Pepsi kicked off the NFL season with a campaign that blends football, pop culture, and ancient Rome, titled “Gladiator II: Make You Gameday Epic.”
Produced by Ridley Scott Associates and Paramount Brand Studio, the campaign features NFL players Jason Kelce, Derrick Henry, Justin Jefferson, and Travis Kelce as modern-day gladiators. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion appears as an empress performing a reimagined version of “We Will Rock You.” The entire scene unfolds within the confines of a Pepsi can.
The campaign includes a multi-faceted marketing strategy that extends beyond the screen.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the campaign.
The Details:
- Of the 400 NFL ads tested from 9/1/23 – 8/31/24 (excluding network ads), the average spot featuring NFL content performed 19% higher among NFL fans (very/somewhat interested) than within the overall gen pop audience:
- “Gladiator II: Make You Gameday Epic” tracked a bit below this norm, with an overall 13% higher resonance among league fans.
- Attention and Watchability, driven by the pop culture characters and music, were very similar across both audiences (NFL fans and gen pop), leading to the smaller differential in overall response.
- “Gladiator II: Make You Gameday Epic” tracked a bit below this norm, with an overall 13% higher resonance among league fans.
- Across the broad audience, “Make Your Gameday Epic” found a receptive audience among viewers 35 and under, but the spot also had great success driving Pepsi consideration among NFL fans even though the creative was less NFL-focused (and therefore somewhat trailed some performance norms vs ads with NFL content over the past year):
- 56% of gen pop viewer sentiment was positive on the new :30, with most finding the presentation exciting, engaging, and attention-grabbing, with the strong female lead mentioned multiple times:
- For some, the ad felt busy/hard to follow but for many others the entertainment aspects were high, as intended. Few objections or even mentions of football/NFL content were seen among gen pop viewers.
- As such, the ad can serve as a strong Pepsi reminder within broader content beyond sports for younger viewers. 88% of all viewers (and NFL fans) easily recalled Pepsi as the advertiser (unaided), with little confusion despite the movie tie-in.
- For some, the ad felt busy/hard to follow but for many others the entertainment aspects were high, as intended. Few objections or even mentions of football/NFL content were seen among gen pop viewers.
Sample comments on “Make Your Gameday Epic” :30
“Featured celebrities that I like with good background music and lots of action scenes. Kept my interest the whole time.”
Female 21-35
“It was a pretty cool ad. Didn’t quite understand the gladiator stuff until I saw that it was to promote a movie. I would show this in movie theaters because if you showed it on TV I would be confused.”
Male 16-20
“This video is very creative. The representation combined with the music makes for a perfect video. I will be more likely now to sit on my couch on football Sundays with a nice cold Pepsi in my hand.”
Male 21-35
“The music, the sounds, the costumes—they all got my attention and kept my attention. I wanted to know more about the product being advertised.”
Male 16-20
“I love the female empowerment tones here. This ad caught both the eye and the ear, and no tigers were hurt so I’m ok with that.”
Female 36-49
“A little confused why Megan Thee Stallion was in the commercial and what she was doing, which had nothing to do with Pepsi, but the commercial was VERY engaging and interesting and kind of made me want a Pepsi!”
Female 21-35“
Visually appealing. Attention grabbing. Didn’t deliver any message, but probably don’t have to with such a well-established brand as Pepsi.”
Male 36-49
- In general, over the past year ads (across industries) featuring NFL content drove notably stronger intent among NFL Fans vs. gen pop viewers by an average of +13 pts, justifying spending in relevant NFL programming when investing in NFL-specific content:
- With a 67% Top 2 Box intent among NFL fans, the :30 “Make Your Gameday Epic” showed an even stronger advantage for Pepsi.
- Within the full viewing database, the average non-alcoholic beverage ad sparked a 54% consideration rate.
- With a 67% Top 2 Box intent among NFL fans, the :30 “Make Your Gameday Epic” showed an even stronger advantage for Pepsi.
Ineffective creative, even if delivered to the right audience, results in missed opportunity and performance shortfalls. Great creative delivered poorly also results in failed campaigns.
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Creative Agency: Paramount Brand Studio