Pepsi broke up with the NFL, but there’s no word yet on whether they’ve returned the jersey.
Actually that would probably be a lot of jerseys.
And it seemed like a great metaphor in my head.
It’s still true, though, that Pepsi Co. will not advertise in Super Bowl XLIV, scheduled for Feb. 7, 2010 in Miami. And no I don’t know what those Roman numerals add up to, but I don’t really care, as long as there are snacks and beer.
This means Pepsi will be notably absent from the series of commercials punctuated with a major sporting event for the first year since 1987. This also means that millions of people the world over will not try Pepsi for the first time on the Monday after the game. Millions more may even forget about it and stop drinking it entirely, no matter how they felt about Cindy in that tank top when this aired in 1997.
Acid wash in 1997?
Photo: Bloggybiz.com
Actually I think those are stone wash. Acid wash, stone wash, it was all a bad idea, but somehow on her it doesn’t really matter.
Ahem. Someone may be slightly bitter because someone’s workplace does not provide an alternative to Pepsi products, perhaps. And no, everything is not about someone. Just a lot of things.
Pepsi Co. spent an estimated $33 million during last year’s Superbowl, not just on the drink itself but other company products like Cheetos and Gatorade. Ad time last year cost about $3 million for 30 seconds (although that’s expected to drop this year.)
Pepsi’s usually celebrity-focused ads have always been a popular excuse to watch scantily-clad famous women conversation piece.
Case in point, Britney Spears, Pink and Beyonce as gladiatorixes? -esses? Anyway. Not really the point.
And also a child actor pretending to be a young Jimi Hendrix who shockingly hates accordion music.
Video: Heavy Metal Meat, YouTube
And let’s not forget Van Halen’s 1993 Right Now Pepsi Superbowl bit for Crystal Pepsi, which I totally forgot about.
The company confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that they will be focusing their efforts on the Pepsi Refresh Project, a largely digital effort focusing on Pepsi and social responsibility.
Frank Cooper, senior vice president and chief consumer engagement officer at PepsiCo Americas Beverages released a statement that leads me to believe it will take a nation of millions to hold back this soda revolution:
The Super Bowl broadcast can be an amazing stage for advertisers if it aligns with their brand strategy; however, brands should not blindly anchor themselves to history. In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event, less about a moment, more about a movement.
The Pepsi Refresh page – Refresheverything.com, of course – is one of those irritating (sorry, Pepsi) landing pages that is short on details but long on Flash and promises to fulfill all of your soda social responsibility wishes in 2010. There is talk of grants and the music of Will.i.am, with a tagline of “Together we’re going to do a lot of good.”
Business Insider also reports that rather than disappearing from the Superbowl entirely, Pepsi will have a “presence” there and will create content around players and teams.
This sounds more like a “break” than a “break-up,” really, or maybe it’s just complicated. This is Pepsi saying that it’s not you, NFL, it’s them – but you can totally still be friends. And the decision not to broadcast may have been a much more effective way of getting the word out than a typically cryptic game day spot could ever have. Way to go, Pepsi. Coke who?
Sources:
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