Replacing a campaign that's still driving sales can feel like the bold move, but evolving it is often the harder job. Drew Panayiotou, chief marketing and innovation officer at Keurig Dr Pepper, inherited Fansville, Dr Pepper's long-running college football ad series, and kept it going by changing the storytelling around the idea rather than the idea itself. He explains how new characters, personalization and fan data from media partner Disney keep it fresh each season.

He also says what would make him retire it. Dr Pepper has always ranked first for relevance among college football brands in a Disney survey, he says, and a slide to fifth through eighth would tell him something is wrong. Panayiotou also explains why he backed featuring Lane Kiffin in this season's ads despite questions inside the company, and why he treats creative risk as part of the job.

Dig deeper:

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~Inside McDonald's global marketing playbook—how CMO Morgan Flatley is scaling 'fan truths'

~MasterCard CMO: How We Keep 'Priceless' Fresh After 17 Years