Pepsi Announces Multiyear Deal To Sponsor Super Bowl Halftime Show

Pepsi today formally announced it has “struck a multiyear deal” with the NFL to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show, according to Candice Choi of the AP. Financial terms and the exact duration of the deal were not disclosed but Pepsi said that it “also bought 60 seconds of ad time during the big game.” The brand last sponsored the halftime show in ’07, and Bridgestone has been the sponsor since then. Pepsi Marketing Dir Adam Harter said that the NFL is “letting Pepsi have more input than past sponsors have had -- including on stage design and which musicians perform during the show.” Harter said that Pepsi will “also partner with the league in how the halftime show can be viewed online.” Pepsi will use the sponsorship “for promotions on the soda cans and bottles" (AP, 7/24).

WELCOME TO PITTSBURGH: PepsiCo yesterday also formally announced a multiyear sponsorship deal with the Steelers that gives its brands exclusivity across multiple categories as the team's non-alcoholic beverage (Pepsi), salty snacks (Frito-Lay) and sports beverage (Gatorade). As part of the deal, Pepsi gains pouring rights at Heinz Field; stadium signage; integration into mobile, TV and digital assets; and local media and retail opportunities. PepsiCo this fall throughout Pennsylvania will distribute a commemorative Pepsi Max can in honor of the Steelers' 80th anniversary (PepsiCo). Coca-Cola had sponsored the team for more than 50 years, and had naming rights for Heinz Field's Coca-Cola Great Hall museum and hall of fame (THE DAILY). Steelers Marketing Dir Tony Quatrini said, “It was a tough decision.” But he only had “good things to say about the team’s more-than-four-decade relationship" with the Coca-Cola. In Pittsburgh, Teresa Lindeman writes PepsiCo “won’t be selling cereal or orange juice at Heinz Field but the marketing team could put the Steelers logo on a box of Cap'n Crunch or do some fun promotions with Naked Juice.” Pepsi Sports Marketing Dir Todd Kaplan “declined to detail what sort of promotions the company plans to cook up with the Steelers." The switch to Pepsi products “has already been made at Heinz Field, where people who attended the Kenny Chesney concert a few weeks ago got Sierra Mist and not Sprite.” Lindeman notes earlier this year the Bears “looked beyond the obvious choices and signed a deal with the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 7/24).