NFL multi-category partner PepsiCo activated across its official league product portfolio via a new football season kick-off campaign stuffed with legends of the game and running across multiple platforms called ‘Unretire’.
Hall of Famers Dan Marino, Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice and Randy Moss contemplate a return to the gridiron in a tongue-in-cheek hero ad promoting PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay snack range and its beverages division. PepsiCo brands featured in the campaign include Doritos, Lay’s, Tostitos, Pepsi Zero Sugar, Starry and Mtn Dew.
The activation also features new brand ambassador and current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
The campaign was created by Pepsi’s ‘D3’ team and produced by Superprime with Director Rick Famuyiwa, plus PR agency Ketchum, Genesco, Direct Focus, OMD, The Den and The Mill.
The 60-second ‘Back To Football’ hero spot sees Marino, Moss, Rice and Smith get caught up in the excitement around the new season and contemplate returning to the game before the comic narrative arc reminds them just how difficult that would be for the retired greats.
Alongside the line-up of NFL legends, the spot also features current star Allen, demonstrating to demonstrate PepsiCo’s ongoing tie-ups with current elite league players.
The ad’s epilogue features long-time teammates Julian Edelman and Tom Brady and sees the latter, who himself famously unretired 40 days after retiring in 2022, state “Unretirement? Who’d be dumb enough to do that?”
In February 2023 Brady, for now at least, retired again.
The full length commercial, which also appears in 30- and 15–second cuts and was preceded by a teaser, debuted on 10 September and will evolve as it runs through the season. It is soundtracked by Eminem’s “Without Me,” a song that includes the refrain, “Guess who’s back?”
“Our brands are synonymous with the gameday experience,’ said PepsiCo Beverages North America CMO Greg Lyons on the campaign’s PR reveal. “Gameday is about enjoying friends, family and football – getting lost in the excitement and those moments when the pop of a can or the first crunch of a chip is heard.”
“Our products go hand in hand with football, and with the start of the new NFL season, we knew fans would be getting their pantries and fridges stocked up to cheer on their favourite teams,” added PepsiCo Foods VP of Creative and Digital Chris Bellinger. “We wanted to show that even just the crunch of a chip or pop of a can help you get lost in the excitement. They can even inspire NFL legends to hit the field again.”
“Fans of our products and the NFL span multiple generations and parts of the country,” continued Bellinger. “We wanted to provide smiles with every sip and every bite, so we were very intentional with the legends we selected, the teams we represented, the music we picked to make sure that there was something that everyone could get excited about when they watched the spot.”
The campaign was created for and developed by a large and diverse team from PepsiCo, its divisions and its bespoke D3 creative unit.
The group that worked on the project at Frito-Lay included Brett O’Brien (Chief Marketing Officer), Tina Mahal (Marketing Senior Vice President), James Wade (Marketing Senior Director), Kyle Ahrendsen (Marketing Senior Manager), Spencer Bryson (Marketing Manager), Echo Li (Marketing Insights Manager), Lindsey Smith (External Communications Manager), Dan Cohen (External Communications Senior Director), Natalie Stormer (Legal Associate Specialist), Jeanette Zimmer (Legal Senior Director) and Marie Tsang (Media Manager).
The team at PepsiCo Beverages North America included Greg Lyons (Chief Marketing Officer), Stacy Taffet (Marketing Senior Vice President), Greg Herman (Marketing Senior Director), Amanda Mendel Zamore (Marketing Director), Lizzy Hlad (Marketing Associate Manager), Emily Tobias (Media Marketing Senior Manager), Caitlin Winsor (Media Marketing Director), Melissa Duhaime (Sports Marketing Director), Sophia Omuemu (Sports Marketing Manager), Nora Quartaro (External Communications Senior Director), Kristen Mueller (External Communications Senior Director), Ali Meade (External Communications Director), Taylor Heath ( External Communications Associate Manager), Mireya Iglesias-Ayala (Marketing Senior Analyst), Michael Lazar (eComm Marketing Lead), David Wexler (Legal Senior Director), Carolyn Fazzinga (Legal Senior Assistant), Jill Bilotta (Legal Assistant), Kelly Lasaponara, (Sr Legal Specialist) and Gary White (Consumer Relations Associate Manager).
