued. “It’s important not just to serve messages to them that are relevant and interesting, but to have experiences like we’re having today, which is an opt-in brand experience. People chose to come here and spend a few hours with our brand, trying our food, seeing the experiences—it’s something that’s a really great way to brand build with the people who want to be with you, and deepen the connection with the people who value you the most.” The Pepsi Challenge, a 1970s and ’80s campaign that took on Coca-Cola in a blind taste test, helped to forge Pepsi’s reputation as a challenger brand. Today, said Kaplan, “the challenger brand is more of a challenger mindset. It has nothing to do with market share; it has to do with our mindset and approach.” Read more about challenger brands “Pepsi’s always been a challenger brand, we’ve even challenged convention,” Kaplan continued. “We invented the radio jingle, we were the first brand to do skywriting. We created the diet cola category. We have had a lot of firsts and we continue to push and try new things as a brand. That’s the challenger mindset that comes through in this diner experience.” Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 Ad spending, rankings and analysis for the top 100 advertisers Click here

Inside Pepsi’s pop-up diner in New York

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