When PepsiCo ended its decade-long sponsorship of the Super Bowl Halftime Show last year, the food and beverage giant leaned into football’s global cousin soccer to make a cultural splash, taking its learnings from the halftime show to other parts of the world.

The UEFA Champions League (UCL) final, considered the biggest game in club football, was played in Istanbul earlier this month. The first-of-its-kind PepsiCo Kick Off Show featured Brazilian superstar Anitta and Burna Boy as headliners. (As for the game, Manchester City was victorious over Inter Milan.)

Viewership dwarves that of the Super Bowl, with this year’s final expected to be around 450 million people. The 2023 Super Bowl averaged 115 million viewers, the most ever.

A few days after the game, PepsiCo announced a three-year renewal of the partnership, which originally began in 2015.

“Pepsi knows, more than most brands, that they have the power to positively, and potentially negatively, move culture,” said Dan Gardner, co-founder and chairman of digital creative agency Code and Theory. “And there are few larger positive global cultural moments than UEFA matches.”

For PepsiCo it’s about being able to go deeper and actually tell different stories.

Mark Kirkham, svp and CMO of international beverages, PepsiCo

“Like any partnership or sponsorship, you need to evolve, and I think the whole industry is changing,” explained Mark Kirkham, svp and CMO of international beverages at PepsiCo. “It’s no longer just about LEDs and impressions. It’s about the value you create and how you turn the sponsorship into a true brand-building partnership.”

Part of that evolution saw the Kick Off Show livestreamed on TikTok for the first time. Global singing stars and caffeinated performances have replaced DJs and smaller-scale activations. “You can see the production value has increased,” he said.

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