• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

For the latest iteration of “Food Deserves Pepsi,” the brand partnered with Casey’s, its first convenience store partner on the campaign.

Located in the South and Midwest, Casey’s is the third largest convenience store in the U.S. and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the country. 

Pepsi teamed up with Casey’s for a new ad celebrating pizza and Pepsi as the “Ultimate Duo.” The ad, running in 30- and 15-second iterations, follows a “Pepsi Chaser” committed to ensuring no one misses out on an essential Pepsi pairing. When a customer leaves Casey’s with a slice of pizza without a Pepsi, a Casey’s employee phones in the “Pepsi Chaser,” who quickly tracks him down.

The campaign is running nationally across digital and social media platforms, as well as on fuel-pump screens. Supporting campaign elements include further digital content and promotional offers.

The partnership supports Casey’s positioning blending convenience retail with QSR, while providing Pepsi a new type of partnership supporting two focus areas for the brand.

During a recent Q3 earnings call, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta described both the away-from-home category and the “Food Deserves Pepsi” platform as “a focus” for the company.  

“Away-from-home is growing very fast for us, in the U.S. and internationally,” Laguarta said during the call, estimating the category was growing at two to three times the rate of the retail business.

“The meal occasion is critical for beverages, it's very important for cola. And we are focusing more and more in gaining points of access to the brand and linking the brand to that particular occasion in a culturally relevant way,” Laguarta said, while expanding the focus to more “different types of foods for different types of consumers.”

The campaign follows Pepsi’s focus on pairing the beverage with pizza in its “Pepsi Chase Cars” campaign last year, which saw the vehicles track down pizza deliveries to arrive on the scene with cold Pepsi. Pepsi also took “Food Deserves Pepsi” on the road to Philadelphia last month for its “Philly Eats Fest.”