Pepsi Launches Branded Smartphone in China

pepsi phonePepsico has made ambitious moves in the world of mobile marketing before, but nothing quite compares with its latest venture, which sees the soft drink giant launching a smartphone on the Chinese market.

The Pepsi P1s seems aimed at the budget market, with prices as low as ¥699 (£72). The device is on sale on JD Finance, a Chinese crowdfunding site, with consumers also able to enter a raffle for the phone for ¥1.00, with odds of around 500 to one.

The device features a 5.5″ screen with 1080p resolution, 2GB of RAM and an octa-core MediaTek processor, as well as a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera and, notably, fingerprint reader, which is unusual for entry level devices and may serve as the devices unique selling point beyond its Pepsi branding.

The P1s will run Android 5.1 with a number of Pepsi themes pre-loaded onto the phone, as well as several Pepsi-themed apps. It will ship around a month after the end of campaign, assuming it is successful, which given that it is currently hovering around the 40 per cent mark, isnt a given.

However, successful or not, it marks an interesting evolution in the relationship between brands and mobile, and suggests the large firms are, more than ever before, looking for new and interesting ways to reach consumers via their smartphones.