• Ad Age, Wednesday, September 15, 2010 11 AM

After a year off, beverage giant Pepsi will be back in the Super Bowl with three :30 spots for Pepsi Max (ditto for Doritos), reports Natalie Zmuda, and will join its sibling in a "Crash the Super Bowl" campaign. The effort is being billed as the company's largest Power of One partnership ever. Joint in-store promotions for the two brands are planned.

This year's CGC contest will take the idea of discovery a step further, awarding a contract for a joint Pepsi Max/Doritos ad to the person whose commercial ranks the highest on the ad meter. PepsiCo is also again sweetening the deal by dangling plenty of cold, hard cash. Consumers stand to win up to $5 million if their ads take the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 slots.

It's a lot of money to spend on the Super Bowl, notes Zmuda, when, just a year ago, Pepsi beverages didn't advertise during the game, in favor of supporting the soft-drink marketer's Refresh program, which awards grants to consumers who want to refresh their communities. Pepsi says it can and will support both Refresh and Pepsi Max.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »