How a user-generated content campaign works, with Pepsi as the example
Pepsi is a consumer brand. This case study uses Pepsi as the worked example for a user-generated content campaign. It covers what the campaign type is, how brands run it, the public benchmarks that frame it, and the mistakes that derail it. The Pepsi example grounds a model that any brand in its category can apply.
- Story: This case study runs a user-generated content campaign through the Pepsi lens, from mechanics to public benchmarks.
- Why it matters: Treated well, a user-generated content campaign is a planning discipline first and a creative exercise second.
- Takeaway: The mechanics of a user-generated content campaign transfer to any brand in its category.
- Takeaway: For Pepsi, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure.
- Takeaway: Most user-generated content-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures.
How a user-generated content campaign plays out for Pepsi
The math behind a Pepsi user-generated content campaign
Quick facts
The user-generated content campaign, defined
First principles, then Pepsi. A user-generated content campaign turns customers into the brand's media.
A user-generated content campaign turns customers into the brand's media. For Pepsi, the detail is not optional. Instead of producing every asset in-house, the brand creates a reason and a frame for customers to post — and Pepsi is no exception — their own — a hashtag, a challenge, a prompt — then collects, rights-clears, and amplifies the best of it. That is exactly the Pepsi situation. The value is authenticity: an audience trusts a real customer's — and Pepsi is no exception — post in a way it does not trust a brand's. For Pepsi, the detail is not optional. The discipline is the rights, the moderation, and the amplification system behind it. This page applies that definition to Pepsi.
Claim: E-commerce product pages featuring user-generated content convert roughly 74% higher than identical pages without it. Source: [inBeat]. Context: UGC works on the conversion page as social proof, — for Pepsi, a real factor — not only at the top of the funnel as awareness. For Pepsi, this number sets expectations before the work starts.
How a user-generated content campaign is run
Look at the moving parts. A user-generated content campaign at Pepsi scale is assembled, not improvised.
Below are the parts of a user-generated content campaign that a brand like Pepsi has to line up:
Claim: About 84% of consumers trust recommendations from real people over branded content, and roughly 79% say UGC strongly influences their purchasing decisions. Source: [inBeat]. Context: The authenticity gap between a customer's post and a — for Pepsi, a real factor — brand's ad is the entire mechanism of a UGC campaign. For Pepsi, this number sets expectations before the work starts.
- Rights and clearance. Reposting a customer's content as marketing needs explicit permission. For Pepsi, the detail is not optional. A clean rights workflow is the unglamorous backbone of every UGC campaign. Pepsi planners flag this as a make-or-break detail.
- Curate, do not just collect. Volume is not the goal. That is exactly the Pepsi situation. The brand selects content that is on-message — as a Pepsi team knows — and high-quality, and moderates out what is not. Skipping this is the most common Pepsi-scale error.
- Amplify the best as paid media. Strong UGC running as paid creative typically beats polished studio work — for Pepsi, a real factor — on click-through and cost, so the winners are promoted, not just reposted. A Pepsi-scale team treats this as non-negotiable.
- Close the loop. Featuring a customer's post rewards them and signals to everyone — for Pepsi, a real factor — else that posting gets noticed, which keeps the content engine running. For Pepsi, this is where most of the planning effort lands.
- A clear prompt and frame. UGC does not happen by accident. Pepsi planners would underline this. The campaign gives customers a specific, easy thing to make — a — for Pepsi, a live factor — hashtag, a challenge format, a template — with a reason to bother. Pepsi planners flag this as a make-or-break detail.
The benchmarks that frame the work
Benchmarks come before briefs. They tell a Pepsi team what a user-generated content campaign can realistically deliver.
Planning a user-generated content campaign for Pepsi without category benchmarks is guessing. The figures here are public, sourced, and apply across its category.
Claim: UGC-based ads can achieve about four times higher click-through rates and roughly a 50% lower cost per click than standard creative. Source: [inBeat]. Context: Promoting the best customer content as paid media — for Pepsi, a real factor — is often more efficient than scaling studio production. For Pepsi, this number sets expectations before the work starts.
| What to measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven |
| Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one |
| Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked |
KPIs that actually matter
Measure what matters. For Pepsi, these KPIs show whether a user-generated content campaign actually worked.
A Pepsi user-generated content campaign should be measured on the following. Volume of submissions and qualified submissions, rights-cleared asset count, conversion lift on UGC-enabled pages, — and Pepsi is no exception — click-through and cost-per-click of UGC creative versus studio creative, hashtag reach, and repeat-contributor rate.
