PepsiCo Personifies PopCorners in Wild Ads for the Mexican Market

Snacks get the blockbuster movie treatment

PepsiCo just launched PopCorners in Mexico with a campaign that humorously sends up blockbuster movies. 

The brand emphasizes its triangle shape and the work, developed with Zurda Mexico, rocks a cinematic feel, promising, “A Giant Leap for Popcorn.”

The spot transports audiences through the ages. We visit the caveman era, ancient Egypt and watch astronauts orbiting in space. Each sequence depicts PopCorners personified—even Cleopatra appears as one of the tasty snacks.

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“At its core, advertising should be entertainment. And let’s be honest: the industry desperately needs more fun and lightness right now,” says Jorge Cordero, creative director at Zurda. “PopCorners was practically begging for an irreverent, entertaining approach.”

Adds Rubén Cabezas, also an agency CD: “The product itself represents an evolutionary leap in snacking, so we decided to take that idea literally. We personified the popcorn kernel and built the narrative around its epic journey, leading to our core concept: ‘A giant leap for popcorn.’ When you have a product this good, you just step back, bring back the fun and let storytelling do the work.”

PepsiCo strove to create advertising that was locally and culturally relevant to outpace a highly competitive snack category. There was a need to go beyond building awareness, according to Juan Cuevas, marketing director for PopCorners Mexico. 

“Ultimately, we sought to transform a unique product proposition into a brand platform with the potential to grow and endure over time,” says Romina Levi, managing director at the agency.

The creative leverages popcorn’s standing as a staple of the movie-going experience. 

“To give ‘A giant leap for popcorn’ the blockbuster treatment it deserved, we leaned into big cinematic codes (most notably using the actual legendary score from 2001: A Space Odyssey),” says Cordero.

Time travel allowed for the scope to blend major moments in history. 

“The epic cinematic tone, paired with absurd visual humor, made the evolution of a simple snack feel like a historic motion-picture event,” adds Cabezas.

In crafting the creative, the challenge became balancing the epic scope of visual storytelling with product clarity, ensuring it remains “the undisputed hero—without losing the comedic timing,” Cordero also says. 

The campaign will run across digital and OOH, and focuses on connecting target consumers in relevant contexts. Cuevas adds the campaign has the flexibility to tailor messaging across channels, audiences and moments, while keeping a consistent brand idea at the core.”

Related: Purple Reign: Roku City Opens Its Gates for TV and Movie Send-Ups

CREDITS

Agency: Zurda Mexico
Client: PopCorners, PepsiCo
Campaign: “A Giant Leap for Popcorn”
CEO & Founder: Denise Orman
CCO & Founder: Diego Gueler Montero
Managing Director Mexico: Romina Levi
Executive Creative & Strategy Director: Joy Giangualano
Strategy Lead: Jose Miguel Reynosa
Creative Directors: Rubén Cabezas, Jorge Cordero
Creative Team: Angie Ayala, Leo Torres, Maf Gonzalez Figueroa, Tom Bejarano
Business Director: Arantxa Ruiz Torres
Business Manager: Ana Arbesú
Head of Production & Content: Lucila Peydro
Production Manager: Liliana Moreno
Production Company: WeMonsters