This post was created in partnership with Ibotta
Having a commercial air during the Big Game has always seemed like a no-brainer for brands—the event’s reach and cultural impact are unrivaled. But as the marketing landscape becomes more fragmented, does the high price, now upwards of $10 million, still hold the value it once did?
At an ADWEEK House: The Big Game fireside chat co-hosted with Ibotta, Mark Kirkham, CMO of PepsiCo Beverages U.S., sat down with Chris Riedy, CRO at Ibotta, to discuss the changing role of the Big Game in advertising.
A new metric for success
For marketers, the Big Game has become more than a single event for reaching consumers. Kirkham now sees it as an entire sales season, and he positions his team appropriately.
“You’re not planning for a game,” Kirkham said. “You’re planning for resets at a retailer, you’re planning for ecommerce exclusives, and great promotional programs with partners like Ibotta. And you’re planning for, essentially, a January-til-March kind of trade window.”
While in simpler times, a Big Game spot was deemed a success because it could reach millions of homes at once, that metric has evolved.
“You do not measure the success of the Super Bowl based on that 30-second return on investment,” Kirkham explained. “You base it on the memory structures you recreate. You base it off trial. You base it off the Instagram pictures of people going and buying our product and saying, ‘I’m going to try it.’ And it’s not always easy to measure, but I think, ultimately, when you add all that up, it’s definitely going to pay off.”
Tapping into brand love
Ibotta’s Chris Riedy pointed out that consumers aren’t a brand’s only customers—retailers who stock their products are, too. But those same retailers can also become competitors when they launch similar private-label items. Riedy asked Kirkham about the growing challenge this poses as private-label sales continue to rise against premium brands.
“You have to make sure you’ve got the right value equation, which is about pricing, but it’s bigger than that. You have to have the right brand building and storytelling,” Kirkham responded.
On top of that, Kirkham pointed out that consumers love brands and are often willing to pay more for the brands they love; his team ignites that love by using storytelling, nostalgia, and pop culture references.
This was the guiding light behind Pepsi’s Big Game ad, “The Choice.” In the ad, a rival soda brand’s famous polar bear takes the Pepsi Challenge and is shocked after discovering he’s picked Pepsi Zero Sugar. The choice triggers an existential crisis—until the bear later reappears on a concert kiss cam, happily sipping a Pepsi in a playful nod to the viral Coldplay moment from July 2025.
