Dive Brief:
- Pepsi Zero Sugar is the “Official Zero” sponsor of the 2023-2024 NFL season, according a press release.
- Pepsi is partnering with Philadelphia Eagles running back D’Andre Swift to give away 100 #0 NFL team jerseys to fans of players wearing the #0. Consumers can enter to win a jersey at a special website through Sept. 17.
- The new sponsorship comes as several players, including Swift, will take the field in a few weeks wearing #0 jerseys for the first time. Pepsi has been the official soft drink of the NFL for over two decades.
Dive Insight:
With the start of the 2023 NFL season only a few weeks away, long-standing partner PepsiCo is looking to maximize its relationship with the football league. Pepsi Zero Sugar’s new “Official Zero” title follows a league vote earlier this year to make the number zero available on player jerseys for the first time.
The move also sees PepsiCo looking to boost its zero-sugar brand after a recipe reformulation in January. Zero-sugar sodas are slowly overtaking diet sodas as consumer preferences shift. The word “diet” has largely fallen out of fashion with younger consumers, even as the demand for no-calorie drinks remains. Pepsi rebranded Pepsi Max to Pepsi Zero Sugar in 2016, and has slowly been focused on increasing its market share since.
In addition to the activation with Swift, Pepsi Zero Sugar is planning to give fans a chance to win tickets to their first-ever NFL game later in the season. The fan-voted Pepsi Zero Sugar NFL Rookie of the Week and Rookie of the Year programs will also be making a comeback this season.
“With many fans expressing their excitement to see which of their favorite players choose Zero, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for Pepsi Zero Sugar to show up for the most loyal football watchers,” said Melissa Duhaime, director of sports marketing at PepsiCo, in a statement.
Brand marketing related to the NFL has undergone some major changes in the past couple of years. Anheuser-Busch InBev last year made headlines after it announced it would no longer have a monopoly on Super Bowl alcohol advertising, a privilege it had held for over three decades. Pepsi itself has also reevaluated its relationship with the league after it announced it would no longer sponsor the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2022.
