Manchester United denies that Coca-Cola/Pepsi conflict threatened Australian A-League All-Star friendly
Manchester United has denied reports that there was ever a possibility that a recent friendly match in Australia nearly didn’t go ahead due to a sponsorship clash between Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
The sell-out match at the ANZ Stadium against an Australian A-League All-Star team was apparently placed in jeopardy, despite over 83,000 fans attending, when the stadium’s screens began to run Coca-Cola adverts.
These apparently concerned the Manchester United commercial department as the club was set to sign a commercial deal with Coca-Cola rivals Pepsi across the Asia Pacific region.
Eventually, the adverts were replaced by adverts for another Coca-Cola product Mount Franklin water instead, reported Yahoo News.
Kate Lowe, commercial media relations manager for Manchester United, told The Drum: “The contract for the game stipulated a stadium free from branding and that was not delivered. The Club made its views known to the organisers and confirmed that immediate work was required to correct the error. However, there was never a suggestion that the game would not go ahead.”
The deal between the club and PepsiCo was agreed last week, which will see the company become Manchester United’s Official Soft Drinks Partner in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. This will allow Pepsi exclusive rights to use the Manchester United branding on its products and point of sale materials across these markets and will feature Pepsi’s “Live for Now” positioning.