PepsiCo has launched a digital miniseries, leveraging its NFL sponsorship in a celebrity cookoff on Vox Media’s SB Nation and Eater sites.
Former NFL stars Greg Jennings, Nick Mangold and Rashad Jennings were utilized for the series, showing off their cooking skills and battling for the champion title in PepsiCo’s culinary competition. In the three episode series, each athlete was challenged to prepare game day dishes using PepsiCo food and beverage products as ingredients – from Doritos to Tropicana, Sabra hummus to Naked Juice, Tostitos to Quaker Oats.
PepsiCo brought in celebrity chefs Anne Burrell and Josh Capon, as well as its own executive chef, Stephen Kalil. Hosting the competition was Kay Adams of NFL Network's Good Morning Football.
The winning dishes are to be featured on Buffalo Wild Wings’ menu at Minneapolis’ Mall of America during Super Bowl weekend. PepsiCo has also earmarked a $25k donation to NFL’s Kick Hunger Challenge, and will sponsor the NFL’s Party with a Purpose, which raises money and awareness for the fight against hunger.
“PepsiCo’s snacks and beverages have been staples of Super Bowl parties for decades and Game Day Grub Match takes it to the next level, bringing the worlds of food and football together in a really fun way,” said Chef Kalil. “The athletes brought their A-game to this competition and I was really impressed at what they cooked up – especially under the pressure of a time clock and heckling judges like me!”
Omnicom's Content Collective and OMD assisted with development of the miniseries.
Vox Creative's has hit the ground running in 2018; earlier this year, they worked with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the Mirror Mirage immersive experience.