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Diet Dr Pepper enlists Onion Labs to ‘Crack That Pepper’ for everyday jobs well done

By Kyle O'Brien, Creative Works Editor

June 13, 2018 | 3 min read

The Onion might be best known for its satirical headlines and humorous stories, but the Onion Labs side of the business – its in-house content agency – knows how to put together a snappy branded music video too, as it just did for Diet Dr Pepper.

Diet Dr. Pepper asks people to 'Crack That Pepper'

The video and song, the super catchy ‘Crack That Pepper,’ is about rewarding yourself for accomplishing everyday mundane tasks, because you deserve it.

In the video, we see the protagonist, 23 Skinny, saying that he’s all about “getting things done…and when you get things done, you celebrate.” He then goes on to show how he checked an item off his chore list, called his mom and celebrated his job well done with a Diet Dr Pepper.

The rest of the video, which also includes the aptly named Lil Pep as a sidekick, repeats the phrase “Crack that Pepper, crack that Diet Dr Pepper” over a fresh beat so the humor of the mundane tasks – like cleaning the floor and baking bread – is highlighted by the infectious music.

Diet Dr Pepper and its media agency Initiative reached out to Onion Labs to see how they could help spread their message. “When I think about celebrating, a music video came right to mind,” said Eric Munn, a senior copywriter for Onion Labs and the creator of the concept. “I’ve wanted to do a parody music video ever since I joined Onion Labs and finally a brief came in and was perfect for it.”

Munn worked with Abe Zverow, video creative director, and Rashid Lamarre, director of post production, on creating the song.

“Abe and Rashid are both musicians so I reached out to them right away. They mixed the background music and I knew it was a banger right away,” said Munn. “Once I had the beat, coming up with lyrics became a fun task. I thought of all the little accomplishments in my day and made them seem like grand achievements.”

Zverow and Lamarre performed and produced the spot, and the video is already blowing up on Facebook, where it debuted.

"You win the world series - you pop champagne. You make your bed before leaving for work - you crack open that Diet Dr Pepper. In this music video, Diet Dr Pepper serves as the ‘everyday champagne’ for those small everyday accomplishments we can all relate to. From that weekly load of laundry to finding a parking spot right out front,” stated Onion Labs in a release.