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.
“A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked,” “Sing Sing,” “Baby Reindeer” Among Guild of Music Supervisors Award Winners
The Guild of Music Supervisors held its 15th annual awards ceremony on Sunday night (2/23) at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A., honoring the best achievements in music supervision and songwriting with feature category winners including “Wicked,” “A Complete Unknown,” “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Sing Sing.” Among the TV category winners were “Baby Reindeer,” “English Teacher” and “Agatha All Along.”
Stephen Schwartz was awarded the Icon Award to celebrate his contributions to the music and film industry. Schwartz performed his song “Beautiful City” on stage from his musical “Godspell.” Music producer and supervisor Bonnie Greenberg took to the stage to accept the Legacy Award for her outstanding career in music supervision. Music supervisor and executive at EA Games Steve Schnur won the most awards for the evening with two wins for his work on video games EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Keeping their promise of live performances from Best Song nominees, Oscar-nominees Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada performed their nominated song “Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing,” which took the prize for Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film. Danielle Ponder performed her nominated song “Egún” from Apple TV’s “Manhunt,” and the artist Role Model gave a rousing performance of their song “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” as the Spotlight artist of the evening.
The complete winners list for the 15th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards is as follows.
FILM
Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films
Maggie Rodford - “Wicked”
Best Music Supervision in Mid-Level Budget Films
Steven Gizicki - “A... Read More