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[XiaNaphryz]

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola announces deal with Major League Soccer:

The NBA announced Monday that PepsiCo's brands will be named the official foods and beverages of the NBA, the WNBA, the Development League and USA Basketball.

The five-year deal will give PepsiCo official partner status with all four major sports leagues. The rest of the terms were not disclosed.

The most prominent brand in the partnership will be Mountain Dew, replacing lead Coca-Cola brand Sprite, which was the sponsor of the Slam Dunk Contest. Coca-Cola had been a league sponsor since 1986.

PepsiCo's Gatorade already has been the league's longest continuous sponsor having a deal as the official sports drink since 1984.

New PepsiCo brands that will now have official status will include Aquafina, Brisk, Doritos and Ruffles. The deal also allows company partner Tingyi, China's largest soda producer, to exploit the league's portfolio of assets.

Mountain Dew was the third-best-selling soda in the United States in 2014 by market share (8.7 percent), behind only Coke (15.4 percent) and Pepsi (10.3 percent).

Coca-Cola said in a statement that it will "continue to have a strong presence within basketball culture through our relationships with iconic players. We will also continue to be visible through ongoing relationships with individual teams and venues."

The company has endorsement deals with LeBron James and Derrick Rose.

Coca-Cola announced Monday morning that it had signed a sponsorship deal to replace Pepsi as the official beverage of Major League Soccer. Pepsi had been partnered with MLS since the league's first season in 1996.

 

[Paskil]

I'm waiting for Pepsi to eventually become the official sponsor of Coca-Cola.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Mountain Dew what Coca-Cola don't.

 

[Trojita]

Basketball players no longer drinking Sprite. Damn.

 

[Magwik]

Coke still has McDonalds
All that matters
And it's still superior anyways

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Diet Pepsi is better.

Diet Coke tastes like a rusty nail.

 

[Cheebo]

Diet Pepsi is better.

Diet Coke tastes like a rusty nail.

Diet Coke is awful. Coke Zero is great.

 

[Shuggananas]

Soccer (well, football) still is the biggest anyway

Diet Coke is awful. Coke Zero is great.

It's exactly the same shit but it's black instead of grey.
Coca-Cola or Vanilla Coke, nothing else.

 

[mreddie]

It's a Pepsi World.

 

[Azih]

PepisCo. Makes Best Brand Sugar Water!

 

[CSX]

Im ready for some Mountain Dew Dunk Contests lol

 

[Trojita]

Soccer (well, football) still is the biggest anyway

It's exactly the same shit but it's black instead of grey.
Coca-Cola or Vanilla Coke, nothing else.

Your taste buds are broken brah.

 

[bjork]

Pepsi had Spice Girls.

The only good thing coke ever had was Jordan.

Who had Scottie Pippen, Shasta?

 

[TheAbsolution]

Honestly Mountain Dew probably makes more sense for the dunk contest somehow. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Paskil]

Cherry Coke Zero is the best cola.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Soccer (well, football) still is the biggest anyway

It's exactly the same shit but it's black instead of grey.
Coca-Cola or Vanilla Coke, nothing else.

This is factually incorrect.

 

[MonkeyMan29]

Cherry Coke Zero is the best cola.

Exactly.

 

[Brinbe]

Hell no... Sprite and the NBA will always intertwined in my mind. It's like roundball rock, that nostalgia is forever.

 

[andycapps]

Cherry Coke Zero is the best cola.

Truth.

 

[Drifters]

Coke is ahead of the curve on the MLS contract. Pepsi just a managed decline.

 

[Sephzilla]

Sponsorships wont hide the fact that Pepsi still tastes bad

 

[Fox318]

Surprising that Coke didn't match considering how much the sprite brand has meant to them but I guess they wanted Powerade in the stands instead of the Gatorade deal.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

UGH Pepsi's advertisements. they are seriously the bottom of the barrel marketing.
Oh hey Coke has iconic Santa Claus imagery at Christmas, lets do a commercial with Santa dissing Coke in the summer.
Oh Coke paid to sponsor American Idol? lets get a Pepsi intro bumper on that show.

Pathetic.

 

[LyleLanley]

 

[DoktorEvil]

I can't wait for the cross promotional Mountain Dew x Doritos Slam Dunk contest.

 

[xaosslug]

Coke still has McDonalds
All that matters
And it's still superior anyways

'sugary soft drinks' in America is dying a slow death anyway, and Coke remains the WW brand. Pepsi SHOULD be trying to get a soccer deal, instead. Mess.

 

[BertramCooper]

Coke still has a huge advantage among restaurant chains, which almost certainly has a far bigger impact than stuff like sports league sponosrhips.

 

[LyleLanley]

I can't wait for the cross promotional Mountain Dew x Doritos Slam Dunk contest.

Blake Griffin's going to jump over a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi at the next dunk contest. He'll be crowned the winner before he lands.

 

[ActStriker]

'sugary soft drinks' in America is dying a slow death anyway, and Coke remains the ww brand. Pepsi SHOULD be trying to get a soccer deal, instead. Mess.

They have Lionel Messi.

 

[Sephzilla]

Coke still has a huge advantage among restaurant chains, which almost certainly has a far bigger impact than stuff like sports league sponosrhips.

Yep, Coke has the big four of the fast food chains

 

[mreddie]

Coke still has a huge advantage among restaurant chains, which almost certainly has a far bigger impact than stuff like sports league sponosrhips.

Pretty much this. The Freestyle I think is one of their advantages.

 

[The Lamp]

Pepsi had Spice Girls.

The only good thing coke ever had was Jordan.

Who had Scottie Pippen, Shasta?

