PepsiCo tackles Coke in Super Bowl ad deal
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- December
- 12
PepsiCo Inc.’s playbook as it prepares for its traditional advertising blitz during next year’s Super Bowl and the fight for cola supremacy against rival Coca-Cola Co. follows a simple strategy—- Arrange an advertising deal that keeps your opponent off the playing field.
The Purchase-based company confirmed yesterday that it has locked up exclusive rights to advertise soft drinks and other non-alcoholic beverages during the first half of next year’s big game. The deal will keep Coke ads on the sidelines through the halftime show. PepsiCo said that the exclusivity deal was arranged by OMD, a media buying agency.
While some analysts have speculated that one of the worst U.S. recessions since World War II could cool interest among major companies in advertising on the Super Bowl, the game remains a major part of PepsiCo’s advertising strategy of building “water-cooler” buzz among pigskin fans and casual onlookers alike.
“It is very important,” said Nicole Bradley, a company spokeswoman. “There is a huge audience. We can’t afford not to be there. People are as interested in the commercials as they are the game.”
Last season’s 17-14 cliffhanger victory for the New York Giants over the New England Patriots drew an average audience of 97.5 million viewers. It was the second most-watched show in American television history.
This season’s game on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., comes at the same time that PepsiCo is launching new packaging and logos for its soft drinks. The company will announce the details of its ads when the game gets closer, Bradley added.
Last season, the company’s Super Sunday lineup included singer Justin Timberlake promoting Pepsi Stuff, race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. getting a charge out of AMP Energy drink and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter launching Gatorade’s G2. In another ad that had no sound, a group of deaf PepsiCo employees communicated in sign language.
This entry was posted
on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 6:05 pm by Jay Loomis.
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Category: Advertising and marketing
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