# Vacation runs Pepsi cap giveaway to turn nostalgia buyers into repeat customers *Vintage beauty brand recreates '90s promo mechanics to hold attention after a collab sell-through.* By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC. Published 2026-07-01. Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/vacation-2026-07-01t09-4 Subject: Vacation Tags: nostalgia marketing, collaboration, giveaways, customer retention, sunscreen, pepsi --- Vacation, the retro sunscreen brand, is running a second act on its Pepsi collaboration by recreating the cap-code giveaways Pepsi used in the 1990s and 2000s, according to Glossy. The move extends a partnership that began with a co-branded product drop — Vacation Classic Whip SPF 30 in Pepsi Blue packaging — and converts the momentum from that initial sell-through into a retention mechanism for customers who already bought. The giveaway works like the original Pepsi promotion: buyers find codes under the cap of their Vacation Pepsi product and enter online for prizes. Vacation is offering Pepsi-themed merchandise, including branded beach towels, coolers, and apparel. The mechanic is low-friction — no purchase required beyond the original product — and it gives the brand a reason to contact buyers again after the transaction closes. The underlying mechanism is **sequential engagement on a single SKU**. Most brand collaborations end at checkout. The product ships, the Instagram post runs its cycle, and attention disperses. Vacation is treating the collaboration as a two-stage campaign: the drop creates urgency and moves inventory, then the giveaway re-engages the same cohort and trains them to check back. The cap code is a forcing function — it turns the product into a ticket and the customer into a participant. That shifts the brand relationship from transactional (bought sunscreen) to participatory (playing a game, waiting for a result, talking about it). The cost to Vacation is the prize pool and the logistics of the code redemption system. The return is sustained attention from buyers who are already brand-warm and a second content wave when winners post. Nostalgia is the framing, but the real work is in the structure. Vacation is not just referencing the '90s — it is copying the exact promotion format that Pepsi used to drive repeat purchase ("buy another bottle to get another code"). For a beauty brand, that repeat mechanic does not apply the same way — sunscreen replenishment is slower — but the cap code keeps the collaboration alive in the customer's field of view while they use the product. Every application is a reminder that they have a code to enter. A small physical-product brand can run the same play without a Pepsi. Pick a product with a natural collaboration angle — a candle brand partners with a local coffee roaster, a soap maker works with a regional brewery. Design the first product as the marquee item: co-branded packaging, limited quantity, announced launch date. Sell it as a drop. Then, one week after fulfillment starts, announce the second stage: every box contains a scratch-off code (printed stickers, under **$0.08** each from Sticker Mule or similar), and codes unlock entries for a prize tier. Tier the prizes: one grand prize (a bundle worth **$200-$300** retail, co-branded with the partner), five mid-tier prizes (**$40-$60** each), and fifty small prizes (stickers, samples, digital downloads — cost under **$5** each). Total spend on prizes: under **$800**. Run the entry period for three weeks. Email every buyer on day seven ("did you find your code?"), day fourteen ("one week left"), and day twenty ("winners announced tomorrow"). Use a simple form (Typeform, Google Forms) to collect codes. Announce winners publicly and ask them to post a photo with their prize. The mechanics cost less than a paid Instagram placement and they re-engage your entire buyer file. The pattern here is not nostalgia for its own sake. It is using a familiar promotion structure to build a second touchpoint into a product that was sold as a one-time event. Vacation is teaching buyers to expect more than the transaction, and they are doing it with a mechanic that Pepsi already spent millions proving. Smaller brands do not need the IP — they need the sequence. ## The takeaway Run a giveaway after the collab sells through — turn the product into a ticket and the buyer into a participant. --- ## Publisher **Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339. Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**. - Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about - LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt - MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp - Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/ - Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands