MAM
Pepsi to sponsor Super Bowl XLVII halftime show
MUMBAI: Beverage conglomerate Pepsi and the National Football League (NFL) in the US have announced that Pepsi will sponsor the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show set for 3 February 2013 in New Orleans.
The announcement of this multi-year deal follows the renewal of PepsiCo‘s long-term agreement with the NFL last year that includes brands Pepsi, Gatorade, Frito Lay, Quaker and Tropicana.
During this year‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show, Pepsi will bring its signature style of consumer engagement to pop culture‘s biggest stage. Pepsi will also have 60 seconds of advertising inventory during the Super Bowl XLVII broadcast on CBS.
PepsiCo and the NFL have enjoyed a long-standing relationship, which has spanned nearly three decades and has successfully aligned several of PepsiCo‘s brands with the NFL.
PepsiCo Beverages VP consumer engagement Adam Harter said, “Pepsi‘s deep-rooted heritage with the Super Bowl and with music truly makes this relationship a natural fit. As the most watched and highly-anticipated entertainment event of the year, the Super Bowl Halftime show is right at the heart of sports and music. We are excited to provide a fully integrated fan engagement experience for NFL and Pepsi fans.”
This relationship marks an important extension of Pepsi‘s “Live for Now” campaign, which looks to capture the excitement of the moment and deliver experiences and content that is current in pop culture. “On Super Bowl Sunday, the Big Game is at the center of the pop culture conversation. This is the perfect opportunity to inspire and invite Pepsi fans to Live for Now,” continued Harter.
Pepsi will serve as a partner to the NFL in shaping and enriching the fan viewing experience of the halftime performance. Through in-store activations, digital engagement and televised and in-person interaction with fans, Pepsi‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show sponsorship will join other PepsiCo brands such as Doritos in continuing to break new ground in the area of consumer engagement tied to the Big Game.
NFL senior VP, sponsorship, media sales Keith Turner said, “We are pleased to expand our relationship with Pepsi to include the Super Bowl halftime show. The NFL and Pepsi have a history of bringing fans closer to the game through music. We look forward to working with Pepsi to develop new and innovative ways to engage our fans starting with the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show in New Orleans.”
PepsiCo‘s multi-faceted partnership with the NFL is part of brand Pepsi‘s impressive roster of existing deals with major sports properties. Pepsi also has 16 NFL team deals in place, including its newly announced partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers. All of Pepsi‘s sports partnerships are supported with television, print, and radio advertisement, in-store retail activations, digital engagement, and breakthrough consumer engagement programs that provide fans with ways to enjoy their favourite sport.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
