Coca-Cola says, after Pepsi, it will lead to Sideline Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl has always served as a standout in the long-running soda war between them Coca Cola And the Pepsi. This year, the beverage giants will be fighting that battle elsewhere.

The Coca-Cola Company said on Friday that it will not display ads in it CBSSuper Bowl LV broadcast, citing a “difficult choice” made to ensure that we are investing in the right resources during these unprecedented times. “ The Coca-Cola announcement comes on the heels of a similar ad made by competitor Pepsi, who has chosen to focus on her semi-annual show instead of running commercials for her flagship drink (her parent company, PepsiCo, will run a Mountain Dew soda commercial alongside various Frito-Lay snacks).

The Coca-Cola Company declined to make executives available for additional comment. The company spent $ 10 million in commercials placed on Fox’s 2020 broadcast of Super Bowl LIV, according to data from Kantar, ad spend tracker.

In December, the company said it would lay off 2,200 employees, or 17% of its global workforce, as it reduced the number of brands it operates. The Coca-Cola Company has already discontinued Tab, Odwalla and Zico Coconut Water. Like many other industries, the soft drink trade has been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged many occasions – big parties, attending live sporting events, and movie screenings in the theater – where sugary drinks are often consumed.

There is no doubt that the beverage companies‘ decisions to put their drinks on the sidelines It raises more questions about the Super Bowl’s financial underpinnings During the period of economic flow. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many advertisers to slash their budgets And reallocation of spending. Pepsi in the past scaled back Super Bowl activity during another moment of crisis. In 2010, as the nation made its way back from a severe recession, PepsiCo has decided not to display ads for any of its drinks, Ending a 23-year streak of promoting drinks during the Great Game.

CBS, seeking approximately $ 5.5 million in packages for Super Bowl TV ads, It has yet to announce the sale of its commercial in-game inventory. Last year’s game generated an estimated $ 435 million in advertising spend, according to Kantar – a new record.

Coca-Cola last exited Big Game in 2019, And choosing to play an ad just before it starts, but not at the event itself. By doing so, the soft drink maker ended the 11-year streak of Super Bowl ads appearing.

Coke has over the past two decades become one of the strongest players in the Super Bowl. Working alongside advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, Coca-Cola, to borrow one of their logos, has brought life to the game.

In 2008, the beverage company ran a cool setting featuring Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon characters (Underdog and Stewie from „Family Guy“) chasing a balloon version of a Coca-Cola bottle – but Charlie Brown overtakes them. Acknowledging that more Super Bowl viewers were using smartphones during the game, Coca-Cola in 2013 ran a social media feed of the famous animated polar bears to comment on all Super Bowl ads. During a previous Super Bowl tour (the soft drink giant took an eight-year break from the game after 1998), Coke captured the heart strings with a commercial showing a previous defensive intervention of Pittsburgh Steeler „Mean“ Joe Greene as he tosses a shirt to a young soccer fan. The appearance of the advertisement at Super Bowl XIV in 1980 helped make it a classic (although the ad had previously aired on television.