Dive Brief:
- Pepsi this week launched “Soccer Deserves Pepsi,” a campaign that features soccer stars David Beckham, Memo Ochoa, Christian Pulisic, and Vini Jr., per a press release. The effort builds on the brand’s long-running marketing around food pairings.
- Beckham and Ochoa feature in English- and Spanish-language ads, respectively, that focus on fans watching soccer and pairing food with Pepsi at home. The spots were created in partnership with BBDO, Copa90 and The PepsiCo Studio and will air ahead of the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday.
- Along with ads, “Soccer Deserves Pepsi” spans custom social content, packaging, offers and prizes, and a tie-up with DoorDash. While timed to the Champions League final, the campaign will continue this summer during the FIFA World Cup.
Dive Insight:
Pepsi is updating its “Food Deserves Pepsi” efforts with an eye on a summer of soccer that begins with this weekend’s UEFA Champions League final and includes the men’s World Cup tournament in June and July. Pepsi rival Coca-Cola is an official sponsor of the World Cup and is using the tournament to hyperpersonalize its marketing at scale.
Without the official imprimatur of the World Cup, Pepsi is relying on soccer stars from the U.S., England, Mexico and Brazil to draw attention to its food-focused efforts. Two 30-second spots focus on fans eating food like wings and tacos while drinking Pepsi, suggesting that the pairings elevate the viewing experience.
“On match day, the food you serve matters just as much as the game itself – and Pepsi Zero Sugar is the cola that brings out the best in every bite and moment,” said Gustavo Reyna, vice president of marketing at Pepsi, in the press release.
Along with the ads, the campaign includes custom social and retail content featuring the soccer players; limited-edition packaging; exclusive offers via a Pepsi-branded destination on DoorDash; and partnerships with local restaurants. A sweepstakes offers a grand prize of an at-home viewing upgrade including a grill, projector and more.
The campaign will extend later this summer via a content series crafted alongside Copa90 that explores how food and soccer unite as part of local traditions across the U.S.
Apart from “Soccer Deserves Pepsi,” the brand this year rolled out a “Pepsi Football Nation” platform targeting soccer fans around the globe. That effort includes a browser extension that replaces “soccer” with “football” — the preferred nomenclature for the global game.
PepsiCo in Q1 2026 saw organic revenue increase 2.6%, per an earnings report, with both food and beverage businesses delivering a sequential acceleration in organic revenue growth in North America. PepsiCo’s Lay’s brand is activating around the World Cup, extending its “No Lay’s, No Game” platform to offer what executives described to Marketing Dive as “scaled intimacy.”
