Vol. 115 Dr. Pepper: An unexpected UGC jingle 🎶

Case Studied
Fandom at its finest

Sudden moments of virality can feel like a make-or-break moment for marketing teams.

But as social teams become more savvy, success stories are becoming more abundant. Ocean Spray was praised for how it reacted to a skateboarder’s viral video. The Four Seasons made a splashy return to TikTok after a viral video of a baby. And Jet2 Holiday tactfully seized its jingle’s moment of virality. 

Most recently, we saw Dr Pepper give the internet exactly what it wanted. 

This week, Case Studied explores how Dr Pepper turned a creator-made jingle into a national campaign.

The Brief

Dr Pepper is one of the oldest soft drink brands in the U.S., created in 1885 and now owned by Keurig Dr Pepper. Unlike Coke or Pepsi, it has always occupied a slightly offbeat position in the soda category. Its flavor is famously hard to describe and its brand voice often leans quirky and self-aware.

In recent years, Dr Pepper has quietly been gaining ground in the industry. In 2023, it surpassed Pepsi to become the second most popular soda brand in the U.S. by market share. But category growth has slowed overall, and younger audiences are increasingly fragmented across platforms and formats.

Against that backdrop, cultural relevance posed a major opportunity for Dr Pepper. Then, without a brief or a budget, a TikTok creator handed them an opening.

The Execution

Dr Pepper’s moment came organically on TikTok, when creator Romeo Bingham posted a jingle for Dr Pepper. It was short, simple, and super catchy.

Bingham’s jingle quickly erupted across social, racking up 25 million views. It was so popular, other TikTok users created remixes, dances, and even homemade commercials. 

@romeosshow

@Dr Pepper please get back to me with a proposition we can make thousands together. #drpepper #soda #beverage

Seeing the jingle’s widespread popularity, Dr Pepper leaned in. Its response arrived later than some TikTok users hoped, and other brands actually capitalized on the trend before Dr Pepper acknowledged it. Still, it responded with a video of a friendship bracelet with the original audio from Bingham’s jingle. 

But it didn’t stop there with a simple reaction video. Dr Pepper partnered with Bingham and licensed the original jingle directly from them.  

From there, the brand partnered with Deutsch to create a commercial featuring the jingle. The 15-second ad aired twice during the College Football Playoff National Championship on ESPN, using media time that was originally booked for Dr Pepper’s long-running “Fansville” franchise. As a result of the last-minute swap, only two Fansville spots ran during the game instead of the three that were initially planned.  

Deutsch’s co-chief creative officer, Ryan Lehr, said they were intentional about not over-polishing or changing too much about the jingle. 

“Rather than overcomplicating the idea, we focused on honoring what made the jingle special in the first place,” Lehr told AdAge. “We kept the execution simple, built around the original hook, and let the earworm lead.” 

According to AdAge, Dr Pepper plans to work with Bingham on more social content in the future. And this may not be the last time you hear a jingle from them—the creator already officially partnered with Vita Coco for additional jingle writing work.

The Results

Bingham’s viral video alone was effective advertising for Dr Pepper. But on top of that, Dr Pepper’s commercial featuring the jingle saw 3.9 million views on YouTube alone. 

The moment also earned widespread media coverage from outlets including Fast Company, Ad Age, and sports marketing trades, framing Dr Pepper as a rare example of a brand that didn’t overcorrect once virality hit.

While Dr Pepper did not release direct sales attribution, Keurig Dr Pepper executives pointed to the jingle as an example of how the brand is winning cultural share.

The Takeaways

1)  Scale without sanding off the edges.

As the jingle moved from TikTok to TV broadcasts, Dr Pepper kept the jingle’s scrappy, fan-made energy intact. The same melody, delivery, and DIY energy carried through, which helped the moment feel continuous rather than commercialized. That consistency is what allowed the campaign to scale without losing credibility.

When adapting viral moments to larger stages, focus on preserving tone over polish. Ask what people liked about the content before deciding how to expand it. Often, the imperfections are the asset, not the liability.

2) Treat virality like a relay, not a takeover.

Rather than flooding feeds with branded versions of the jingle, Dr Pepper left space for fans and creators to keep iterating on it themselves. The brand’s role was supportive, not dominant. That restraint helped the moment stay alive longer and spread more naturally.

For marketers, this means resisting the instinct to immediately “own” a viral moment once it breaks through. Consider how your brand can pass the baton back to the audience rather than running past them. Virality thrives on shared authorship.

3) Prioritize culture over control.

Dr Pepper was willing to give up a degree of creative control at exactly the right time. In doing so, the brand positioned itself as culturally fluent rather than overly managed. The result was relevance that felt earned, not engineered.

Not every campaign needs to start with a brief or a tightly scripted rollout. Sometimes the strongest brand moments come from recognizing when culture has already done the work and having the confidence to follow instead of lead.

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