PEPSI
Atlanta is a city that "bleeds Coca-Cola red," and PepsiCo is "having some fun with its status as Super Bowl sponsor this year," according to Sasso & Novy-Williams of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Pepsi is an official sponsor of the NFL, and near the World of Coca-Cola attraction in Atlanta, Pepsi's marketing team has "erected a billboard with a teasing message: 'Pepsi in Atlanta. How refreshing." Having brands clash is "rare for the Super Bowl." Each year, the area surrounding the host stadium and the "heavily trafficked fan zone is blocked off for any business" that is not an NFL partner. The "twist this year" is that Coke has property "within that restricted area in Atlanta." The company's 92,000-square-foot World of Coca-Cola museum is "just 800 yards from Mercedes-Benz Stadium." Super Bowl host cities are "required to organize these areas -- called clean zones," but Coke's presence in Atlanta's clean zone is "front and center." Work crews this week have "turned much of downtown Atlanta into a shrine to the NFL," with a "giant building wrap of the Vince Lombardi Trophy" around the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel. Bud Light's Bud Knight is "wrapped around another tower." Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a Coke venue, and fans at Super Bowl LIII will be "able to buy Coke, but the signs will be gone, and there will be no Coke cups." Pepsi will be "served in the suites." Meanwhile, the Coke-Pepsi clash "isn't the only marketing battle afoot," as Lowe's, the NFL's newest sponsor, unveiled their partnership in Atlanta to "target the hometown of rival Home Depot" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/30).
NO HARD FEELINGS: In Atlanta, Matt Kempner notes PepsiCo this week "briefly placed a statue of its founder Caleb Bradham beside a life-size bronze statue of Coca-Cola founder John Pemberton" in downtown. In a "quick, stealth photo shoot, Pepsi made it appear the statues were about to clink glasses of their respective colas." Pepsi tweeted, "Hey @CocaCola thanks for being such gracious hosts for #SBLIII this week" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 1/31).
