Pepsi is taking one of its most famous competitive plays – the Pepsi Challenge – to advertising’s biggest stage, with a 30-second spot set to air during Super Bowl LX.
Details shared position the move as more than a one-off Big Game stunt: it’s a strategic “reset moment” designed to echo across the Super Bowl and throughout the rest of the year.
The creative was led by the PepsiCo Content Studio and BBDO, signalling a polished, brand-building push rather than a quick cultural cameo.
The Ad: One Sip, One Crisis, One New World
First teased on 25 January, the ad centres on a cola-loving polar bear whose reality tilts on its axis after he picks Pepsi Zero Sugar over Coke Zero during a version of the iconic taste test.
That single choice becomes the story’s spark – and the joke – as the bear spirals into a full-blown identity wobble. In the spot, he ends up in a psychiatrist’s office, trying to process what just happened, before stepping into a world where Pepsi Zero Sugar drinkers are everywhere and choosing “the other cola” is no longer the default assumption.
The premise is deliberately cheeky, but it’s also doing serious brand work: it reframes the idea of “choice” as something consumers can rethink, reassess and reappraise – even if they’ve been loyal to a competitor for years.
Taika Waititi Steps In – As Director and Psychiatrist
Pepsi didn’t keep the storytelling modest. The spot was directed by filmmaker Taika Waititi, who also appears on screen as the polar bear’s psychiatrist, adding a knowing wink to the ad’s “existential crisis” humour.
The soundtrack leans into the same theme of breaking away from old habits, using Queen’s “I Want To Break Free” to underline the bear’s newfound (and slightly unsettling) enlightenment.
There’s also a pop-culture nod woven into the mix: the ad includes a reference to the infamous Coldplay “kiss cam” moment that dominated conversation last summer. In other words, Pepsi is pairing its heritage challenge format with a very current sense of internet-era memory – built for replay, reaction and social commentary.
Why the Polar Bear Matters
The polar bear is not a neutral casting choice – it’s a pointed one. While Coca-Cola first used polar bears in advertising as far back as 1922, the animal became a truly prominent mascot for the brand from 1993 onwards.
Pepsi’s decision to centre a polar bear in a Pepsi Challenge narrative is, by design, a playful act of competitive theatre: a visual shorthand for taking on the category leader, while inviting consumers to question assumptions they’ve carried for decades.
Pepsi’s framing is that the polar bear isn’t switching teams because of branding, nostalgia or habit – he’s responding to preference data. In that sense, the bear becomes a stand-in for the consumer who tries something with an open mind and surprises themselves.
The Pepsi Challenge: From 1975 to a 2025 Reboot
The Pepsi Challenge first launched in 1975, built around a simple proposition: ask consumers to compare Pepsi and Coke without “the labels, the names, and the bias,” as press materials describe it.
The format became one of marketing’s most enduring competitive templates – a live, physical demonstration that was easy for people to understand and hard for rivals to ignore.
Pepsi has revived the concept multiple times over the years, most recently in 2025 with a nationwide taste-test tour. This latest Super Bowl iteration doesn’t just bring the challenge back – it turns up the competitive volume by putting the polar bear front and centre, making the rivalry feel immediate, visual and culturally loaded.
“A Big Reset Moment” – And a Bet on Zero Sugar
Pepsi’s Vice President of Marketing described the campaign as a big reset moment and a big idea that consumers will see not only throughout the Super Bowl, but across the remainder of the year.
The strategic logic is clear: Pepsi Zero Sugar is described as driving growth for the business ahead of the category and becoming one of the brand’s key growth engines, prompting Pepsi to double down.
That phrasing matters. Pepsi isn’t positioning this as a defensive move; it’s leaning into an offensive narrative – that its zero sugar variant is gaining momentum, and the Pepsi Challenge is the proof mechanism designed to convert curiosity into a confident switch.
The Numbers Behind the Noise
Pepsi Zero Sugar may be growing, but it’s still chasing a larger rival. Beverage Digest data shared that during the first nine months of 2025, Pepsi Zero Sugar held a 1.4% share of the carbonated soft drink market, compared to Coke Zero’s 4.6%. The gap is real – and Pepsi isn’t hiding it.
Instead, the brand is leaning on growth velocity as the headline: Pepsi Zero Sugar increased its volume by 18.1% over that period, compared to Coke Zero’s 4.8% increase. Pepsi also shared that Pepsi Zero Sugar delivered 30.8% growth and reached more than one million new households, framing the product as an expanding contender rather than a niche alternative.
And then there’s the bold claim at the heart of the Pepsi Challenge messaging: citing results from the 2025 Pepsi Challenge, it has been said that Pepsi is the best-tasting cola in the market, confirmed by 66% of Americans – with the campaign messaging pushing the idea that everyone (including the bear) has the right to choose better.
A Super Bowl Regular, With a Fresh Playbook
This isn’t Pepsi Zero Sugar’s first trip to the Super Bowl spotlight. In 2023, the brand ran ads featuring Ben Stiller and Steve Martin as fourth-wall-breaking spokesmen, directed by Jorma Taccone.
In another notable effort, Pepsi enlisted Missy Elliott and H.E.R. to reimagine The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” leaning into the visual contrast between Pepsi Zero Sugar and Coke Zero cans.
The Super Bowl LX campaign builds on that history, but shifts the core tactic. Instead of celebrity-led persuasion alone, Pepsi is anchoring the story in a competitive “proof” framework – the taste test – then wrapping it in humour, cultural references and a mascot-style character that can travel easily across formats.
Beyond the Big Game: “Edutainment,” Social, and Sampling
Pepsi is extending the campaign well beyond a single 30-second airing. The wider push spans out-of-home, linear, social, creator content, podcasts and other channels both before and after the Super Bowl.
To amplify the message, the brand plans to lean into “edutainment” content – material designed to educate and entertain consumers about the Pepsi Challenge results, effectively turning product comparison into an ongoing content series rather than a one-night event.
There’s also a social giveaway planned on X during the Super Bowl, a complimentary Pepsi Challenge kit delivered via Gopuff, and polar bear appearances across social media – plus in-person visibility in the Bay Area during Super Bowl week.
It’s a full-funnel approach: mass awareness on game day, repeated reinforcement across platforms, and hands-on trial built into the activation layer.
A Challenger DNA Moment
Pepsi’s rationale for bringing the challenge back is rooted in identity as much as performance. The brand describes the Pepsi Challenge as a proven success – in the past and in the present – and a way to embrace its challenger DNA.
In a market where habits are sticky and loyalty can be inherited, Pepsi is effectively saying: the fastest way to change minds is to remove the labels, run the test, and let the result do the talking.
Conclusion: A Taste Test Reborn for a Modern Rivalry
With Super Bowl LX as its launchpad, Pepsi is reviving the Pepsi Challenge in a form that feels built for today: a polar bear borrowed from the cultural territory of its biggest rival, a Taika Waititi-directed storyline that turns one sip into a comedic identity crisis, and a multi-channel rollout designed to keep the conversation alive long after the final whistle.
Backed by growth claims for Pepsi Zero Sugar – even as it trails Coke Zero in overall market share – the campaign frames choice as something consumers can rethink, reassess and upgrade.
In short, Pepsi isn’t just running an ad during the Super Bowl; it’s attempting a year-long narrative reset, with the taste test once again positioned as its sharpest competitive weapon.
