Deutsch looks ahead to the college football season for Dr. Pepper, bringing back the brand’s Larry Culpepper character for the fourth consecutive year.
In the spot, Culpepper claims “fans are craving Dr. Pepper more than ever.”
So he’s assembled a team to deliver the beverage to show up to “tailgates, the cheap seats, love seats” or anywhere else college football fans are craving Dr. Pepper. There’s even a surprise walk-on to the team.
The Culpepper character was created back in 2014 to get around the fact that while Dr. Pepper is an NCAA sponsor they aren’t allowed to show logos for any individual teams. The invention of the character, then, “gives us the right to be there and play and interact with fans in a really authentic way,” Dr. Pepper senior vice president of marketing and sponsorships Jaxie Alt told AdAge at the time.
The latest spot shows the Culpepper character wearing a bit thin and perhaps after all these years it’s time to hand off Dr. Pepper-dispensing duties to somebody else. Hey, he does have a supporting team (complete with Doug Flutie) now.
The spot makes its first appearance online today, ahead of its August 27 broadcast debut.