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Pepsi is taking Facebook-based narcissism to a new level with a campaign that gets comics to impersonate you based on your profile on the social network.

The beverage giant has linked with longtime partner Funny Or Die for a program that will choose consumers for an online taste test for Pepsi Next. Since users can’t actually taste the cola online, Pepsi has opted for the next-best thing: comedians attempting to simulate you will try the drink.

Such fans will opt in to be chosen. “We’ll analyze their Facebook persona,” says Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages. “It will be very close to who they actually are. We have improv comedians on standby.” The shoot will take place in Los Angeles over five days, using four simultaneous sound stages and 12 Funny or Die improv comedians. The fan videos will then be edited and posted back to selected users within approximately 24 hours of the shoot.

To give a taste of how the program will work, Pepsi, Funny Or Die and ad agency partner The Barbarian Group have created three videos. The video above is an explanation of the program by comedian Rob Riggle. The two below goof on Gary Vaynerchuk, the YouTube-based wine expert and Internet meme Scumbag Steve.

Pepsi Next, a mid-calorie soda with 60% less sugar than Pepsi’s flagship beverage, is being released this spring with distribution in Walmart and national sampling. The Facebook program combines the thinking behind programs like Intel’s “What About Me?” app and Old Spice’s 2010 “Responses” campaign to create what the brand hopes will be a viral phenomenon.

What do you think? Will you try the program? Will it get you to try Pepsi’s new soda? Sound off in the comments.

Internet Taste Test - Gary Vaynerchuk

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

On the face of it, they don’t seem to have much in common: Instagram and the beverage industry.

One is a hot social media company that lets users take pictures and post them on various social networks. The other is a business that is solidly entrenched in the physical world. Yet, a symbiotic relationship exists. Instagram very much wants real-world brands to endorse it, and beverage brands are always looking for the imprimatur of a hot social media technology.

The pairing of Instagram and Lipton Brisk, a PepsiCo brand, illustrates how this relationship works. Jamal Henderson, senior marketing manager for Brisk, says he hadn’t heard of Instagram in late 2010 until he saw fans on Brisk’s Facebook Page discussing it. “We just kind of dug into that digital insight,” he says.

That epiphany coincided with Instagram’s own attempts to cozy up to brands. In January, the company introduced hashtags, which were designed to make it easier for marketers to carry out brand campaigns.

It worked. While Instagram has proven to be a draw for fashion brands especially, some beverage brands have had some success as well. Below are three recent examples of purveyors of soft drinks using Instagram to spread their message. And if it can work for soda and fashion, then Instagram can be a valuable asset for any business.

1. Lipton Brisk

PepsiCo's Lipton Brisk initiated a clever use of Instagram around this year's South By Southwest festival.

In January, Brisk announced a program soliciting users' photos via Instagram. The prize? Photos selected by Brisk would appear on 4,000 Brisk cans distributed at the event. In what was clearly a case of trying to reach the right kind of consumer rather than seducing the masses, Brisk has cultivated a fairly small following on Instagram -- just around 500 followers.

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Does your business use Instagram? Let us know in the comments below.

More About: features, hashtags, instagram, mashable, Pepsi, redbull, starbucks

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