There's no getting around the fact that emojis, whatever their social equity among young people, are quite literally cartoony. And if you're going to build a whole global ad campaign around them, as Pepsi has done with PepsiMoji, it's going to feel pretty lightweight. And indeed, the five-second TV ads, which we wrote about earlier, are bubbly but also fleetingly goofy—all the more so because of their short length.
Good thing, then, that Pepsi wisely decided to get some help from photographers for the out-of-home and Instagram elements of the campaign, created by Lloyd&Co.
As is the case with fashion brands, soda marketers can get more from OOH than almost any other medium. It's a chance to do brand work on a grand scale, with little more than a feeling to guide the creative—the product barely has to get in the way at all. We saw that with Coca-Cola's new print and OOH, which has a timeless feel (and was, not coincidentally, themed "Taste the Feeling" even though the product was front and center.)
Now, Pepsi has done something similar with its PepsiMoji OOH work, recruiting photographer Ben Watts to create street scenes in which emojis are the interlopers, not the main stars. Check out the ad above, and three more below: 
The real-life and cartoon images combine for a pleasantly poppy vibe that in some ways feels as much a wry commentary on emoji culture as a mindless celebration of it.
The Instagram campaign is even more immediate. Pepsi teamed up with street photographer Daniel Arnold for a series of candid street shots that also integrate emojis.
See four of those images here:
There's a nice chaotic feel to Arnold's work, which is very welcome, as it tries to add some spontaneity to Pepsi's clearly hyper-calculated strategy of appropriating the language of youth to sell sugary drinks. "I was after clean, graphic, candid photos that immediately communicated a feeling or an idea—essentially candid emojis," Arnold said.
The images are appearing on Arnold's Instagram first, before hitting Pepsi's pages.
The scope of the broader campaign is staggering, and has a packaging element at its core. Pepsi created more than 600 proprietary PepsiMoji designs and is placing them on over 1 billion bottles and cans in 100 markets. They'll also appear everywhere from sunglasses (in a fashion collaboration with designer Jeremy Scott) to stadiums, as Pepsi seeks to have a "provocative and fresh take on the cultural phenomenon of emojis."
In addition to the five-second spots, the campaign includes the three videos below—one called "Origins" (by agency Moondog) about how the designs found themselves in the world and on Pepsi packaging; and two others (by BBDO New York) that wordlessly follow young people backpacking and at a concert. (The lack of dialogue reinforces the "Say It With Pepsi" line, which is being used with the tagline, "Live for Now.")
The video work has its moments, and the craft on the five-second spots is strong. But in the end, in a campaign that needs some grounding in the real world amid all its animation, it's the OOH and Instagram stuff that's provokes the biggest smiley face.
CREDITS
—PepsiMoji Global Out Of Home Credits
Photographer: Ben Watts
Creative Direction: Lloyd&Co
Art Direction: Caroline Cox
President/Managing Director: Jodi Sweetbaum
Senior Account Director: Shari Lewis
Account Manager: Taylor Backus
Art Buying: Kristen Beecy
Production Co: BaM Productions, Inc
Post Production: Rachel Levine
Retouching: Ad Arts
—PepsiMoji Global Social Imagery Credits
Photographer: Daniel Arnold
Creative Direction: Lloyd&Co
Art Direction: Caroline Cox
President/Managing Director: Jodi Sweetbaum
Senior Account Director: Shari Lewis
Account Manager: Taylor Backus
Art Buying: Kristen Beecy
—PepsiMoji 'Origins' Credits
Agency: Moondog
CCO: Pete Kakso
Creative Directors: Jeff Spangler and Michael Bernard
Brand Manager: Courtney Ryan Law
Strategy Director: Eric Druckenmiller
Production Company: Moondog Films
Director: Patrick McCarthy
Executive Producer: Rasha Clark
Retouching/ Animation: Moondog VFX
—PepsiMoji Global Tvc Credits
Agency: BBDO New York
Client: Pepsi
Titles: "Concert Connection" and "Backpackers"
Client: PepsiCo
SVP Global Brand Management: Carla Hassan
SVP Global Brand Development: Kristin Patrick
Senior Marketing Director: Mark Kirkham
Agency: BBDO New York
Creative
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
EVP Executive Creative Director: Lauren Connolly
Senior Creative Director: Niraj Zaveri
Senior Copywriter: Dana Stalker
Associate Creative Director: Rachel Frederick
Production
SVP Group Executive Producer: Julian Katz
Senior Content Producer: Sofia Doktori
Account
EVP Sr. Director: Ladd Martin
Director: Lauren Munilla
Account Executive: Jillian Netzel
Asst. Account Executive: McCabe Galloway
Music
SVP Director of Music: Rani Vaz
Production (US): Park Pictures
Director: Vincent Haycock
Executive Producer: Jackie Kelman Bisbee
Executive Producer: Justin Pollock
Head of Production: Anne Bobroff
Line Producer: Tim Kerrison
1st AD: Jeremy Robinson
DoP: Niklas Johansson
Production Designer/ Art Director: Quito Cooksey
Production Service Backpackers (CRO): Blue Sky Adriatic
Production Service Concert Connection (PAN): LCA Productions
Offline Edit: Cut + Run
Executive: Rana Martin
Producer: Ellese Jobin
Editor (Backpackers): Akiko Iwakawa
Editor (Concert Connection): Gary Knight
VFX: Moving Picture Company
Executive Producer: Camila De Biaggi
Producer: Bindy St. Leger
Associate Producer: Aiste Akelaityte
Flame Artists: Jonathan McKee, Seif Boutella, Warren Paleos
Compositors: Elijah Lamond, Jeric Pimientel, Jesse Speer, Ting-Jung Hsu, Tamir Sapir, Victor Torres, Andrew Macfarlane, Hieu Phan
CG: Vicky Osborn, Tiago Dias, Michael Nieves, Monica Manalo, Mike Lombardo, Chris Ribar, Angela Carafas, D. Venkatesan, Sivapriyan, Yashaswi Salandri, Manu PS, Mohan Pugaz, Prasad Vemula
