The holidays are a time when people gather together to celebrate with food and moments of indulgence — but Pepsi isn’t always top of mind. In fact, our biggest competitor, Coca-Cola, is traditionally at the forefront of the holiday experience. But in 2022, Pepsi had a unique opportunity to mix up traditions in a way that stayed true to the brand’s role of creating moments of unapologetic enjoyment. Pilk (Pepsi and milk) and Cookies was the surprising (and naughty!) twist on the holiday tradition of Santa’s milk and cookies.

Our objectives were:

Drive saliency during a key holiday occasion

Instigate moments of unapologetic enjoyment

Win mindshare during a competitor’s biggest stronghold holiday

Keeping these goals in mind, Pepsi teamed up with two of the biggest stars of the holidays — Lindsay Lohan and Santa Claus — giving fans a new and delicious way to enjoy Pepsi during the festive season.

Pepsi gave Santa’s favorite holiday snack of milk and cookies an upgrade with Pilk, the surprising, dirty soda twist that fans didn’t see coming. From December 1-25, we invited consumers to join the naughty list by following Pepsi on Instagram, Twitter or TikTok, and sharing a photo or video of their dirty, delicious take on the Pilk and Cookies treat. The sweepstakes gave 25 entrants the chance to score cash for their holiday gifts — in the process, sparking moments of unapologetic enjoyment for fans nationwide.

But we couldn’t do it alone. Beginning December 1, Pepsi enlisted the help of Lindsay Lohan and Santa Claus to help bring Pilk and Cookies to life. Fresh off her Netflix film, “Falling for Christmas,” Lohan wowed in two iconic spots for Pepsi that quickly took the Internet by storm, driving intrigue, conversation and trial for Pilk across social channels and national media outlets.

We anchored our strategy in cultural, consumer, and brand truths, to capitalize on the “dirty soda” trend by connecting them to the holiday season – a time of year that our competitor dominated, a juncture where consumers seek unapologetic enjoyment, look for holiday drink recipes, and engage in family baking sessions.

We transformed a holiday staple — milk and cookies — by introducing Pilk, the combination of Pepsi and milk.

We tapped Lindsay Lohan to create custom content of her enjoying Pilk, a perfect match given her then upcoming role in a Netflix film and her long standing pop culture affiliation with the season, specifically an obsession our target millennial audience had (thanks to the cult classic Mean Girls). Also, Pepsi curated Pilk and Cookies recipes and invited fans to take part in the #PilkAndCookies holiday challenge by sharing their Pilk and Cookies treats on social media.

Pilk and Cookies broke through pop culture in a big way, thanks to 360-degree activation touchpoints featuring a robust PR/social strategy, press/influencer kits, and more – but the activation truly came to life when we positioned Pilk as a new holiday tradition on social media. We created two iconic holiday spots featuring Lindsay Lohan drinking the new Pilk combo. Next, we amplified on brand Pepsi and Lindsay Lohan’s social media channels to drive further engagement, launching Pepsi to viral status.

Thanks to the rise of the “dirty soda” trend on TikTok, consumers couldn’t get enough of the #PilkandCookies Holiday Challenge. Fans had plenty to say about Pepsi’s take on the holiday staple — so much so that #Pilk became a Top 25 trending topic on Twitter. The conversation continued across social media in December with new “Pilkology” recipes for fans to try like The Snow Fl(oat) and The Nutty Cracker.

Pilk smashed targets across earned media impressions and social conversation, generating 10B+ impressions across top-tier outlets, and 500M+ social impressions. The numbers sparked the biggest debate of the season — whether fans found the dirty soda twist to be as delicious as Lindsay did!

While Coca-Cola has historically been at the forefront of the holidays, Pilk leveled the playing field, earning 28% more online buzz than its biggest competitor during the campaign runtime, and increasing purchase intent by 54%.

#PilkandCookies also had a tremendous impact on brand favorability and business impact within the marketplace. Pepsi favorability was 41% higher among those who recalled the Pilk and Cookies campaign and we saw an increase in association across key brand parameters. Lastly, we saw consumers identifying greater association of Pepsi as a brand to enjoy during the holidays (+10pts).

Source: Engagement Labs Deep Diagnostics Survey for Pepsi Pilk & Cookies, December 2022