Coca-Cola, PepsiCo Trade Places as Coke Gets MLS and PepsiCo Gets NBA
By Karl Greenberg
It's official. With professional basketball, Atlanta is out, Purchase is in. In soccer, it's the other way around. PepsiCo's new multi-year deal with the NBA, WNBA, NBA Development League and USA Basketball ends Coke's 30-year reign and puts Mountain Dew and Aquafina on center court.
While PepsiCo replaces Coke in the NBA, Coca-Cola has just signed a four-year deal that makes it official (non-alcoholic) beverage of MLS and U.S. Soccer, a role PepsiCo had held for nearly two decades.
The deal also means PepsiCo, which also has similar contracts with NHL, NFL, and MLB, has all four major sports leagues in the U.S. wrapped up in official-sponsor status.
PepsiCo and the NBA will pair Mountain Dew with the League's 3-on-3 program, while Aquafina will support programs around the NBA youth, health and wellness initiatives, per the partners. Other brands that the company is marketing with the program include Brisk, Doritos, and Ruffles.
Across the Pacific, Tingyi Holding, China's biggest soft drink maker and PepsiCo's partner in that nation, will position its Mister Kong brand as lead beverage in the NBA deal. The NBA says the league is the most popular in China, with 300 million fans. It is also the number-one team sport there, per the organization.
The deal gives PepsiCo and its Chinese partner central roles in NBA All-Star, NBA Playoffs, The Finals, NBA Draft, Boost Mobile WNBA All-Star, NBA-D League, All-Star presented by Kumbho Tire and USA Basketball Global Exhibition Tour.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, speaking at a press event in New York, noted that Gatorade is actually the longest-standing partner with the NBA, having been sports drink sponsor for 31 years.
He said the Mountain Dew 3-on-3 grassroots program will hit six cities in the U.S., "and then, over time, we will build it to a fully national program."
Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, said the 22 brands in PepsiCo's portfolio each generate over $1 billion in retail. Mountain Dew, she said, was a natural choice as lead brand for the partnership partly because of "its incredible growth and popularity with a Millennial fan going back to Code Red in 2001." Mountain Dew is also getting help from Russell Westbrook, a contender for the NBA MVP award this year.
Source
"Coca-Cola, PepsiCo Trade Places as Coke Gets MLS and PepsiCo Gets NBA." MediaPost, 4/13/15.