How do you celebrate the launch of the most opulent sports venue yet built in the U.S. — a culmination of two NFL franchises’ long-term strategic vision — when the stadium is closed to the public?
The Los Angeles Rams and a group of sponsors led by PepsiCo will find out at Sunday’s opening of SoFi Stadium, counting on digital paths to bring at least some of the energy and audience impressions they’d hoped for.
Pepsi has soft drink rights for the Rams and Chargers.Courtesy of Pepsi
Instead of a halftime show, Pepsi will sponsor an online concert with Jay Rock, an L.A.-native rapper who will show off parts of the stadium while performing. The video will live at Pepsi’s YouTube channel for 24 hours after its debut on Sunday, joined by a series of other activations from stadium naming-rights partner SoFi, Nike and other sponsors.
It’s a far cry from having an on-field live show and crowds streaming through the stadium’s 46,000-square-foot Pepsi activation zone. But for Johannes Evenblij, PepsiCo’s West U.S. beverages division president, it’s about setting a tone in a long-term project.
“Is this delivering the exact same value? No, it’s probably going to be different, and we’re trying to make the best of it,” said Evenblij. “But this is a seven-year deal we have with the Chargers and Rams — and we’re not really looking at the next couple of months — and we also have a very deep commitment to Los Angeles.”
SoFi Stadium, built at a cost of more than $5 billion, has been envisioned as a linchpin of the NFL’s West Coast strategy for the next generation, and its debut on “Sunday Night Football” was to be a massive coming-out party.
“Success for us is people feeling like even though they can’t be at our games, that they’re still part of our games and who we are, and continue to be engaged with us through our partnerships,” said Lexi vonderLieth, the Rams’ vice president of partnership marketing.
Augmented reality will play a key role. The Rams are creating an AR experience to let fans go “inside” the stadium, following the perspective of a player going from the locker room to the field, and then tour the stadium virtually.
PepsiCo, which has both exclusive soft drink and salty snacks rights to the stadium and both the Rams and Chargers, also has created an AR filter that lets fans virtually paint team colors on their face for social media sharing. For the Chargers home opener on Sept. 20, Pepsi is giving away $20 Pizza Hut gift cards and custom T-shirts via promotions on the team’s social media accounts, Evenblij said.
Also this week, Nike is commissioning a mural to be created in a SoFi Stadium parking lot, and vonderLieth said they’re exploring ways to display it across the Los Angeles area. Sponsor SoFi will disclose more of its plans for the opener this week.
