{"id":50705,"date":"2026-09-12T11:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/?p=50705"},"modified":"2026-09-12T11:48:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:48:29","slug":"jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pepsi has officially launched its 2026 football campaign, &#8220;Tailgating Deserves Pepsi,&#8221; marking its 26th consecutive season as an official partner of the NFL. The national commercial rollout unites Super Bowl XL champion Jerome Bettis and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pepsi Flag on Flavor: Tailgate\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-9fA4PXcqZM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the opening television spot, Bettis acts as an official gameday referee. He blows his whistle and throws penalty flags whenever tailgate favorites like burgers and wings are served without a cold drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jefferson enters the play to provide a highlight-worthy assist. Pepsi plans to air two additional commercials set in family homes and grocery store aisles during key NFL broadcasts this fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To build excitement for kickoff week, the company released a digital coupon offering 5,000 free 12-packs of Pepsi Zero Sugar between September 9 and September 14, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both stars bring proven commercial value and historic milestones to the campaign. Bettis, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, previously led prominent brand endorsements for GMC and Campbell&#8217;s Chunky Soup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Jefferson, the 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year who signed a record-setting four-year, $140 million contract extension, continues to expand his commercial resume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alongside deals with Oakley and Under Armour, Justin Jefferson recently <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/justin-jefferson-jared-goff-and-george-kittle-front-little-caesars-2026-nfl-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">starred in Little Caesars\u2019 2026 football spots<\/a> and teamed up with <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/celebrity\/drake-maye\/endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drake Maye<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/celebrity\/jaxson-dart\/endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jaxson Dart<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/josh-allen-fronts-pizza-hut-and-pepsis-new-gameday-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">front a collaborative NFL apparel campaign from Abercrombie &amp; Fitch and Fanatics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The campaign highlights Pepsi\u2019s regional footprint across 15 NFL teams, including a newly signed partnership with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Pepsi holds a long history of high-profile sports and entertainment partnerships, working with icons like <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/celebrity\/david-beckham\/endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Beckham<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/celebrity\/lionel-messi\/endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lionel Messi<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/celebrity\/peyton-manning\/endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Peyton Manning<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The beverage giant recently reinforced its football presence when <a href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/josh-allen-fronts-pizza-hut-and-pepsis-new-gameday-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Josh Allen fronted Pizza Hut and Pepsi&#8217;s new gameday campaign<\/a>, keeping the soda brand central to fan food traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pepsi\u2019s decision to pair Jerome Bettis with Justin Jefferson demonstrates an intentional cross-generational strategy. By placing Bettis in referee stripes alongside Jefferson, Pepsi connects with older fans nostalgic for Bettis&#8217;s championship years while engaging younger viewers drawn to Jefferson\u2019s modern star power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Focusing the creative directly on tailgate foods like burgers and wings positions the product where actual consumption happens: backyard barbecues and living room watch parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With game viewing spread across multiple broadcast and streaming networks, anchoring a campaign around universal food rituals gives legacy sponsors an authentic, repeatable connection to fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Does pairing a retired Hall of Famer with an active superstar drive better ad recall than solo athlete features? Can food-pairing marketing help legacy beverage brands protect shelf space against newer functional and energy drink competitors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pepsi has officially launched its 2026 football campaign, &#8220;Tailgating Deserves Pepsi,&#8221; marking its 26th consecutive season as an official partner of the NFL. The national commercial rollout unites Super Bowl XL champion Jerome Bettis and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson. In the opening television spot, Bettis acts as an official gameday referee. He blows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,11,19,15],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-50705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaigns","category-endorsements","category-football","category-sports","tag-beverages"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pepsi has officially launched its 2026 football campaign, &#8220;Tailgating Deserves Pepsi,&#8221; marking its 26th consecutive season as an official partner of the NFL. The national commercial rollout unites Super Bowl XL champion Jerome Bettis and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson. In the opening television spot, Bettis acts as an official gameday referee. He blows [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Booking Agent Info News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-12T11:48:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-12T11:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Timeyin Mammah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EvergreenWrites\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Timeyin Mammah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign","og_description":"Pepsi has officially launched its 2026 football campaign, &#8220;Tailgating Deserves Pepsi,&#8221; marking its 26th consecutive season as an official partner of the NFL. The national commercial rollout unites Super Bowl XL champion Jerome Bettis and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson. In the opening television spot, Bettis acts as an official gameday referee. He blows [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/","og_site_name":"Booking Agent Info News","article_published_time":"2026-09-12T11:48:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-12T11:48:29+00:00","author":"Timeyin Mammah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EvergreenWrites","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Timeyin Mammah","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/"},"author":{"name":"Timeyin Mammah","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7f77b56ef3d8294c3f63279ba9ad5ed6"},"headline":"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign","datePublished":"2026-09-12T11:48:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-12T11:48:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/"},"wordCount":446,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Beverages"],"articleSection":["Campaigns","Endorsement Deals","Football","Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2026","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/","url":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/","name":"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-09-12T11:48:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-12T11:48:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/jerome-bettis-and-justin-jefferson-star-in-pepsis-new-nfl-campaign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jerome Bettis And Justin Jefferson Star In Pepsi\u2019s New NFL Campaign"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/","name":"Booking Agent Info News","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Booking Agent Info News","url":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-2.png","width":396,"height":274,"caption":"Booking Agent Info News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7f77b56ef3d8294c3f63279ba9ad5ed6","name":"Timeyin Mammah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bookingagentinfo.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5248b70a412589f5d9580574f841d56dd3a1f83644275960402105a9f8bfa498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5248b70a412589f5d9580574f841d56dd3a1f83644275960402105a9f8bfa498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Timeyin Mammah"},"description":"Timeyin Mammah is a sports and entertainment writer with bylines in The Difference News, The Pointer Newspaper, Business Hallmark, and The Diplomat. 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