What you need to know
It was an ordinary day when the perfect Dr. Pepper jingle popped into Romeo’s head. “Dr. Pepper, baby, so good, so good. Doo, doo, doo.”
Based on their intuition, they felt they had to act, so they immediately picked up their phones, put on a record, and “impulsively” posted the jingle, joking that they “didn’t want anyone to steal it.”
“I’ve always loved making and writing music, and I post a lot of my songs and ideas on TikTok,” Romeo, who uses them/them pronouns, tells PEOPLE. “When I created this jingle, it honestly started out as a silly video about Dr. Pepper, a drink that I really love.”
But the 26-year-old could never have imagined that their simple idea would become so popular. I never could have imagined it would lead to a national commercial, let alone during the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Romeo posted the video a few days before Christmas and has since racked up more than 45 million views.
“Seeing it explode to over 3 million likes and tens of millions of views was awesome. We loved seeing people use the sound and create their own videos to jazz it up,” they say. “It really showed the power of social media, creativity and how people can rally around something fun and light-hearted.”
Romeo hoped someone from Dr. Pepper would be one of the millions who saw this clip, but wanted them to be “intentional” about it.
“@DrPepper please get back to me with suggestions we can make thousands of things together,” they wrote in the video’s caption, tagging the brand.
Dr Pepper/YouTube
“I very purposefully captioned my post, knowing what this could do to me and Dr. Pepper if my heart worked the way I wanted it to,” they share.
As expected, the beverage brand saw the video and asked Romeo to create a jingle for them, as did dozens of other companies. After Dr. Pepper’s official account commented on the video, the social team told Romeo to “check his DMs,” and the video “took on a life of its own” from there.
“Once they got in touch, everything came together quickly. They licensed the jingle and treated it like a true creative collaboration,” says Romeo. “I knew what was going to happen and the potential this had. I got credit for it, got involved, and had a part in shaping how it evolved from a TikTok moment to a full-fledged jingle.”
“We worked closely to preserve the core of the original TikTok sound while crafting it into something that could be translated into a national campaign,” they added.
The Dr. Pepper and Romeo team wanted to bring this song to an important moment, so they decided to air the commercial during the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 19th.
Romeo describes the entire process as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”
“That first moment was incredible because it will never happen again. I will cherish this moment forever, knowing that trusting in myself got me here,” they say. “I’ve always written music, so it was great to see something I’ve created become an actual professionally produced piece of work in a national commercial.”
“With one song released so far and another on the way, this felt like a special milestone in getting my work out into the world,” they added.
Their advice to others is always to “be bold and be yourself.”
“You never know where it will take you. I’m excited for the future and all the opportunities this moment creates for everyone involved,” they said. “Thank you to everyone who rallied behind me.”