I still love this commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhNMKV2PRW0

 

[XiaNaphryz]

'sugary soft drinks' in America is dying a slow death anyway, and Coke remains the WW brand. Pepsi SHOULD be trying to get a soccer deal, instead. Mess.

Coke still has a huge advantage among restaurant chains, which almost certainly has a far bigger impact than stuff like sports league sponosrhips.

PepsiCo isn't just soft drinks though, most of their drink sales are actually from their non-carbonated stuff, and a major portion of their overall sales are in the snack market (i.e. Doritos and Ruffles as mentioned in the article). Don't they have like 40-45% of the US market alone? Not sure on the international numbers.

 

[Lmo911]

Cherry Coke Zero is the best cola.

Everyone stop the thread! This exists? Why have I not seen it!?

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Coke still has a huge advantage among restaurant chains, which almost certainly has a far bigger impact than stuff like sports league sponosrhips.

Only thing on Pepsi's side that I actively associate them together is Taco Bell and Mountain Dew.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Blake Griffin's going to jump over a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi at the next dunk contest. He'll be crowned the winner before he lands.

Next dunk contest will be Wiggins vs. LaVine

 

[The Lamp]

PepsiCo isn't just soft drinks though, most of their drink sales are actually from their non-carbonated stuff, and a major portion of their overall sales are in the snack market (i.e. Doritos and Ruffles as mentioned in the article). Don't they have like 40-45% of the US market alone? Not sure on the international numbers.

They are the #2 largest food & beverage company in the world in terms of revenue and #1 in North America. Coca-cola growth is sluggish compared to PepsiCo because they are only a beverage company, and soft-drink sales are slowing down considerably with customers focusing on health trends. PepsiCo has the advantage of marketing their foods and beverages together and doing collaboration on their foods like with what happened to Taco Bell.

 

[DoktorEvil]

Coke still has a huge advantage among restaurant chains, which almost certainly has a far bigger impact than stuff like sports league sponsorships.

I never understood how these brand deals work.

Like I'm going to lose my shit because I received a Pepsi at my NBA game instead of Coca Cola.

Do the big soft drink manufactures realize that most people just don't really notice or care about it that much at a sports game?

 

[BertramCooper]

PepsiCo isn't just soft drinks though, most of their drink sales are actually from their non-carbonated stuff, and a major portion of their overall sales are in the snack market (i.e. Doritos and Ruffles as mentioned in the article). Don't they have like 40-45% of the US market alone? Not sure on the international numbers.

You're the expert on this stuff, so I'll assume you're probably correct.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

They are the #2 largest food & beverage company in the world in terms of revenue and #1 in North America. Coca-cola growth is sluggish compared to PepsiCo because they are only a beverage company, and soft-drink sales are slowing down considerably with customers focusing on health trends. PepsiCo has the advantage of marketing their foods and beverages together and doing collaboration on their foods like what happened to Taco Bell.

Bu-bu-bu-bu Coca-Cola still has teh restaurants...

These threads always amuse me.

Didn't Costco also completely shift over to Pepsi a year ago or so?

I never understood how these brand deals work.

Like I'm going to lose my shit because I received a Pepsi at my NBA game instead of Coca Cola.

Do the big soft drink manufactures realize that most people just don't really notice or care about it that much at a sports game?

It's more about brand recognition and associating things. A lot of people automatically associate Sprite with the NBA out of habit.

 

[DoktorEvil]

It's more about brand recognition and associating things. A lot of people automatically associate Sprite with the NBA out of habit.

I don't think fans of the NBA(or of any sport for that matter) are going to stop going to games just because of a brand deal though.

I will eat crow if that is the case and there's numbers backing that up.

 

[GaimeGuy]

PepsiCo isn't just soft drinks though, most of their drink sales are actually from their non-carbonated stuff, and a major portion of their overall sales are in the snack market (i.e. Doritos and Ruffles as mentioned in the article). Don't they have like 40-45% of the US market alone? Not sure on the international numbers.

Both PepsiCo and The Coca Cola Company are huge.
The Coca Cola Company's strength lies in its bottling and capital investments, whereas PepsiCo is more of a raw manufacturer of snack products and beverages. Not to say Coca Cola products aren't huge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Coca-Cola_brands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PepsiCo#Products_and_brands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_PepsiCo

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Wow I didn't know in the battle of the sport drinks
Gatorade(Pepsi) owned 70% of that market to Powerade's(Coke) 30%

Thought it was much closer than that.

 

[andycapps]

Wow I didn't know in the battle of the sport drinks
Gatorade(Pepsi) owned 70% of that market to Powerade's(Coke) 30%

Thought it was much closer than that.

Well in that arena Gatorade is the original and Powerade is the copy. Vice versa the cola wars.

 

[LyleLanley]

Wow I didn't know in the battle of the sport drinks
Gatorade(Pepsi) owned 70% of that market to Powerade's(Coke) 30%

Thought it was much closer than that.

Powerade always felt like the cheap knockoff of Gatorade so I'm not surprised at those numbers.

 

[Vanillalite]

 

[Rootbeer]

I just had vanilla coke zero this past weekend.

My new favorite

Also, powereade has HFCS. Give me Gatorade G2.

 

[Escape Goat]

Pepsi had Spice Girls.

The only good thing coke ever had was Jordan.

Who had Scottie Pippen, Shasta?

Dont forget Britney Spears and Bob Dole!

 

[Wizman23]

Makes sense considering they have the shittier product compared to coke. Might as well money hat all those sports leagues

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Powerade always felt like the cheap knockoff of Gatorade so I'm not surprised at those numbers.

Gatorade has the advertisements for sure but all my experience with sports the concession stands all only carried Powerade. Powerade vending machines(never seen one for Gatorade) and the lower price.

Really surprised me.