Making a Splash at Super Bowl LIII with Pepsi and bubly

What is the value of a Super Bowl ad for an emerging challenger brand?
Each February, the Super Bowl provides a lucrative opportunity for advertisers to connect with an engaged, nationwide audience. Expensive ad spots and creative resources are often reserved for renowned global brands, but for emerging challenger brands, the big game offers a chance to break into the national spotlight.
In 2019, PepsiCo took somewhat of an unconventional approach to their Super Bowl LIII strategy, choosing to feature bubly – their emerging, lesser-known seltzer brand – in one of their ad spots. With a unique, charming creative featuring Michael Bublé and supplemental branded sponsorships, PepsiCo and bubly seized this chance, maximizing ROI and driving significant lifts in key branding metrics and market share.

The Scenario

As an emerging challenger brand in the crowded seltzer category, bubly wanted to make a splash at Super Bowl LIII to drive impact across the purchasing funnel and win greater market share.

The Solution

PepsiCo ran an integrated marketing campaign around Super Bowl LIII, audaciously choosing to feature bubly in one of their in-game ad spots.

PepsiCo kicked off the bubly campaign with a branded sponsorship on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in the weeks prior to the Super Bowl.

For their 30-second Super Bowl ad, PepsiCo brought in Michael Bublé for a playful, charming ad that exemplified the bubly brand persona.

PepsiCo tapped Comscore to measure the reach, performance and health of the bubly brand before, during and after the Super Bowl.

The Success

Comscore data reveals that the bubly TV ad reached more than 85 million viewers as the overall campaign drove significant lifts in key branding metrics, including awareness, linkage, and Share of Consumer Choice™ – a common proxy for market share.

Awareness

Both unaided and aided awareness of the bubly brand spiked leading up the Super Bowl – and remained relatively consistent in the weeks thereafter.

  Unaided Awareness Aided Awareness
 Pre-Super BowlSuper Bowl WeekPost-Super Bowl Pre-Super BowlSuper Bowl Week Post-Super Bowl
bubly12%22% 20% 52% 77% 75%
Competitive Average 22% 24% 27% 89% 94% 94%

Linkage

With the reach of the Super Bowl, the right creative and a well-executed campaign, bubly drove
significant commercial recognition, increasing unaided linkage by 46%.

Unaided Linkage

56%

Pre-Super Bowl

80%

Week of Super Bowl

82%

Post-Super Bowl

Share of Consumer Choice

The campaign drove improvements in Share of Consumer Choice (SoCC), Comscore’s proprietary metric that is often used as a proxy for market share. Among the top five sparkling water brands, bubly won the highest SoCC post-Super Bowl.

bubly Brand

6%
Pre-Super Bowl
13%
Week of Super Bowl
12%
Post-Super Bowl
Share of Consumer Choice - Post-Super Bowl