Five-year-old bottler Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages will air its first ever TV commercial locally this Sunday during the NFL Super Bowl broadcast to attract potential job candidates. The 30-second spot will air in Oklahoma and Texas, where Coke Southwest operates. The background music is the song, “Happy,” played on Coke bottles. A broader campaign will include billboards, radio, and social media, according to the bottler.

Coca-Cola is taking a low-key approach in the US market to the Olympic Games, which started late last week. “Due to the recent surge of COVID cases as well as various business conflicts, including our earnings date, there will be no executive leadership presence at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games, following the same procedure from the previous Olympic Games,” according to a Coke statement. “The Company will activate the Games through our local, on-the-ground team in China who continue to follow local COVID-19 health and safety guidance.” Activists have called on Coke to boycott the games due to alleged human rights violations by the Chinese government.

PepsiCo has invested $15 million in Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund for to help bolster recycling infrastructure to reduce packaging waste.

Aluminum packaging maker Ball has committed 95% of its 2023 can production capacity to customers, executives said during a Jan. 27 fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

Gatorade signed Jackson State football quarterback Shedeur Sanders to a Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) endorsement deal, the brand’s first signing of an athlete from an historically black university. Sanders is the son of former college and pro football superstar Deion Sanders, who now is Jackson State’s head coach.

Walmart recently unveiled a new store design intended to make “Walmart a destination where customers want to spend their time,” according to the company. New elements include lighting, space enhancements, and dynamic digital displays. More details can be found HERE.

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola were once again awarded the top two spots respectively in Kantar Retail’s annual supplier PoweRanking for 2021. The two have held those slots for six years now. PepsiCo placed first in all nine metrics for the ranking, “leveraging a clear strategy, strong insight development and by bringing a “category-first” approach to retail partners,” according to Kantar. Among retailers, Walmart was ranked No. 1. Separately, Coca-Cola was ranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2022 list of World’s Most Admired Companies, down from No. 22 last year. PepsiCo ranked No. 40, down from No. 39 last year.

Waterdrop has raised $70 million to further expand globally and fund research and development, according to the Austrian-based maker of enhanced beverage tablets that was founded in 2016. The brand expanded into the US last year with dissolvable tablets that contain no sugar and include botanical ingredients.

PepsiCo and Boston Beer have added a Baja Blast flavor to the coming late February launch of Mtn Dew Hard Seltzer. The companies had previously announced three flavors for the launch.

As BD flagged in October, PepsiCo’s hemp seed oil infused Rockstar Unplugged has been launched and is now in market. The beverage has a lighter caffeine profile at 80-mgs than typical energy drinks and contains no sugar. Ingredients include lemon balm and spearmint. 

In a newly released Lifetime network documentary, Janet Jackson said she lost a pending endorsement deal with Coca-Cola following 1993 child sex abuse allegations against her brother and pop superstar Michael Jackson. That was the same year PepsiCo ended a now storied nine-year endorsement relationship with Michael Jackson.

Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has joined a $30 million investment round secured by the founders of Olipop probiotic sodas.

A Wells Fargo report estimated that Super Bowl spreads this year will be +8% to +14% more expensive than last year. According to data cited from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of a 2-liter bottle will have jumped about +12%, while a 12 pack of cans will be +6% higher.