PepsiCo - Driving impact at the 2024 UCL final

ACTIVATION

PepsiCo’s sustainable packaging approach aims to create a world where packaging never becomes waste and seeks to support efforts to reduce plastic waste. The company strives to rely on diverse packaging solutions to deliver products to its customers and consumers. Building a sustainable business is at the core of its strategy and it continues to innovate to secure long-term success. PepsiCo’s three-pronged packaging strategy (Reduce, Recycle and Reinvent) is designed to help drive progress toward its pep+ goal.

At the end of 2022, PepsiCo set a new global packaging goal with an aim to deliver 20% of all beverage servings through reusable models by 2030.

A recent study by PepsiCo entitled “2023 Recycling in Action Study” was concluded which aims to offer practical guidelines for improving PET recycling behavior. The study found that a lack of understanding and incentives can lead to inaction when it comes to making sustainable choices.

7 in 10 Gen Z and Millennials are actively trying to minimize their environmental impact (Deloitte). And 72% of Gen Z are more interested in choosing products made from recycled materials compared to 46% of Boomers (GlobeScan).

Most markets can improve their infrastructure for collection, sorting, and recycling of household flexible plastics.  Pepsi saw an opportunity as an international brand at major sporting events to strive for change.  Pepsi set out to make recycling and reuse at the UCL Final, being one of their marquee sponsorship events, simple, fun, and engaging for attendees.

PepsiCo tackles the challenges of packaging waste through efforts of innovation, strategic partnerships and finding creative ways to make the right choice for the planet, the easy choice for consumers all around the world.

With this initiative, PepsiCo aimed to achieve:

• • Enable Infrastructure: Make reusing and recycling easier by increasing access for fans.
  • Reward Action: Simple, fun, engaging rewards to encourage fans to kick the waste out of the Champions Festival.
  • Reminding and Motivating: Disrupting peoples’ autopilots and motivating them to act.

COMMUNICATIONS

PepsiCo's efforts at this year’s 2024 UEFA Champions League final focused on making it easy for fans to make sustainable choices by finding simple, fun and engaging ways for fans to participate. They never want to take away from consumers' experiences on-site, so they are continuing to prioritize ease-of-use solutions that let consumers make responsible, sustainable choices, whilst still enjoying every moment of their experience.

This year’s Recycle For The Win Program at Champions Festival Locations helped reduce packaging waste produced at the festival. The dedicated Pepsi recycling infrastructure allowed fans to return their reuseable cups or cans, along with a roaming Pepsi team to assist and encourage fans to recycle their cups or cans and help answer any questions.

Fans at Trafalgar Square and Potters Field could participate in digital gamified experiences to score prizes when they returned their cans or reuseable cups. Prizes included custom UEFA Champions League merchandise and UEFA Champions League match balls, with one grand prize winner receiving a trip to next year's final at Munich Stadium.

At the Potters Field Park location, all Pepsi fountain drinks were served in reusable cups through a new partnership with reusable cup provider Event Cup Solutions.

IMPACT

PepsiCo aimed to increase their cup return rate from the year prior and increase engagement with attendees through prize redemption and our gamified experiences.

• 87% reusable cup return rate (+7% vs target) verified with ECS
• 72% redemption rate of prizes fulfilled through the onsite merchandise concessionaire (Act 3)
• +5,700 total interactions (134% target) at the gamified reverse vending machine experience

Content:

• 91% positive sentiment of the content
• 80M impressions. +23% vs LY. +70% vs Plan
• 82% reach
• 91% positive/neutral sentiment

LEARNINGS

• Aspirational reward is a strong motivator, with people queuing up for an hour to participate in the return/recycle.
• Make the consumer path to recycle as easy and frictionless as possible to maximize the return/recycle rate
• Remind and motivate consumers with elevated infrastructure
• Unbranded reuseable cups act as a disincentive for consumers to remove them from site and thus maximized the return rate
• Reuseable system should only be used in closed environments where there is clear designated exit and entry points