WHAT: Apple’s launch of iTunes Radio on Sept. 18 brought a list of category-exclusive sponsors for 2013 — McDonald’s, Nissan and Procter & Gamble among them — but only one with its own branded stations. Pepsi, iTunes Radio’s premier beverage sponsor, debuted four of its own channels, dubbed “Pulse of Now,” at itunesradio.com/pepsi. Other brands in the PepsiCo portfolio, including Mountain Dew and Frito-Lay snacks, are expected to roll out their own channels during the course of the company’s sponsorship, which is committed through the end of 2014. Pepsi’s stations are dedicated to pop, country, Latin and EDM, and will feature Pepsi-backed acts like Mexican DJ collective 3BallMTY and country singer Hunter Hayes, as well as global Pepsi artists like Eva Simons, with whom the company works in the Netherlands, and introduce them to U.S. audiences. A version of Pepsi’s global ad starring Beyoncé will also appear throughout the iTunes Radio ad load, which includes one video ad per hour and three additional ads every 15 minutes.
WHY: ITunes Radio may be a me-too entrant in the streaming music space, but Pepsi has a history as a launch partner of startups (its 2-year-old Digital Labs program), boutique labels (the brand recently sponsored a creative lab with Los Angeles label Innovative Leisure) and new-to-the-States TV properties (“The X Factor,” a deal that expired after 2012’s underperforming season). Pepsi and iTunes also have a history that dates back to 2004, when Pepsi sponsored 100 million free song downloads through specially marked codes on Pepsi products. (The promotion was discontinued early, however, as the still-nascent iTunes was only available to Mac users at the time.) ITunes Radio is available as part of the new iOS 7 launch, across all iTunes-compliant devices. Pepsi will be the platforms’ exclusive beverage sponsor through the end of 2013. As previously confirmed by Billboard, ad packages for sponsors beginning in 2014 will be sold at a minimum of $1 million and include a 12-month commitment.
WHO: Frank Cooper, chief marketing officer of global consumer engagement for PepsiCo’s global beverages group, says the initial conversations with Apple began in 2012 alongside media agency OMD, senior Pepsi beverage marketers, Frito-Lay marketers and key Apple executives like Eddy Cue and Robert Kondrk. “It wasn’t only sales, it was the music leads, programming execs,” Cooper says. “We really came in from the beginning with a cross-section to create broader ideas of where this partnership could lead.”
IF: During the next 15 months, PepsiCo will track the sponsorship’s effectiveness in a variety of ways. Cooper says the company will be able to measure the “talk value” surrounding the venture. “It’s not our intention to beat people over the head with Pepsi — it’s about their listening experience. We can do certain things on this platform with Apple as a partner that will create some social-media measurement tools. We’ll also look at brand equity overall through a wider window, and that’s not going to run during the first three months. Maybe not in the first year, but for the longer term.”