NEW YORK (AP) – PepsiCo, traditionally one of the top spenders on Super Bowl ads, plans to keep spending in this year of economic malaise.
Executives unveiled a 3-D commercial for its SoBe Life Water on Tuesday that will air at halftime, and other Super Bowl spots are planned for Pepsi, Gatorade and PepsiMax.
PepsiCo’s total spending is undecided for Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIII, a contest between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers to be played in Tampa, Fla.
“We might add some more time,” PepsiCo Americas Beverages chief Massimo D’Amore told The Associated Press on Tuesday, with five days to go before the game.
NBC has said 90 percent of the Super Bowl ads were sold as of mid-January. Most ads have sold for about $3 million per 30-second spot – an all-time high price for the Super Bowl. The yearly matchup is the most watched event in the nation, with about 100 million U.S. viewers.
PepsiCo Inc. was the event’s top advertiser last year, according to estimates by TNS Media, and most likely will again be in the top three.
ing campaign from the Purchase, N.Y.-based maker of snacks and drinks. And it comes a week after PepsiCo’s bigger rival, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., announced a new global marketing campaign. The dueling ad campaigns use words like “happiness” and “optimism” to appeal to consumers besieged by financial trouble.
For its part, PepsiCo unveiled a whole new logo – its 10th change ever – and new packaging for all brands. For example, its orange juice brand, Tropicana, now features a glass of orange juice instead of an orange with a straw in it.
Executives liken the new logo – a circle enclosing curved bands of red, white and blue – to a smile.
Bloggers, on the other hand, say it is a rip-off of President Barack Obama’s campaign logo.
“We’re not sure who followed whom,” said Frank Cooper, a vice president of brands at PepsiCo’s Americas Beverages. “We’re about a smile, not a frontier.”
The Super Bowl has long been a marketing focus for the company, but this year’s focus on beverages is a change. Last year, the company used one spot on Doritos, a product of its Frito-Lay snacks business.
Chief Executive Indra Nooyi has said Pepsi’s core soft drink products are key to the company’s success.
Its spending on the Super Bowl has not waned even as General Motors Corp., FedEx Corp. and Garmin Ltd., all past advertisers, opted out this year. New entrants this year include Mars Inc.’s Pedigree pet food.
PepsiCo advertisers, led by branding expert Peter Arnell and TBWA Worldwide, hope to draw consumer attention with the halftime spot, which features three NFL stars in white unitards doing ballet and then clashing with aliens and lizards.
“I feel like it’s going to be one of those commercials people are going to be talking about,” said Justin Tuck, a defensive end for the New York Giants who stars in the ad with Matt Light of the New England Patriots and Ray Lewis, an inside linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens.
Light said the spot gives his teammates months’ worth of material for locker room teasing.
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