Photo: Unsplash
To highlight its 125th anniversary, Pepsi opened up a diner, Pepsi 125, from Oct. 19 to 25 in New York City that recreated the sets of some of the most memorable Pepsi commercials, highlighted Pepsi memorabilia, and served up meals infused with Pepsi flavors.
For a $50 entry fee, attendees first partook in the “Pepsi Challenge,” the nationwide promotion the brand ran in 1975 to allegedly show blind tastes that Pepsi tastes better than Coke.
Guests then traveled through a lavish neon archway to the Pepsi Museum, where they found Instagram-friendly photos featuring Pepsi’s history from movies and set recreations of famed commercials.
The Knockturnal wrote in a review, “For example, the iconic 1992 Pepsi commercial featuring Cindy Crawford, in which she is seen popping open a can of Pepsi by her red Lamborghini at the Halfway House gas station, as two awestruck young boys looked on, has been rebuilt just for the Pepsi 125. Guests can take photos and channel their inner supermodel like Crawford. Guests can also try on a gladiator helmet and hold a spear like Beyoncé, who starred in a Pepsi commercial with Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, and Pink in 2003.”
Next up is the Innovation Corner, where attendees sampled discontinued flavors and their brand campaigns, including Crystal Pepsi, Pepsi-Cola Soda Shop, and Pepsi Blue. Secret NYC stated, “If you’ve been craving a taste of nostalgia, this is the place for you.”
Finally, guests were seated at the Pepsi Diner, a red-and-blue, neon-themed space in classic diner décor. Building on the beverage brand’s recent “Better With Pepsi” campaign that highlights how Pepsi complements food, diners were served a full three-course meal, including macaroni and cheese with BBQ Pepsi-infused pulled pork, chicken & waffles topped with Pepsi-infused butter and Pepsi-infused maple syrup, and cheesecake drizzled with Pepsi Wild Cherry glaze.
Songs inspired by previous Pepsi-sponsored Super Bowl halftime shows and commercials played in the background.
The Pepsi Diner experience, which quickly sold out, also called out Pepsi’s updated logo and new packaging while marking the first of 125 days of consumer giveaways, activations, and surprises scheduled through the end of the year in honor of the anniversary.
When asked by Advertising Age about the diner activation, Pepsi’s Chief Marketing Officer Todd Kaplan said, “Diners are so intimately connected to Pepsi over the years and so many great Pepsi moments have started at diners, whether it’s our ‘Is Pepsi OK?’ Super Bowl spot, whether it's Michael J. Fox ordering a Pepsi in ‘Back to the Future,’ all the way to the ‘Cheeseburger Cheeseburger, guys on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ there are so many great moments that come from these Pepsi diners that is such a part of our brand that we thought what a better way to create an immersive experience around our brand’s history and bring to it to life, along with great iconic moments in music, in our advertising and our culinary food and beverage products as well.”
Pop-up diners have also supported activations this year for other brands, including Malibu Barbie Cafés opening in New York City and Chicago just prior to the Barbie movie release and the streetwear brand Billionaire Boys Club in early summer opening up a retro diner pop-up serving American-style food and beverages, alongside a gift shop, in Paris.
In September, Chanel brought a pink-themed diner experience to Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood that didn’t serve food but a wide range of photo-ops and 30-minute trials at booths of a new perfume.