Curleez | PepsiCo Case Study 2021
For this class project, we were briefed by PepsiCo to create a new snack brand, and a new flavor of Mountain Dew. I worked in a team of ten, and the name of our fictional branding agency was UNXTY (Unity). Since we were working on two products, we decided to divide our team evenly into two sub-teams. I worked on the snack team to develop the new snack brand which I will be showing below.
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During our final presentation to PepsiCo, they were very impressed and excited about the work we did, being just students, and gave us really helpful feedback. It was a very exciting and valuable experience engaging with leaders and creatives from PepsiCo.
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Project Timeline: 12 weeks
THE TEAM | UNXTY
THE PRODUCTS
Snack Brand | Curleez
Drink | Mtn Dew Lychee Lightning
CURLEEZ | STRATEGY + TARGET AUDIENCE
PepsiCo’s diversified portfolio is separated into three categories. With our snack brand, we aim to create a brand that is “Better for You”.
CURLEEZ | PRODUCT + FLAVOR
CURLEEZ | LOGO
Along with our main logo, we created a mascot to help give a face to our brand. His personality can be best described as playful, energetic, athletic, and positive. His main outfit is reflective of skaters and skater culture, who fit well amongst our audience.
CURLEEZ | PACKAGING
We chose this bag shape because it’s the easiest and most efficient design to keep your snack upright and not make a mess. It also keeps your snack fresh, and makes it easy to transport. We did two different designs of the packaging to show many versions of our patterns being used.
CURLEEZ | BRAND LAUNCH CAMPAIGN
1. Our idea is a partnership between two PepsiCo brands: Curleez and Mountain Dew. Since both share a similar target audience, Curleez can be exposed to Mtn Dew’s large social media audience. We plan to have two Curleez pop-ups at the DewTour event.
2. Our advertising campaign is called, “StayCurlee.” It’s all about promoting the idea of never giving up. We chose this idea to promote a positive message that applies to people of any age or skill level, which is perfect for our target audience of young adults.
CURLEEZ | AMBASSADORS + ADS
1. These 3 riders we will be our brand ambassadors for our Dew Tour event: Cory Juneau, Samarria Brevard, and Alexis Sablone. Their representation for Curleez at Curleez x DewTour is important because we believe they resonate the most with our target audience based on their backgrounds.
2. These 3 “Meet the Riders” videos will advertise the event by showcasing them doing tricks in order to get people excited for the event and entice people to come meet them.
CURLEEZ | POP-UPS
1. A mockup of attendees interacting with the main Curleez booth, located near the DewTour observation deck. A Curleez member will hand out free snack samples and snack bags while people interact with Cory, Samarria, and Alexis. The back of the booth has a life-sized Curlz cardboard cutout hanging from the ceiling for fans to pose and share pictures on social media.
2. A mockup of the other pop-up shop, which is an outpost for the Curleez activation. Attendees can eat, listen to music, hangout, and take pictures with our Curlz character cut out. They will also get a chance to enter a giveaway for free swag and snacks. This will help to increase the social media engagement on Pepsi’s pages.
I worked on designing this pop-up shop.
CURLEEZ | SIGNAGE + SPECIAL PACKAGING
1. The signage that will be used during the event. There are two digital and one directional sign to help direct visitors to the booth.
2. The Giveaway version of the snack bag showing how we would advertise the giveaway for our Curleez skateboarding gear. Inside the bag would have a QR code (that will be different for each entry for every bag) and instructions on how to enter. This information will be printed on the paper wax lining inside the bag at the top for easy access.
CURLEEZ | SKATEBOARDING STARTER KIT
1. This is the Curleez skateboarding starter kit, consisting of the basic equipment to start their skateboarding lifestyle: a skateboard, helmet, and knee and elbow pads.
2. The packaging box for the Curleez skateboarding starter kit. The box creates a fun experience for the winner, making the package feel more like a gift than any ordinary skateboard.
This in turn can generate social media posts about the unboxing experience or reviews on our gear. These are possible Youtube thumbnails we can expect to see.
For everyone, even those who don’t win a skateboarding kit, they will all receive a swag bag, which contains silicone bracelets, some stickers to decorate their boards and helmet, and a sample bag of Curleez.
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I worked on designing the bag (left) using our brand patterns and colors, and a pictorial mark (of the Curleez snack) that I created.
CURLEEZ | SWAG + UNIFORMS
1. This is the custom Curleez swag that the meet and greet riders would wear during the event to further promote our brand. I worked on designing the swag.
2. This is what the Curleez ambassadors manning the booth would be wearing.
CURLEEZ | SOCIAL MEDIA
1. As our campaign continues to blow up on social media and our social presence grows, we will see more and more posts, like these, from people who were at the event or those who won the kit.
2. With that we can continue the campaign on another platform. We chose Tik Tok because it’s a new app that has become insanely popular. So, maybe a month after the DewTour event, Curleez can release a TikTok Challenge to keep the momentum going. By this time, more people would be aware of Curleez and might already own some of the swag and gear to use in their posts.
CURLEEZ | COMMUNICATION TOOLS
1. The communication tool kits includes our letterhead, business cards, and envelope. These might be used to communicate with vendors, investors, or employees. Since the information and message are the most important aspect when using these tools, we decided to keep the design neutral and simple while still conveying the Curleez brand.
2. These are a sample of the presentation deck designs for Curleez with placeholder text for context. These would be used for sales presentations and internal presentations for employees.
I worked on designing the Curleez presentation deck.
CURLEEZ | SUMMARY
LYCHEE LIGHTNING | SUMMARY
Here's a look at what the Mtn Dew team created.
