Rewind the historical playlist of Super Bowl commercials and you’ll notice that Pepsi and Doritos have dotted the decades of breaks in the football action, creating an impressive highlight reel with 30- and 60-second spots that have made the audience laugh, sing and even dance.
There was the boy who got stuck in a Pepsi bottle, the highest-rated ad of all time in the USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings.
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There was the great Ray Charles, who took Diet Pepsi to the show in ’91, leaving the audience repeating, “Uh huh! You’ve got the right one, baby!”
The battle between the Coca-Cola driver and the Pepsi driver remains a legend in the Super Bowl ad space, so much that you could argue a whole new generation of consumers associate the Youngbloods’ song “Get Together” with that commercial.
And how many people hear the phrase “Cindy Crawford’s commercial” and immediately think of this image:
From the chips aisle, Doritos’ contributions are just as impressive—from dogs bribing cat owners to wonky time machines to 2009, when the brand was at the forefront of a pop-culture shift in the Super Bowl ad timeline, becoming the first snack advertiser to win an Ad Meter.
Overall, if a Super Bowl commercial vault were ever constructed, PepsiCo and subsidiary Frito-Lay would have their own wing, a museum filled with campaigns from the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, and today.
But to look at the each brand’s big game impact through the small screen only tells half the story.
“Here’s a good stat for you,” began PepsiCo Beverages North America CMO Greg Lyons. “Two out of every three people who are going to be watching the Super Bowl at home are going to be enjoying a Pepsi Co. food or beverage.”
Life imitates art.
That revelation came at about the halfway point of USA TODAY Ad Meter’s conversation with Lyons and Frito-Lay North America CMO Brett O’Brien, one of the more interesting discussions with quite possibly the top combo in the Super Bowl ad game.
And as the shear volume of those numbers were considered—two-thirds of 90 or even 100 million?—Lyons added to the fuller picture:
“So (the Super Bowl) is just a natural fit for our brands. It’s when we’re at our best as PepsiCo.”
PepsiCo and Frito-Lay are back with three campaigns in 2023, one for Doritos plus newcomers Pepsi Zero Sugar and PopCorners. And while the two marketing execs have the hindsight of all the historically impressive ads mentioned above, the foresight heading into this year comes with added twists and turns.
“There definitely is a change,” said O’Brien. “We’re seeing a considerable amount of ad spending going up because people are way more active on social channels, on digital channels. They’re interacting all across the board—it’s not just one over the other; it’s multiple and often at the same time.”
Social media’s grand entrance on the national advertising stage is a familiar act at this point, but substantial growth within the space is hard to overlook. And, as both Lyons and O’Brien added, it was only a matter of time before brands placed a higher significance on digital areas during the production of Super Bowl ads.
“Creating an ad is no longer about creating an ad,” O’Brien continued. “It’s really about creating an experience around that ad, where consumers can participate, where they can engage differently, where they can make things (just like in the ad) and share content on TikTok that will ultimately end up in an ad.”
The latter part of that layout is not just a guess, either. Doritos has pushed the envelope for the 2023 creative to include fan interaction that culminates in one of social media’s compelling attributes: the possibility of a user suddenly becoming a star.
Ahead of the Super Bowl spot, fans were urged to check out a dance from TikTok sensation Tay (@vibin.wit.tay) and share their best interpretation with the hashtags #DoritosTriangleTryout and #Entry. From there, one lucky winner would be selected to star in the big game spot alongside Missy Elliott and Jack Harlow, and perhaps other surprise talents.
It’s the type of progressive lift that’s not unexpected from the more seasoned advertising vets like PepsiCo, nor is it unique. But grasping social media while juggling the multiple brands, with the numerous teasers and the overall direction, carries a daunting amount of production meetings that seems nearly impossible to control. (The amount of Zoom calls alone—Sheesh!)
The resounding way to describe it? Pressured.
Yet, the simplicity with which Lyons and O’Brien casually explain what many would envision as creative chaos is fascinating.
Lyons reflected on the process, looking at the campaign’s timeframe: “Having done this for a while now, 10 years ago, when you would do a Super Bowl ad, it was all about being the funniest or the most entertaining in the game. And we’re very careful on how we track the return on our investment and marketing. What we’ve learned is our playbook—the ad is still the centerpiece—it needs to be all about the buzz and the talk value you get leading up to the Super Bowl. That’s where most of the value is.”
He continued to explain that PepsiCo factors in a campaign’s advertising stamina when deciding on what the creative will entail, noting that “some creative ideas will do great in 30 seconds and win Ad Meter, but don’t have the stretchability of going on from that.”
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Two campaigns that did hit the mark this year were Pepsi Zero Sugar and PopCorners, both of which introduced post-pandemic data into the decisions.
For PopCorners—a healthier snack in the Frito-Lay lineup—it was about introducing variety, with O’Brien pointing out that “more people are throwing bigger parties, they’re entertaining more, so they need to have options for everybody.”
Pepsi Zero Sugar—a first national ad in the Super Bowl for Pepsi in 10 years—follows a similar path.
“Consumers coming out of this pandemic want to be healthier and are watching their calories a little bit more than they were,” Lyons said of the fastest-growing segment. “So, it’s on trend, and we’ve cracked it.”
The focal point of keeping up with consumer trends is another commonality across the marketing landscape, an area that’s seemingly reinventing itself by the second in the Digital Age.
But for Lyons and O’Brien, the shifting on the surface of the market doesn’t change the core of the company. In other words, although each new brand heading for the Super Bowl Sunday stage captures a progressive arc, it is still very much Pepsi—a brand that has six Ad Meter wins, eight runner-ups, and a strong understanding of entertainment value.
The proof is in the casting…
“Breaking Bad” stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul provide a heavy dose of pop-culture relevance in the PopCorners campaign, as does Raymond Cruz (aka Tuco Salamanca) and the show’s creator Vince Gilligan, who was revealed as the commercial’s director.
And the Pepsi Zero Sugar’s headliners—Ben Stiller and Steve Martin—wouldn’t need more than 30 seconds to get wide a demographic of fans laughing.
Will the star power combined with comedic timing and creativity capture the national audience’s attention?
That question brought us back to the midpoint of the conversation, where the overall answer lies within the stat provided by Lyons, which fits perfectly into an analogy:
While there will always be swings and misses in the advertising game, it’s always nice when two-thirds of the players are using your bat.
Life imitates art, indeed.
Wrapping up the conversation as we usually do at USA TODAY Ad Meter, we ended our time with both CMOs by asking what their favorite ad was throughout the years.
Brett O’Brien: “‘Doritos Crystal Ball.’ I love the simplicity of that spot, and it just cracks me up every time I see it.”
Greg Lyons agreed with the 2009 Ad Meter-winning commercial, then added: “On the beverage side—I’m a little biased on this one because I had something to do with it—but ‘Puppy Monkey Baby’ has a very special place in my heart.”
Puppy Monkey Baby—maybe the second most interesting combo in the Super Bowl ad game.
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