The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2021
Pepsi proves burgers taste better with Pepsi by folding wrappers into origami
A blind taste test found US burger eaters prefer Pepsi; #BetterWithPepsi folded real wrappers into origami and earned 3.6 billion impressions.
Pepsi
What it had to solve
To learn what Americans prefer to drink with their burgers, Pepsi commissioned a third-party blind taste test pairing burgers from the top three US chains with different beverages. Participants chose Pepsi over Coke — a strong result that could have been delivered as a dry claim.
How it works
Pepsi wanted to know what US consumers prefer to drink with their burgers, so it commissioned a third-party blind taste test across the top three American burger chains. Participants chose Pepsi over Coke, giving the brand a simple insight to work with: when the food is a burger, the drink is Pepsi.
The #BetterWithPepsi campaign turned that result into something to see rather than something to argue about. An origami artist used the chains' own burger wrappers to make new creations, so the evidence appeared in the craft itself. D&AD jurors described the move as taking a functional, almost boring brief and transforming it into brilliant, extremely simple execution.
The idea never attacked Coke's taste; it changed what people looked at while they ate. Wrappers from the very restaurants in the test became the medium, and the claim travelled as images rather than as brand talk. The campaign generated more than 3.6 billion impressions, lifted brand consideration 29% in 2021, and swung 1.1 share points from Coke.
The work now sits in D&AD's awards archive as an example of craft carrying a functional message: a pure ad whose beauty came from doing one ordinary thing — proving a pairing — with total care.
Why it lands
- A third-party blind test made the claim evidence rather than brand talk: consumers, not Pepsi, supplied the conclusion that burgers taste better with Pepsi.
- Folding the chains' own wrappers puts the proof in the setting where the preference happens, so the object itself carries the message instead of a voiceover doing it.
- Craft turned a statistic into something worth looking at and sharing, which is how a 'prefer Pepsi' result became impressions and consideration gains rather than a defensive argument.
- The visual is simple enough to survive translation: an origami burger wrapper reads the same in every market, so reactions could travel globally.
What it did
The campaign drew reactions around the world, earning more than 3.6 billion impressions, a 29% increase in brand consideration in 2021, and a 1.1-point share swing from Coke. D&AD juries praised it for turning the most mundane of briefs into something beautiful.
What you can take
When the proof is functional, spend the craft on the demonstration: a statistic anyone can state becomes something people share only when it is turned into an object worth looking at.
Since then
The campaign ran in 2021 and entered D&AD's 2022 awards archive with its results on record: more than 3.6 billion impressions, a 29% increase in brand consideration in 2021, and a 1.1-point share swing from Coke. D&AD juries kept it as an example of taking the most functional of briefs — food tastes best with Pepsi — and making it beautiful through craft, rather than through a bigger claim.
Sources
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