PepsiCo Challenges AB's Super Bowl Ads...

Do you have the skills to create a better Super Bowl commercial advertisement than Anheuser-Busch?

If so, you have a chance of winning $1MM from PepsiCo as part of their new promotional efforts to steal some of the limelight from Anheuser-Busch. PepsiCo is offering up the $1MM grand prize to anyone who can create a Super Bowl commercial for its Doritos tortilla chip brand that trumps all other advertisements in the USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter. Anhueser-Busch has walked away with the top Super Bowl spot the past ten (10) years. PepsiCo is hoping that the high stakes of its promotional efforts will not only place them atop the Super Bowl advertising rankings, but that it will deliver months of pre-game buzz leading up to the game's kickoff. 

In January, consumers will have the chance to choose the best consumer-generated ad from a group of five (5) finalists that will air during the Super Bowl. Regardless of the outcome, each of the five (5) finalists will still win $25K and a trip to the Super Bowl.

With :30 Super Bowl spots selling for $3MM (a 10% jump from the '08 SB contest), public relations and advertising executives say that winning the "pre-game buzz" battle is a critical way to offset the high costs of investment. For example, Nationwide Mutual Insurance claims to have received $23.3MM of free publicity from its '08 Super Bowl ad starring Kevin Federline.   

Source: The Wall Street Journal (PepsiCo Seeks to Raise Stakes on Super Bowl Ads)