PepsiCo's SoBe has partnered with Mike Tyson’s Main Event game in launching a mobile gaming campaign for the brand's teas, fruit juice blends, and enhanced waters.
Tied into SoBe’s "Try Everything" brand positioning, the "Try Everything Challenge" invites iPhone users to compete for a high score in a fruit-smashing game within the existing Tyson Main Event game. After the next month of play, the highest point earner wins a trip to Las Vegas in October to train with Tyson. SoBe worked with iPhone game developers RockLive and Omnicom’s OMD Gaming and OMD’s Ignition Factory on the initiative. Launched in March, Mike Tyson: Main Event has attracted 1.6 million downloads so far. SoBe game competitors need to get a free update to participate.
PepsiCo launched SoBe’s new "Try Everything" positioning in May. The brand has used celebrities like actress Hillary Duff and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton—who appears in the brand’s TV ads from Anomaly—to challenge fans in a New York City event in May where fans competed in offbeat games like mango melon bowling. The brand also used Upton in an in-tuner video ad on Pandora which targeted men, 18-29. SoBe has previously been focusing its marketing communications on specific products; this is the first brand campaign in recent years.
“This (Main Event) partnership is a great way to bring to life the idea of ‘Try Everything,’” said Elisa Quackenbush, a PepsiCo communications manager.
Particularly so, given the fact that SoBe’s millennial consumer target skews toward male beverage buyers.
“We didn’t necessarily set out to partner with a celebrity; we wanted to start from a creative place that was all about the consumer and the positioning,” added Sam Olstein, director, Ignition Factory, OMD. “We knew about Mike’s iPhone game and that it was gaining traction among the target audience and what better way to bring the concept ‘Try Everything’ to life than climbing into the ring with Mike Tyson?”