Pepsi Pop Star at Hersheypark | 2021

Designers: PepsiCo Design & Innovation, PepsiCo, Inc., New York, New York, USA
Manufacturer: PepsiCo, Inc., New York, New York, USA

Who wouldn’t want to become a pop star, even for a little while? Pepsi Pop Star at Hersheypark is a first-of-its-kind, immersive entertainment experience created within the iconic amusement park. Inspired by the brand's deep history and roots in music and entertainment, Pepsi Pop Star is the ultimate stop for the whole family to unapologetically unleash their inner pop star during the summer of 2021 and beyond.

The Design Challenge was to activate a previously underutilized area, embracing the opportunity to enhance the space for Hersheypark and turn it into a venue for unapologetic joy. The goal was to create an ownable experience tied to Pepsi with a built-in growth strategy, something immersive and highly shareable that would make an authentic connection with park goers. Now, Pepsi Pop Star is located in the Kissing Tower region of Hersheypark. The 2,500 square foot space offers multiple free experiences and opportunities for everyone to get their groove on, complete with dance pods, digital souvenirs, and exclusive fan merchandise. The Pepsi Pop Star experience was also designed with inclusivity in mind, in an effort to ensure differently abled park goers can join in the fun.

The consumer journey looks like this: visitors can book a free spot to record dance performances in private pods featuring personalized, customizable avatars generated via selfie. Guests can move and groove along to professional dance routines, matched to a selection of top pop songs from fan favorite artists. To drive social sharing and provide a free digital souvenir for visiting guests, the COVID-19 conscious contactless experience creates a friendly competition, challenging guests to land their highest score on the scoreboard, and return home with their own unique 15-second music video to commemorate their time in the limelight. At the Pepsi Cooler, the most active dancers can quench their post-performance thirst with a selection of ice-cold PepsiCo beverage products, all in one place. To round out the fully immersive music experience, guests can shop a selection of unique branded merchandise on-site, just like they would at their favorite concert. Visitors are encouraged to share about their stint as a pop star across social channels using #PepsiPopStar and #HersheyparkHappy.

The Design Team thoughtfully designed every aspect of the Pepsi Pop Star experience - across Environmental, Experiential, Branding/VIS, Digital UX and LTO packaging - to deliver a moment of joy and escape from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. The Design Team led the creative direction for the Branding and Visual Identity System that was executed by Jam3. We worked together to create a mini brand and VIS under the Pepsi masterbrand that was tied to its history in music, and the digital experience allowed us to create a brand evolution. We also worked with Jam3 to develop a Digital User Experience that became a whole digital world. Complete with a gaming environment and elements, characters, sound design, music video settings, and cinematography, it made for a completely immersive Pepsi Pop Star experience.

For the experiential and environmental designs, The Design Team conceptualized and developed the full consumer journey of Pepsi Pop Star. We translated the VIS and Digital work into the physical space for a seamless application, and defined the physical materials for the brand. The Design Team created the attraction’s Pods as ownable structures to house the experience. Inspired by the legacy brand of Pepsi through the years, we also developed a Year 1 capsule collection for licensing, marking the first time Pepsi has ever offered licensed gear with one of its partners. As a part of enhancing the overall atmosphere, the Design Team also developed Limited Edition Pepsi packaging featuring custom illustrations based on the three genres of music most relevant to the brand - pop, rock and country. We creative directed the design of a custom display, complete with floating cans, and repurposed audio speakers to create a unique, visually impactful, and budget-friendly installation.

In terms of business benefit, Pepsi Pop Star provides an opportunity for an additional draw to the park, and creates new revenue (diversified stream) opportunities through licensing as well as being a cooler and fast fill beverage location. As of September 2021, the Pepsi Pop Star attraction has proved successful and buzzworthy, with approximately 1,750 completed experiences over 6 weeks. In media coverage, Pepsi Pop Star hit 98,000,000+ impressions based on 37 stories (earned media), and had a paid reach of 13,000,000. Pepsi Pop Star has been met with such a positive response, there is talk of replicating it in future venues. For now, it is set to be a memorable and shareable attraction for Hersheypark guests for years to come.