Pepsi switches up can designs ahead of Malaysia Day, promotes cross cultural art

In celebration of Malaysia Day, Pepsi has unveiled three limited-edition can designs created by multicultural local artists - Cloakwork, The Sliz and Thineswari Govindasamy. The cans are part of its "Budaya Kita. Alami Bersama" campaign and aim to support local artists as well as offer them a platform to celebrate their art. The campaign also aims to promote cross culture art to celebrate national pride.

The can designs are inspired by commonly used kitchen utensils versus other elements that are usually used to represent Malaysian culture - the claypot, acuan kuih loyang and pestle and mortar.

For example, the claypot, is commonly used for cooking a variety of sauces and stews such as sweet and sour fish and aromatic chicken curries. The acuan kuih loyang find its purpose in putting together several delights such as kuih rose, kuih achimurukku or honeycomb - each dish holding its own significance on the table of Malaysian households. Another kitchen favourite, the pestle and mortar has been used for grinding fresh spices and aromatics to give dishes their authentic flavour and taste. Each can design is limited to selected retailers such as myNEWS, PETRONAS Kedai Mesra and Shell Select.

In addition to the cultural cans, Pepsi is also rolling out a "Truly Malaysian" music video starring multicultural artists and the utensils featured on Pepsi's limited-edition cans. Inspired by the classic Malaysian lyrical, Saya Anak Malaysia, the video will also be accompanied by Malaysia's very own cultural instruments as well as Pepsi’s cultural cans. Consumers can also expand their knowledge about Malaysia through the campaign microsite, from Malaysian history to fun facts about the cultural can pack and the artists.

While the spokesperson declined to reveal the ROI for the campaign, she said Pepsi will rely on the music video, digital ads, trivial, "Buy, Snap and Win" digital contest and retail activations to market the cans. It will also leverage geo-fencing ads to drive impulse purchasing by targeting consumers in nearby stores, as well as interactive display ads at different retail locations.

“This Hari Malaysia is indeed a very special day as we as Malaysians look forward past trying times. On this special occasion, Pepsi wanted to embrace our colourful Malaysian culture, while celebrating our local art and artists,” Santharuban T. Sundaram, SVP of marketing and alternate business from Etika, said.

He added that the local artists have truly showcased the creativity and culture of Malaysians through Pepsi's cultural can designs. "We at Pepsi are both happy and excited to be able to provide this platform to our artists and to be a part of this campaign to showcase Malaysia’s unique culture. Selamat Hari Malaysia,” he said.

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