The unit at in-house creative agency D3 was led by Chris Bellinger (VP Creative & Digital PepsiCo) and Tammy Schilling (Creative Director) and included Katheryn Renfroe, Sr (Associate Creative Director), Eric Snodgrass (Associate Creative Director), Nick Scott (Associate Creative Director), Rich Rodriguez (Sr Marketing Director), Elizabeth Baldwin (Sr Associate Account Director), Madelyn Bane (Account Supervisor), Dan Watson (Producer), James Clarke (Sr Director, Digital & Social), Ruchie Singh (Social Media Director) and Lauren Kozar (Associate Social Director).
Ketchum handled PR and communications through Vice President Manuela Gould,
Managing Account Supervisor Natalie Houck-Meloni, Account Supervisor Kelsey Kolisek, Senior Account Executive Katharine Morey and Assistant Account Executives Javen Joerger and Eden McColl.
A team at specialists Genesco was led by Laura Sipes (Sports Marketing VP) and Katelyn Krommenhoek (Sports Marketing Analyst), while a group at Direct Focus Inc was led by CEO Barry Rosen.
OMD handled media through Zach Garbiso (Senior Director Integrated Planning),
Valentina Cooper (Manager Integrated Planning), with input from Blaine Thompson (Associate Director Optimum Sports).
Superprime prdocued the campaign through Director Rick Famuyiwa, Managing Director / EP Rebecca Skinner, Managing Director / Head of Sales Michelle Ross, Executive Producer Kate Leahy, Head of Production / EP Matt Sanders and Producer William Green.
Editing was by The Den and post by The Mill, while audio was run through JSM.
Comment
The work offers a knowingly nod to the real world trend of players ‘unretiring’: leaning in to a much-discussed NFL topic. Plus it taps in to adland’s current ‘nostalgia’ trend: one which aims to comfort (the wealthy) Gen X and Boomer cohorts and aims to make them still feel relevant.
The big name, star-studded work feels a bit more like a Super Bowl spot than a kick-off campaign and thus demonstrates the company’s commitment to the league and to keeping the NFL as a key pillar in its North American marketing mix.
The 2023/24 season work continues the marketer’s long-running NFL relationship and, as Pepsi marks its 125th anniversary, the PepsiCo team have placed Pepsi Zero Sugar front and centre of its NFL portfolio.
While Pepsi relinquished its brand sponsorship of the Super Bowl Halftime Show (the Big Game’s most-watched segment), the brand has remained the official soft drink of the NFL for more than 20 years. But this season PepsiCo switched its Pepsi Zero Sugar brand to be a key part of the NFL relationship: naming it the ‘Official Zero’ sponsor of the upcoming season.
Pepsi rebranded Pepsi Max to Pepsi Zero Sugar in the USA in 2016.
This switch up saw the company uses the start of the 2023-2024 football season to capitalize on a recent league change in allowing the number ‘0 zero’ to be worn by players on their shirts.
Indeed, Pepsi also partnered with Philadelphia Eagles running back D’Andre Swift to give away 100 #0 NFL team jerseys to fans of players wearing the #0, while consumers were also invited to enter to win a jersey at a special website through 17 September.
Pepsi Zero Sugar will also give fans a chance to win tickets to their first-ever NFL game later in the season, as well as incentivise them to vote for the ‘Pepsi Zero Sugar NFL Rookie of the Week’ and ‘Rookie of the Year’ programs.
“With many fans expressing their excitement to see which of their favourite players choose Zero, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for Pepsi Zero Sugar to show up for the most loyal football watchers,” added PepsiCo Director Of Sports Marketing Melissa Duhaime.
The move sees PepsiCo seek to boost the zero-sugar brand after a recipe reformulation in January 2023 as zero-sugar sodas slowly overtaking diet sodas in the UDSA as consumer preferences shifts.
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