The Student Marketing Company and Pepsi came up with the idea of re-running a nostalgic, vintage ‘can-paign’ from 70’s: ‘The Pepsi Challenge’, This taste-test consisted of students taking a sip from an anonymised can, and then guessing whether it was either Pepsi, or Coca Cola, The students then ‘peeled to reveal’ their preference. With the current youth market upsurge in 80’s/90’s nostalgic fashion and pop culture, we decided to work together on bringing back a classic, fun campaign that’s proven tried and tested.

As Pepsi wanted this can-paign to reach as many students as possible, The Student Marketing Company did what we do best. With our unique access within student accommodation, we were able to place Pepsi cans directly into student fridges so that they could be consumed as they ought to be – cold, and as a welcome to new students moving in.


The Student Marketing Company also distributed Pepsi Max Challenge cans in 200,000 of our university branded welcome boxes. These were distributed in student bedrooms and kitchens prior to the students moving in. The Student Marketing Company doesn’t do anything on a small scale. As an extension to the above, we ran the largest-scale student Pepsi Max challenge in history, with over 3000 students taking part.  In liaison with both MMU and the UoM, we knew that these face-to-face Pepsi Max taste challenges would create a more captivating and memorable experience for Gen Z on campus; this proved to be a resounding success!