Pepsi IPL Deals: Turning Every Can Into a Shot at Real Prizes, Not Just Points

Pepsi IPL Deals was conceptualised as a fun platform to reward consumption, engagement, and interaction all at once, built on simplicity so the whole process, from claiming a coupon to earning points, stayed fast and foolproof. It was made available on whichever platform and device a user preferred, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, or a responsive website, with deep integration into the user's existing social presence rather than asking them to build a new identity from scratch.

The scope of work spanned UI/UX, mobile app development, data, technology, and gamification design, built as a genuine product, not a microsite bolted onto a media campaign.

The core of the app was real, redeemable deals, sourced from Pepsi itself and from 108 partner brands. Deals were grouped across three categories, Food & Beverage, Entertainment, and Youth Hangouts, and users could filter by geography, price range, general and friend popularity, day of the week, and time of day, so the deals feed always felt current rather than static.

Once a user chose to redeem a deal, the coupon was delivered based on how they were accessing the platform. Website users received their coupon by email, in both *.pkpass Passbook format and a PDF417 barcode image, so it could be added to an iOS or Android wallet, saved as an image, or printed for redemption in person. App users had it added directly to their account, in the same PDF417 format, with the user's photo embedded for verification at the point of use.

Every successful, paid redemption earned the user points, playfully branded as “Runs” to fit the IPL theme. But the platform's real engagement engine was “Super Runs”, earned not through purchase but through participation: inviting friends to join, sharing a redeemed deal on social media, tweeting about the program, or having a referred friend earn their own Runs. “Super Hits” added a further layer, rewarding users who correctly predicted an IPL match score using a dedicated hashtag, or who won a social media contest run during the tournament.

Super Runs unlocked something purchase points couldn't: the Grand Auctions, a live bidding system for genuinely money-can't-buy experiences, including Pepsi IPL Box access, the chance to play an over at the nets or on a real match pitch, and team access including bus travel and meet-and-greets. Bids could be placed directly or set to auto-increment up to a limit, with real-time notifications the moment a user was outbid.

The redemption experience was designed with just as much care on the merchant side. A partner's staff logged into a dedicated scanner app and used the phone's camera to read a user's PDF417 barcode, with validity checked automatically against the server. If a connection dropped, the app fell back to sending the coupon code via SMS to a toll-free number, with the server SMSing validity back, so a poor mobile signal at a crowded stadium kiosk never blocked a redemption. Partner staff could also earn their own points for successful redemptions, with daily and weekly top scorers winning real IPL tickets.

The lasting idea in Pepsi IPL Deals isn't the cricket theming, it's the separation of two distinct reward currencies tied to two distinct behaviours: Runs for the thing the brand actually needed, purchase, and Super Runs for the thing that made the platform grow on its own, sharing and participation. Tying the platform's most desirable rewards, the Grand Auctions, exclusively to the participation currency rather than the purchase currency is what turned an ordinary deals app into something people opened every day of the tournament, not just when they wanted a discount.