EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF SPORT AND MUSIC
Pepsi and UEFA have just revealed details of the 2023 UEFA Champions League final opening show, which will feature the greatest musicians ahead of the culmination of the world’s most prestigious club football tournament. In this article, Eric Melism, PepsiCo VP Global Brand Marketing, explores how brands can leverage the intersection of sports and music to create entertainment for fans around the world.
It’s no secret that the lines between sports and popular culture are becoming increasingly blurred. We are increasingly seeing how the once often segmented worlds of music, fashion, art and sport collide to ignite fresh, creative ideas and cultural moments. The landscape is constantly changing across platforms, channels and media, but one thing remains constant: the fans at the center of it all.
Brands must never lose sight of this. It’s no longer enough to just air a new campaign on TV or inundate consumers with information about a new product. Fans are diverse and curious, and those brands that can unlock the nuances of their interests and take action to truly understand the richness of the cultural spaces in which they play are the brands that engage with fans on a deeper level will connect.
At Pepsi, we’re obsessed with understanding how fans interact with popular culture and uncovering all the layers and nuances that make them passionate about the world. The sweet spot of sports and music has always been a space we embrace – we’ve worked with the biggest names for many years and will continue to do so, but we’re always challenging ourselves to find new, smarter and richer ways It. Brands should never rest on their laurels; and we have found that only with a tireless mindset can we create truly fresh and explosive entertainment platforms to quench fans’ thirst for life and culture.
The UEFA Champions League Final Kick Off Show 2023 offers us an opportunity to really double our work in sports and music crossover. It’s the seventh year we’ve partnered with UEFA to celebrate the world’s biggest annual sporting event with a truly unmissable musical performance, and this is our biggest year yet. It’s an opportunity to unite music and sports fans; to trigger a cultural moment that satisfies fans’ wants and needs.
This year’s performance is co-headlined by award-winning megastar Burna Boy, and the campaign features a unique blend of components: some of the most exciting musicians of a generation, the greatest force in club football, football’s most celebrated players today and – most importantly – Millions of fans around the world. It will be played across digital and social media, in the stands of Ataturk Olympic Stadium and on the streets of Istanbul, and will be broadcast on the screens of millions of football and music fans worldwide. We have the opportunity to bring all these components together in an unmissable, iconic moment; the performance of the kick-off show.
However, to talk about the most important component of all, we need to return to the beginning of this blog and revisit that one constant at the center of an ever-evolving cultural maelstrom: the fan.
This year we’re giving seven fans the opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of the performance themselves. We will literally put them on the pitch alongside our artists and in front of the world, giving them a role in one of sports-entertainment’s biggest moments just minutes before the Champions League final kicks off. Our football ambassadors Leo Messi, Vini Jr and Leah Williamson led the call for fans to attend a Pepsi TikTok Challenge – to give them a platform to express their love for football and music and to show their skills and dance moves. The best and most creative interpretations will be selected to appear on the kick-off show and become part of the story with Pepsi and UEFA. I’ve detailed how and why the fan is at the heart of our ethos, and we’re thrilled to give them the opportunity to be a part of the epic showpiece itself.
When it comes to the intersection of sports and entertainment, there are so many stories to tell, a variety of interesting ways and spaces to tell them, and a wealth of passion points that can be used to create a real connection with fans . It can be difficult to keep up with, but one thing is clear: the rapidly changing nature of sports and entertainment should be embraced. The fans don’t stand still, neither do brands and sponsors.
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