Long standing partner of UEFA and most progressive football entertainment brand, Pepsi MAX® recognises that football is more than just a game - it has the power to shape culture, from music to fashion and entertainment. For decades, Pepsi MAX® has turned football stars into global entertainment icons, and Women’s EURO 2022 allowed us to showcase the stars of the women’s game through high-impact communications, putting them on the same platform of their male counterparts. Championing inclusivity and progress within the world’s greatest sport, we used our rich heritage in football to communicate with a new generation of football fans.

Pepsi MAX® has been a proud partner of the UEFA Champions League since 2015 and announced its multi-year premier partnership with UEFA Women’s football in 2020, further strengthening its presence across the elite football landscape and showcasing its ongoing support of the women’s game. The five-year UWCL partnership meant that Pepsi MAX® would be a main partner sponsor of the 2022 UEFA Women's EURO in England.

In 2022, Pepsi MAX® recognised that despite being the world’s greatest passion, football remains an exclusive space and in the UK we had a real opportunity to challenge this narrative and champion football as a more progressive and inclusive game by celebrating the women players and the Women’s game. Pepsi MAX® invested its marketing and media capabilities into a +£7.5MM through-the-line campaign with the objective to drive awareness, fame, and visibility of the women’s game through its sponsorship of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022.

Following England’s home win and the exponential appeal of womens football that followed, brands that were there at the start of the journey have had big praise from not just football fans, but also publishers, pundits, and the footballing talent themselves.

The England football landscape has a long standing rivalry with Germany, and a long histroy of defeat within the mens game. “Its’ coming home” (referencing the trophy) is a cultural anthem within football, used regularly in national tournament moments, so our final “its home” creative was right at the heart of the national/cultural understanding.

Pepsi MAX® “Summer Game Changer” campaign puts our female talent front and centre of our +£7.5MM through-the-line campaign, shines a light on our players on and off the pitch, and celebrates the women’s game.

By comparison to their male counterparts – female athletes have very little visibility or awareness - both on and off the pitch – so we wanted to hero them during this cultural moment. It is Pepsi MAX® responsibility to make stars of female footballers in a way no other brand can. We’ve done it for years with male athletes, so Pepsi MAX® was committed to doing it with our female athletes as well. With our first all-female football line up, we showcased our talent in media, on packaging, and with our retail and AFH partners, celebrating our female athletes and dramatizing the game changing societal moment.

We knew that 73% of 18 – 34-year-olds say they would be more interested in women’s football if they knew more about the female footballers. We also knew that football is a reflection of what is happening in society and this moment represented a bigger cultural and sociatal moment for diversity, inclusion and equality.

Therefore, we wanted to create awareness of the players and deliver engaging and entertaining content to celebrate who they are both on and off the pitch placing them on the same platform of their male counterparts.

With 11.2 million Women’s Football Fans in 2022 and 34% being 18-34, we knew our Pepsi MAX® campaign needed to work for our family and ‘next generation’ audiences. We developed a 360 campaign engaging both audiences across all consumer touchpoints to drive awareness of both tournament and players by showcasing the stars of the game, through scaleable entertaining communications.

Pepsi MAX® campaign launched prior to the tournament to help drive awareness and visibility with national OOH creative featuring team captain Leah Williamson and with digital assets featuring Lucy Bronze . At the same time, retailers were stocking their shelves with 3 million cans and bottles of Pepsi MAX® featuring Lucy Bronze packaging and covering their stores with the brands first all-female line-up.

Pepsi MAX® created “Icons Unlocked” - an engaging Football Entertainment web series that shines a light on star players and celebrates the Women’s game.

At the Final, Pepsi MAX® sponsored the Final Show, a performance that brought music and sports fans together to celebrate the momentum of the women’s game (506MM impressions). After the match, Pepsi MAX® celebrated the historic moment by projecting onto iconic British landmarks: It’s Home. Cast onto White Cliffs of Dover and in five of the footballers' hometowns.

The 2022 Women’s EURO was the most watched Women’s EURO ever at 365 million in live viewership globally. The Women’s EURO Final had the highest attendance ever for any EURO final (men’s or women’s) at 87k+. The UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Final Show by Pepsi MAX® achieved a global audience of 21M. Icons Unlocked achieved 30 million impressions, which exceeded plan. Overall PR reach delivered 321 pieces of media coverage with 506+ million earned media impressions.

Pepsi MAX® GB saw +1.3ppts Volume Share Gain of Cola, +£16MM RSV absolute gain and highest value share of No-Sugar Cola YTD at 39.6% in August. Pepsi MAX® also saw its highest ever score in Situational Salience in with +39ppts full year uplift and 268 index vs Category Average. Finally, Pepsi MAX® indispensable brand rating is two times category average. Showcasing the impact of being front and centre of this cultural moment.