Gameday food is the center of gravity for PepsiCo's refreshed NFL marketing push, which positions Pepsi as the cola category's answer to stadium-style spreads — burgers, wings, pizza, ribs — rather than leaning on sports spectacle alone. The 26th consecutive NFL season partnership is anchored by a revived "Tailgating Deserves Pepsi" platform that signals how beverage brands are increasingly framing their value around food pairings, a strategy with direct implications for foodservice operators and retailers stocking gameday coolers.
The Campaign Mechanics
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome "The Bus" Bettis stars as the campaign's self-appointed "Pepsi ref of gameday flavor," calling penalties whenever someone pairs a burger or hot dog with anything but an ice-cold Pepsi. NFL wide receiver Justin Jefferson appears alongside Bettis in the launch spot. Two additional creative executions — one set in a fan's home, another in a grocery store aisle — will roll out during the NFL's highest-rated broadcast windows throughout the season. For operators and retailers, the grocery-aisle spot in particular signals that PepsiCo is driving point-of-purchase awareness at the retail level, where much of the pre-game stocking happens.
To coincide with the season opener, PepsiCo ran a digital promotion from September 9 through September 14, offering a free 12-pack of Pepsi Zero Sugar — capped at 5,000 redemptions — redeemable at participating U.S. retailers. The short redemption window and hard cap underscore a trial-driving mechanic designed to get Pepsi Zero Sugar into coolers and refrigerators before the season's first full slate of games.
Why Food Pairing Matters for Operators
Gustavo Reyna, Vice President of Marketing at Pepsi, framed the campaign's rationale around food as the connective tissue of the gameday ritual. "We know food is at the center of it all," Reyna said. "Gameday spreads are too important to fumble. Pepsi is made for the bold flavors of football season."
That positioning has a downstream effect for restaurants and bars running gameday specials and for foodservice distributors supplying venues with NFL partnerships. When a major beverage brand doubles down on food-pairing messaging — particularly around high-volume categories like wings, pizza, and burgers — it reinforces menu decisions and can influence fountain and packaged beverage placements at the venue level. Operators tracking beverage industry trends will note that the Zero Sugar variant is the featured SKU in the promotional offer, reflecting continued category momentum for reduced-sugar carbonated soft drinks.
The campaign extends beyond creative advertising. PepsiCo says it will activate Tailgating Deserves Pepsi through exclusive merchandise, tailgating experiences, fan surprises, and team-specific moments throughout the season. Those activations are tied to a growing roster of 15 NFL team partnerships, now including the recently added Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and ten others.
For restaurant and hospitality operators navigating the increasingly crowded gameday occasion, the Pepsi campaign is a reminder that beverage suppliers are investing heavily in the food-pairing narrative — and that aligning with those themes on menus and in-venue promotions can amplify traffic and check averages during football season's peak windows.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
