The Super Bowl is one of the largest, most-viewed sporting events in the world, and there is no greater intersection of entertainment and sport than the halftime show. This work used breakthrough technology to immerse fans in what is widely considered one of the most historically-significant Super Bowl halftime shows in history, and give them access to this momentous occasion through an innovative experience that connected them to the performers like never before.

The 2022 Super Bowl halftime show was poised to be historic: the first-ever Hip Hop headliners at the Halftime Show and the first time Hip Hop had ever had an ensemble performance anywhere, led by Dr. Dre who would lead an all-star cast of west-coast rapper at SoFi stadium in LA, a stone’s throw away from where Dre helped to pioneer West Coast Hip Hop back in the early 90’s.

This was the hottest Super Bowl ticket in a generation. And a hip hop homecoming on one of the world’s biggest stages. But unfortunately, a stage that only a tiny percentage of fans would get to witness live, leaving many long-time fans feeling left out of this historic moment for the genre.

So, using technology, how could we give these deserving fans access and get them into the stadium? Or even better, get them on stage!

Pepsi teamed up with Verizon to create an interactive 360 mobile second-screen experience that transported fans directly onto the stage, giving them unparalleled access to the halftime performance they’d been waiting a lifetime for. While others watched on TV, The Pepsi Halftime Ultra Pass gave them the power to choose from nine different 8k 360 cameras, directing their own experience and moving around the epic stage as history unfolded right in front of their eyes. In fact, the only way you could get any closer to the action was if you were holding the mic!

By giving fans greater access to this unprecedented halftime show, The Pepsi Halftime Ultra Pass helped bridge the divide between the privileged few and the masses, which was especially important in a year when the NFL’s place in American culture was being questioned by a growing chorus of cultural commentators.

And specifically for Verizon, it was a powerful way to demonstrate the stability and superiority of their 5G Ultra Wideband network as it livestreamed the entire performance across the country in real time – a technological feat on a scale that had never been attempted before – the most data the network had ever live-streamed per second.

We used breakthrough technology to give fans unparalleled access to one of the most historically important Super Bowl Halftime Shows in a generation. We covered the stage with nine 8K 360 cameras and beamed an insane amount of data over the Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network to fans around the county as a fully interactive, second screen experience. Fans who couldn’t score tickets to witness the historic event live, were able to go one better by directing their own half time experience. They used their mobile devices to navigate from camera to camera, following Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige up close as they created Hip Hop history together.

Almost half a million fans used The Pepsi Halftime Ultra Pass during the show, essentially expanding the capacity of Sofi Stadium by 714% so that no fan was excluded from this historic moment in hip hop history.

The app skyrocketed to #2 on the Apple App store.

And in the process, we live-streamed more data-per-second over the Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network than ever before, proving its undisputed title as the most reliable 5G network in the country.