Pepsi-QTG Canada’s ‘digital-to-air’ promotion with MTV and MuchMusic proved that the online-driven approach can be a winner. Contestants vying for the ‘Ultimate Pepsi Superfan’ title recruited over 14,500 combined unique votes through social groups, while Facebook had 10 groups gain over 2,300 members and the MuchMusic and MTV websites gleaned over 80,000 voters.

The cross-platform promotion called for contestants to upload content to the Superfan site that represented them as the truest fan of their fave artist. MuchMusic and MTV then selected 10 finalists and asked for viewers to vote for their favourite. Next, contestants used online media such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogs and chat rooms to recruit voters. The top four finalists competed on-air for the title and a chance to meet their chosen artist. The promotion ran from mid-June to the end of September.

Cheryl Radisa, VP of marketing at Pepsi-QTG, says that the promotion encouraged contestants to use online tools to spread the word virally, which gave Pepsi the chance to extend the excitement on-air. The design and execution of the promotion were handled by OMD, Proximity and BBDO.

Toronto’s Jannel Pechardo and Meaghan Graves of Fredericton won the battle and will meet Tokio Hotel and the Jonas Brothers in concert.

www.mtv.ca/superfan/
www.muchmusic.com/promo/pepsi08/contest.asp