Australia – As part of its latest brand refresh, Pepsi has teamed up with emerging Australian designer Jackson Cowden and PR agency Special to launch the 'Pepsi Pulse Collection' which brings back classic fashion staples.
Pepsi's innovative partnership with Cowden and Special PR not only celebrates its new identity but also the reinvention of fashion items and classic conventions.
The 'Pepsi Pulse Collection' is an AI capsule collection that challenges the status quo of traditional design. Comprised of a 10-piece bespoke collection, designed first and foremost with artificial intelligence, the designs are inspired by Pepsi's brand new look and refreshingly old familiar fashions, such as the little black dress and classic white shirt, with modernity injected through of innovative artificial intelligence methods.
Considered a “digital fashion artist,” Cowden leveraged the AI approach to fashion technology to complete final designs in 40 days, minimizing waste, saving time, and pushing the boundaries of fashion traditions. By leveraging AI, the designer was able to skip the usual traditional design methods of sketches, pattern making and multiple sample rounds that would normally take up to nine months to complete.
Pepsi formally launched its Pulse collection on a catwalk in Sydney's iconic harbor with the help of Australian event and experience creator Rizer. The track was streamed live via oOh!media's full motion site at The Bourke in Melbourne. In a first for oOh!media's creative and innovation hub, POLY, he managed end-to-end production from broadcast to delivery.
The “Pepsi Pulse Track Collection” scrolls through experiences, earnings, social and OOH.
Speaking of launch, Alex Bryant, Managing Director of Special PRsaid: “Finding an interesting way to celebrate the renewal of such an iconic brand was a surprising challenge for us in our first major special PR campaign for Pepsi. Taking inspiration from an industry that knows how to reinvent and update, we were delighted to find a shared vision with fashion designer and creative director of the collection, Jackson Cowden. This campaign launch shows how Pepsi continues to defy convention, push boundaries and always put enjoyment first.”
Vandita Pandey, ANZ Marketing Director for Snacks and Beverages at PepsiCo Australia, also shared, “Following hugely successful global launches in other markets, we really wanted our local launch to feel relevant to our culture-hungry next generation drinkers in Australia. Pepsi supports the next generation of creators and designers. Given that our new visual identity is bold, unapologetic, modern and iconic, we wanted to partner with a new designer who could bring a unique vision to our renewal. It was a privilege to be able to support Jackson in the launch of his first show.”
Meanwhile, Zoe Bailey, Creative Director of Rizer, said: “Jackson's digital design process was a great inspiration for creating an unconventional catwalk, with the energy of Pepsi's bold identity. Embracing the unconventional, we blur the lines between fashion, animation, lighting, sound, dance and performance, all in one story.”
Also commenting on the launch, designer and creative director Cowden shared: “It was incredibly important for me to partner with Pepsi at this point in my career, a partnership born from our shared values around challenging the status quo, pushing the unconventional and seeking . for new and bold ways of doing things”.
He added: “The Pepsi Pulse collection does exactly that and more by transcending traditional boundaries and challenging conventional norms. Pepsi's 'Pulse' is an illustrative way of telling different stories for the brand; it is Pepsi's visual response to the rhythm of culture, reflecting the pulse of the worlds we are immersed in. Increasingly, in the near future, fashion designers will be drawn to digital fashion design, with “preconceived rules” in the creative fields being abandoned.Pepsi is known for keeping the pulse cultural, and the innovative and creative way in which this collection comes to life proves it even more.”