This NFL season, Kelce and Eanes have narrowed their list of brand partners, focused on opportunities in entertainment, and looked ahead to 2025 and 2026.
For Kelce’s three NFL Kickoff partners—General Mills, Lowe’s, and Pepsi—and those looking to partner with the 11-year NFL veteran and his management team in the future, accommodating his tastes in cereal and soda, his commitment to community, and his increasingly packed schedule can secure his place on a brand’s roster.
“If he’s doing live events, if he’s going to be on camera out of town, if he’s a business owner himself, if he’s doing stuff in the community, how do we talk to brands in a more holistic way, so that all the stuff a brand wants to do and is doing is aligned in the areas he’s aligned with?” Eanes said. “How do we bring those together so that [brands] get more value; we generate better and more engaging, authentic conversations and content; and then, ultimately, you’d have more of a true and great partnership versus a one-off?”
The long game
Pepsi has sponsored the NFL for more than 20 years but first linked up with Kelce in 2017 during his fifth year in the league and just after his first All-Pro season with the Chiefs.
Since then, the company has worked with Kelce on a number of projects both in Kansas City and nationally, focusing on his podcast-professed love of Wild Cherry Pepsi earlier this year and teaming with Joe’s KC Bar-B-Que on a Kelce-inspired combo meal.
“With Wild Cherry Pepsi, he’s always talking about it, and it comes down to authenticity: Does this brand, this product, this service actually fit in his life?” Eanes said. “The customer is smart—they can tell if you don’t use something—so if we lean on the authenticity angle, we’re going to be in a better position.”
But Pepsi hadn’t worked with Kelce on a major commercial campaign before it cast him in a remake of its Gladiator-themed Super Bowl spot from 2004 featuring Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. The new “Make Your Gameday Epic” kickoff spot—produced by Ridley Scott Associates, Paramount Brand Studio, and directed by Jake Scott in collaboration with Paramount Pictures—promotes Paramount’s upcoming film Gladiator II while throwing Kelce into the mix with his NFL colleagues Josh Allen, Justin Jefferson, and Derrick Henry, as well as Megan Thee Stallion.