No Pepsi Ads During 2010 Super Bowl; Pepsi Begins Refresh Project

There will no Pepsi ads during the 2010 Super Bowl. Pepsi made the decision that 2010 Super Bowl ads were just too expensive, and that they could go in a new direction that would be more cost effective in the coming year. With the state of the economy right now, this isn't a very surprising move by Pepsi, but it does bring an end to an era of great Pepsi commercials during the Super Bowl. One of those extremely memorable Super Bowl commercials from Pepsi depicted Cindy Crawford enjoying a Pepsi, a commercial that has gone down in history as being one of the most iconic of the past 25 years.

According to USA Today, the cost of one 30 second commercial at the 2009 Super Bowl was about $3 million. That is a huge chunk of change for the hope that viewers will be paying attention when your commercial is finally aired. It's a big risk too, because if the commercial doesn't hit at the right moment during the Super Bowl, it may be missed by people either running to grab a snack or surfing around the channels if a game has gotten out of hand. The price for Super Bowl commercials is always so high because the ratings of the biggest NFL game of the season tend to be the #1 television program every year.

Usually Pepsi purchases more than one commercial spot during the Super Bowl, and that could run them into the 10's of millions in total costs. Taking all that money they would have normally spend on one day of advertising, Pepsi is going to go in the direction of a "movement" according to spokeswoman Nicole Bradley. It could be a very smart move for the company, because they are getting double the advertising by making this move. Not only is it big news that Pepsi is bowing out of the 2010 Super Bowl, but the fact that people are talking so much about them is getting them free advertising side-by-side with the Super Bowl without having to pay a dime.

In 2010 Pepsi is going to be starting a new marketing campaign called "The Pepsi Refresh Project", where they will be giving money to communities to help refresh them. It's not just about giving them Pepsi to drink, but to help build up communities that may have gone through some tough times. They are going to be publishing a web site where users can submit projects they want Pepsi to sponsor, and then people will be able to go to the Pepsi site and vote on the projects they feel should receive the money. It's a nice effort by Pepsi to give something back, and it seems like a far better way to spend the money they would have burned during the 2010 Super Bowl.

Sources:

USA Today Article

Pepsi Web Site