The partnership includes the development of new PepsiCo products exclusively for NFL players that will later roll out to consumers nationally in 2023.
As part of an announcement that PepsiCo and the NFL agreed to a multi-year extension of their longstanding partnership deal, Pepsi will no longer be the Super Bowl halftime show’s title sponsor after a decade in that role, the companies said Tuesday.
PepsiCo said its decision to leave the halftime show is the first move as part of a larger strategic shift to bring music and entertainment experiences directly to fans where they are, guaranteeing the level of access and engaging experiences fans have come to expect from the brand. Pepsi’s halftime show won Twitter‘s “Brand Bowl” three years in a row, and this year’s Super Bowl LVI edition spawned a first-ever behind-the-scenes halftime show documentary, all accompanied by the first-ever halftime show trailer starring Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
Moving forward, Pepsi will continue its strong presence during NFL games and sponsoring teams and players, which includes bringing back its fan-voted Rookie of the Week and Rookie of the Year honors.
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While PepsiCo-owned Gatorade will continue to be the NFL’s official exclusive sports performance provider in locker rooms and on sidelines, the new PepsiCo deal includes the development of new athlete-focused products that will be used exclusively by NFL players during the fall before being rolled out nationally to consumers early in 2023. PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay will continue its tentpole NFL activations across the retail, media, and experiential realms, well as creating scalable programs to leverage league rights locally and nationally.
Though Pepsi said it’s proud of its decade of supporting the Super Bowl’s iconic halftime show and the 26 musical acts who featured in it over the course of this tenure, it’s ready to begin its new music partnership while building on its relationship of nearly 40 years with the NFL with new kinds of programming.
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