For many years, Pepsi has been building its brand in the Czech Republic through spectacular TV commercials with international celebrities like Britney Spears or David Beckham. So, not surprisingly, the brand often felt distant and not very relevant to young people.

Our campaign challenges young people to ‘refresh’ the world around them. We give young people a chance to create the new cultural icon of the Czech nation, making the Pepsi brand a part of modern street culture.

In 1910 Alfons Mucha, one of the greatest Czech artists in history, decided to paint “The Slavic Epopee”; a collection of 20 epic paintings telling the story of the Slavs, which took 18 years to complete. In 1928 it was proudly revealed to the nation. For Czechs “The Slavic Epopee” carries a great historical legacy, it has become part of the national identity.

But how do young people today see this great legacy? Is the message of Mucha’s Epopee still valid? Or does it need refreshing? We asked 20 young painters, street artists, photographers and designers to create the New Slavic Epopee. Each artist took an original Mucha painting and refreshed it according to the way he or she saw the issues facing young people today.

In October 2011 the New Slavic Epopee was revealed at Designblok, the biggest week of design in the Czech Republic.

During the week of Designblok show, more than 40,000 visitors saw our exhibit. The New Slavic Epopee instantly become one of the most visited expositions and was voted as one of the best exhibits of the whole show.A campaign that cost only €20,000 had a major impact on our core target- young Opinion Leaders. Brand tracking showed that the attribute “for people like me” has gone up by incredible 146% and “Pepsi as a preferred brand” by 183%.Most importantly, we did not just make an advertising campaign aimed at young people, we gave them a chance to create a legacy of their own: The New Slavic Epopee.