Pepsi Refresh
Turning Festival Buzz Into Real-World Change
In 2010, Pepsi made a bold bet—pulling its Super Bowl budget out of prime time and redirecting it toward social good. To prove that purpose could outperform a 30-second spot, the brand needed a headline-grabbing activation that matched the moment. They brought in Matchfire to make it happen at South by Southwest, the epicenter of tech culture and digital conversation.ecame the world’s first celebrity Twitter auction, and changed how people used social media.
The Ask
When Pepsi launched the Pepsi Refresh Project, they needed more than a campaign—they needed proof of concept. Could a purpose-driven activation generate the kind of cultural noise that a Super Bowl ad typically owns? The ask put to the Matchfire team: design and execute a live, social-powered experience at SXSW that would tie influencer reach directly to charitable impact, in real time, in front of thousands of attendees and a watching media landscape.
The Solution
Matchfire built the entire ecosystem from the ground up. We recruited six digital heavyweights—including Gary Vaynerchuk and Pete Cashmore—to each “draft” an under-the-radar nonprofit aligned with their personal passions. From there, we engineered the infrastructure to make it all move:
- A real-time hashtag-tracking platform that counted every social mention as it happened
- Giant LED leaderboards installed across downtown Austin, keeping the competition visible and the energy high
- A mobile-optimized site that let any attendee track live rankings from any street corner
- Custom influencer hashtags tied directly to their chosen charity—every tweet pushed their nonprofit up the board
- A Pepsi grant unlocked for the charity with the most mentions by closing night
- Full campaign creative produced by the Matchfire team
- An on-site command center staffed to push fresh content and troubleshoot in real time
The result was a festival-wide game of charitable one-upmanship. Thousands of attendees fired off hashtags, street teams live-streamed the progress, and mainstream media picked up the story—framing Pepsi as the brand that swapped commercials for community impact. Gary Vaynerchuk and Invisible People ultimately took the crown.
The bigger win wasn’t just the grant—it was the proof. A hashtag could be more than noise. It could move money, spotlight grassroots causes, and demonstrate exactly what purpose-driven marketing looks like when it turns attention into action.
