According to the Associated Press, Pepsi will not be advertising its beverages in next year’s Super Bowl, effectively ending a streak that began in 1987. The soft drink giant will instead shift its focus to marketing efforts that will mostly appear online.
Starting next month, the brand will unveil the “Pepsi Refresh Project,” which will pay out at least $20 million for projects people create to “refresh” communities. A web site for the initiative goes live on January 13th where people can list their projects, which will then be put up for public vote on Feb. 1.
While PepsiCo unit Frito-Lay will still advertise (i.e. Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl”) during the big game, Pepsi itself joins FedEx as two of the more notable brands sitting on the sidelines.