8 January saw Pepsi debut a national TV spot promoting its NFL partnership and its title sponsorship of the ‘Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show’.
This year’s Big Game entertainment, which will be spearheaded by The Weeknd, is teased through a new spot called ‘Get Ready’ which premiered during the opening round of the playoffs.
The 60-second spot shines the spotlight on various fans humming, singing and dancing along to The Weeknd’s hit single ‘Blinding Lights’ before closing with a cameo appearance by the star himself.
The commercial is the first time Pepsi has produced an ad specifically for the Halftime Show and is part of a strategy which will sees the brand not also run its traditional in-game spot.
As well as the spearhead ad, Pepsi’s Super Bowl activation will also include a bespoke website, a social media push, plus special Super Bowl packaging on 500 million bottles/cans with a QR code that leads to a website at PepsiHalftime.com which contains behind-the-scenes footage and an augmented reality filter, as well as other pieces of branded content.
The initiative also includes game-related, store display led retail promotions with chains including Kroger, Target, 7-Eleven and Dollar General.
“We’re putting all our muscle behind the Halftime Show this year,” explained Pepsi Marketing VP Todd Kaplan. “We’re expanding the 12 minutes of entertainment into a multi-platform, six-week campaign.”
“We haven’t had live music all year,” Kaplan added. “So, rather than waiting until Feb. 7 for the first big live music event of the year, we’re going to give access to build on that anticipation that consumers have right now. Obviously, 2020 has been a very difficult year for everybody. And so, as with any marketing program, we’re going to make sure that it’s appropriate in how we want to talk to consumers and it strikes the right tone and balance with what everyone’s going through in the country.”
Comment:
This is the 10th year of Pepsi’s official sponsorship of the Super Bowl Halftime Show – the game’s most watched segment and again sees the soft drinks giant turn the event into a national marketing push.
It marks not just the first time Pepsi hasn’t also run an in-game commercial, but also the first time that Pepsi has put a Halftime Show logo on its packaging.
Last year’s Super Bowl, broadcast on Fox, generated 102.1m viewers across all platforms (making it 2020’s most-watched US TV show) and it also saw PepsiCo run five 30-second in-game ads and one 60-second spot, as well as sponsor Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s Halftime Show.
According to Ad Week, Super Bowl broadcaster CBS is selling ads for $5.5m per 30-seconds – slightly lower than last year’s $5.6m.
This campaign follows in the footsteps of Pepsi’s previous sport/music entertainment crossover campaigns around the Super Bowl including its activations in 2019, 2017, 2016 and 2014.
Links:
Pepsi
https://www.pepsihalftime.com/
NFL
Super Bowl Halftime Show
https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl/halftime-show
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