PepsiCo is merchandising out its emoji campaign for its namesake brand, hoping to get in on the holiday season and tooling together call-to-action mobile marketing techniques such as a White Elephant giveaway on social media.

The Pepsi brand will be joining the numerous fashion and accessories brands who set up pop-up shops for the holiday season for its holiday #SayItWithPepsi campaign, but the shop will not have a bricks-and-mortar presence. PepsiPopUpShop.com will be available for a limited amount of time where users can shop merchandise featuring holiday versions of the Pepsi emojis that have been seen throughout the year, but it is Pepsi’s unique marketing campaign that will give the shop legs.

“At Pepsi, we’re always looking for ways to create fun, shareable moments for our fans and what better time to do that than during the holiday season? With our latest PepsiMoji collection, fans can spread holiday cheer in fun, creative ways,” said Stacy Taffet, senior director of marketing at Pepsi. “We’re excited to once again take the PepsiMoji characters off of the screen and add them to our packaging and limited-edition gifts on our online holiday hub.”

Drinking up innovation
The beverage brand is hoping to have consumers covered this year for their holiday shopping by featuring all kinds of Pepsi-branded merchandise from key chains to water bottle sweaters, from phone cases to greeting cards and even ugly holiday sweaters.

Pepsi’s online and mobile optimized pop-up shop allows users to browse and purchase holiday gifts that feature its #SayItWithPepsi emojis but with a holiday twist. The Web site features the emojis falling from the sky like snowflakes; all with their own holiday spin such as a kissing face with antlers and a smiling face wearing a Santa hat.

Users who have or are going to download the PepsiMoji application will now have access to the expanded keyboard, featuring holiday versions of its characters. The new holiday emojis will also be featured on new bottles of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi throughout the holiday season.

White elephant exchange
Pepsi’s companion campaign will be the star of the holiday show, as it brings the classic White Elephant gift exchange game online through Facebook Messenger. The traditional game consists of participants opening and “stealing” gifts from one another until the last present is opened and everyone is stuck with what they have.

Facebook Messenger users will interact with a chatbot on the special PepsiMoji Holiday White Elephant page to be eligible for a prize. The chatbot will give away various prizes, which users can trade with friends through the message application.

When the game has ended the chatbot will send out a code to participants, which they can enter on Pepsi’s reward platform, Pepsi Pass. Participants can redeem their code until Jan. 1 and the game will be available Dec. 1 – 20.

“Pepsi has taken advantage of the emoji craze to keep the brand front of mind with mobile consumers throughout the holiday season,” said Jonathan Portny, senior manager at BRP. “For a company traditionally bound by the brick-and-mortar shopping experience, the PepsiMoji Holiday Pop Up Shop enables Pepsi to interact with a different market of online shoppers looking for fun and convenient stocking stuffers.

“The Pop Up Shop is a no-frills e-commerce site solely focused on selling their nearly two dozen PepsiMoji-themed holiday products,” he said. “Pepsi’s #SayItWithPepsi campaign and PepsiMojis entice consumers to download the company’s Pepsi Pass mobile app by offering rewards for scanning Pepsi emojis on soda bottles.

“Unique, rarer soda bottle emojis are worth more points and points are redeemable for impressive rewards like concert tickets or travel getaways,” he said. “Pepsi uses gamification to engage and reward consumers looking for something more than the traditional in-store grocery shopping experience.”