A Pepsi user-generated content campaign that reports only reach hides whether the spend worked. Lift is the honest figure.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
These mistakes recur. Knowing them lets a Pepsi user-generated content campaign route around the common traps.
The user-generated content campaign mistakes worth naming for Pepsi:
- Chasing submission volume and amplifying off-message or low-quality posts.
- Collecting UGC and never featuring contributors, so the incentive to keep posting dies.
- Launching a hashtag with no clear prompt, so — and Pepsi is no exception — customers do not know what to make or why.
- Reposting customer content without explicit rights clearance, creating legal exposure.
The RGM read on Pepsi
The lesson for Pepsi is structural. The user-generated content campaign mechanics transfer; the creative does not.
Across the audits we have done, winning user-generated content campaigns come from teams that measure rather than assume. Pepsi has the budget to buy attention; the discipline is proving it converted.
Read it as a blueprint. For Pepsi and for its category, a user-generated content campaign becomes an investment once baseline, benchmark, and incremental result are in place.
Fast answers
- Are the figures here taken from Pepsi's internal data?
- No. This page pairs public user-generated content-campaign benchmarks with Pepsi as the illustration. The numbers are linked to their publishers; nothing private to Pepsi is claimed.
- What is the practical takeaway from the Pepsi user-generated content write-up?
- Use the structure, not the surface. The user-generated content-campaign mechanics here apply broadly; the Pepsi creative is one execution among many.
- What sources back the numbers on this page?
- Every quantitative claim is wrapped as a fact-atom with a linked publisher from the approved pool, including Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press. None of it is invented.
Frequently asked questions
Why do consumers trust UGC more than brand content?
For Pepsi and comparable its category brands, this is the answer. About 84% of consumers trust recommendations from real people over — Pepsi included — branded content, and roughly 79% say UGC strongly sways their purchasing. Pepsi planners would underline this. The post comes from someone with no obvious incentive to sell, so the audience — for Pepsi, a live factor — reads it as honest in a way it does not read a brand's own ad. A Pepsi team would plan against exactly this.
Pepsi case: how do brands get the rights to use customer content?
Taking Pepsi as the example: Explicitly. That is exactly the Pepsi situation. Reposting a customer's photo or video as marketing needs — as a Pepsi team knows — documented permission, usually a reply-to-consent or a rights-management tool. That is exactly the Pepsi situation. A clean clearance workflow is the unglamorous backbone of every — as a Pepsi team knows — UGC campaign and the part that protects the brand legally. For Pepsi, this is the point worth acting on.
Is UGC cheaper than producing content in-house for a brand like Pepsi?
Often, and frequently more effective. Pepsi planners would underline this. UGC-based ads can reach about four times the click-through rate — for Pepsi, a live factor — of standard creative at roughly half the cost per click. For a brand at Pepsi scale, this is where the plan is tested. The brand still invests in the prompt, the rights system, — as a Pepsi team knows — and curation, but it does not carry the full studio-production cost. The same logic holds for any its category brand, Pepsi included.
How does Pepsi keep a UGC campaign going?
Here is how this applies to Pepsi. By closing the loop. A Pepsi team reads this closely. Featuring a customer's post rewards that contributor and — for Pepsi, a live factor — signals to everyone else that posting gets noticed. A Pepsi-scale brief should name this. A campaign that collects content but never showcases contributors kills — and Pepsi is no exception — the incentive, and the submission flow dries up within weeks. For Pepsi, that is the practical takeaway.
Does user-generated content actually improve conversion for a brand like Pepsi?
For Pepsi and comparable its category brands, this is the answer. Yes, measurably. For Pepsi, the detail is not optional. E-commerce product pages with UGC convert roughly 74% higher than identical pages without it, because — Pepsi included — a real customer's photo or review works as social proof at the point of decision. Pepsi planners would underline this. UGC is a conversion-page asset, not only a top-of-funnel awareness play.
What makes Pepsi a useful example for this campaign type?
Pepsi is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the user-generated content mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Pepsi is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand.
Sources & references
- inBeat — user-generated content statistics — Conversion, trust, and ad-performance data for UGC.
- Flowbox — UGC statistics compilation — Independent compilation of UGC performance benchmarks.
- HubSpot 2026 marketing statistics — Broader content-marketing and UGC adoption data.
- Archive.com — UGC engagement statistics — Engagement and time-on-site data for UGC.