Pepsi is back in the game. The soft drink brand will advertise in next year’s Super Bowl after sitting out last year for the first time in more than two decades.
Pepsi said Wednesday it will air three ads created by fans for its Pepsi MAX brand. The company has been marketing its no-calorie version of namesake Pepsi to counteract Coca-Cola’s fast-growing Coke Zero.
Last year, the Purchase, N.Y.-based company sidelined its top brand from the world’s biggest advertising spectacle for the first time since 1987. Pepsi had been a perennial advertiser but opted out of the game to shift spending to its “Pepsi Refresh Project,” which pays for community projects.
Pepsi also plans to once again advertise snack brand Doritos, and for a fifth year will air ads created by fans.
The company will air six 30-second ads total, three for each brand.
It declined to say how much it will spend on the ads. Commercials typically come in 30-second blocks — which sold this past year for between $2.5 million and more than $3 million.
Fans will make all six commercials and select two ads to air for each brand, while company executives will select the remaining ad for both Pepsi MAX and Doritos.
Submissions will be accepted from Sept. 27 through Nov. 15, and 10 finalists will be announced in January.
Pepsi is putting its dollars now behind Pepsi MAX, which has been around longer than Coke Zero but is a fraction of its size. Pepsi said it is selling 44 percent more Pepsi MAX since July, when it premiered a revamped version of a 1995 Super Bowl commercial. Pepsi’s “Diner” Super Bowl commercial features delivery drivers from Pepsi MAX and Coke Zero forming a short-lived friendship in a diner over music.
The drivers sample each other’s drinks and the Coca-Cola driver prefers Pepsi MAX.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More