Frito-Lay Super Bowl ads to highlight new products, Manning brothers

Frito-Lay said it’s planning three Super Bowl ads next month, including one highlighting NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning, Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders.

The PepsiCo subsidiary said one spot will highlight Doritos 3D Crunch, the ’90s-era snack the company recently said it was reviving. The third spot will promote its Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix, which was introduced Monday and mixes Cheetos with its Cheetos Popcorn. 

The ad with the NFL players will be a portfolio spot running just before the Feb. 7th game’s kickoff at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It will be part of a broader marketing campaign from Frito-Lay launching ahead of the game, but the company declined to provide details or timing. The other two will run during the game.

While Super Bowl LV may look different than the 54 earlier championship games because of the pandemic, the company said it still expects the broadcast to be the most-watched event of the year, and a priority for the company’s marketing plan. Frito-Lay said snack consumption has seen a major gain during the Covid pandemic.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in mid-December the organization hadn’t yet decided on seating capacity for the game, saying they’d be working with public and health officials to make decisions closer to the game. In November, the league had been planning to limit capacity at the game to 20%, CNBC reported.

Frito-Lay joins brands like M&M‘s, Pringles, Toyota and TurboTax, which have already said they’ll be advertising during the game. Frito-Lay sibling brand Pepsi is doubling down on its sponsorship of the halftime performance with a campaign starring The Weeknd, but it is not buying an ad slot on this year’s game. The 30-second slots of ad time cost around $5 million to $6 million this year.

But this year’s event on CBS will be one unlike any other for brands, which will have to strike the right tone in their messaging amid Covid.