Pepsi goes orange to celebrate Sunday Night Football’s return to Cleveland
Cleveland Browns fans are long suffering – first losing their team to Baltimore in the 90s and then just plain losing for years after the team was re-established. Pepsi figured the fans needed a pick-me-up, which is why the soft drink giant is helping Cleveland celebrate the city’s return to NBC Sunday Night Football.
Believeland Pepsi for Cleveland's return to Sunday Night Football
For 11 years, football fans have waited anxiously for the return of Sunday Night Football (SNF) to Cleveland. On September 22, the wait will finally be over. To celebrate the return to prime time, Pepsi, with the help of defensive end Myles Garrett, is introducing a limited edition ‘Believeland’ Pepsi, a custom orange-colored cola – which apparently tastes like Pepsi, not orange. Pepsi will only be producing 1,100 bottles of ‘Believeland’ Pepsi (100 for every year Cleveland has had to wait for Sunday Night Football to return), and it will be available at the tailgate party, which will be free for all fans.
“Cleveland has some of the most passionate fans on the planet – across all sports. It’s really a place where they’ve waited so long for this. We thought the return of Sunday Night Football was a really great opportunity to really celebrate with the community for this return,” Todd Kaplan, vice-president of marketing, Pepsi, told The Drum.
“There has been so much hype and energy building among fans across the country this year, and it’s amazing that Pepsi is doing something extra special with the launch of ‘Believeland’ Pepsi and party on Sunday,” noted defensive end Myles Garrett in a release.
On Sunday, Pepsi will be kicking off the celebrations early with a tailgate party takeover at Lindey’s Lake House starting at 2pm ET. All fans get in for free and the party will feature a performance by indie pop band, Lovelytheband, the limited batch of ‘Believeland’ Pepsi and fan trivia with prizes.
Throughout the remainder of the week, fans can join in on the celebrations by checking out Myles Garrett’s Twitter page and following @Pepsi #GoBelieveland. Of the 1,100 “Believeland” Pepsi bottles produced, five will feature special golden labels with a prize for the recipients; fans should look out for more detail on Pepsi’s Twitter.
“We’re also going to have strategically placed ads throughout the city to further fuel the excitement…from projection mapping to out-of-home and print ads. It’s going to be a fun, fully-integrated, localized campaign for the week that we think will really generate some excitement for the city of Cleveland,” added Kaplan, who said that the company has been trying to get more strategically focused on connecting with its local markets and our local communities all around the country.
Pepsi is a longstanding partner with the NFL, and this is its second year sponsoring NBC Sunday Night Football. The brand launched a new campaign with the NFL called ‘Always Be Celebrating,’ and Kaplan thinks the Cleveland celebration is a great tie to that. “We’re excited to be bigger partners with the NFL,” he said.
See the campaign elements by clicking on the Creative Works box below.
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