• The New York Post , Monday, December 29, 2008 10:45 AM

Targeting millennials (b. 1980-1990) specifically, Pepsi will roll out its first campaign from TBWACD this week with eight billboards in Times Square that bubble over with optimism, as well as a TV spot that "uses Pepsi's redesigned logo to spell out upbeat words," Holly M. Sanders reports in a story billed as a Post "EXCLUSIVE."

"It's a complete relaunch of the brand," Ralph Santana, Pepsi's vp of colas, tells Sanders. "We're trying to get out of the old model of marketing."

Pepsi also is incorporating text messaging with interactive billboards, and will partner with MTV for its New Year's Eve coverage in its pursuit of the next Pepsi generation.

The big Pepsi news in the rest of the world, meanwhile, is that "Cola Deal Falls Flat For Becks," as the U.K's Sunday Mail puts it. The British football/futbal/soccer superstar -- now 33 and on loan to AC Milan from Major League Soccer's L.A. Galaxy -- took home £2 million annually for 10 years to promote Pepsi and appear in ads with the likes of Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez.

Read the whole story at The New York Post »