Pepsi to shine out in 10-year $100m ad deal

LONDON - Pepsi's logo will shine out from the centre of a 287ft Ferris wheel, visible from miles away, as part of a $100m (£51m) deal it has signed to sponsor Meadowlands Xanadu, the largest retail and entertainment complex in the US.

The 10-year advertising deal includes wheel-naming rights, pouring rights within most of the complex and marketing support for Xanadu.

It marks Pepsi's biggest outdoor advertising deal to date and, while not as big as the 443ft high London Eye, the ferris wheel will shine red, white and blue for miles around in East Rutherford in Bergen County NJ.

The giant LED screen on the Ferris wheel, called the Pepsi Globe, will show the soft drink's logo, but is also expected to show other Pepsi images.

The $2.5bn Xanadu complex in New Jersey is the most expensive mall in the US and the third largest retail and entertainment complex in the world. It offers over 4.8m square feet of entertainment, sports, retail, office and hotel space. The complex will also include the first domed artificial ski slope in the US.

It was scheduled to be completed last year, but due to cost overruns and delays the date has been pushed back to November this year.

Pepsi has agreed to distribute 450m specially designed Pepsi cans that carry images of the Pepsi Globe at Xanadu.

The deal also includes a 10,000 square foot indoor area where consumers can experience a range of Pepsi trivia and memorabilia, such as displays of old Pepsi ads through the years.

Cie Nicholson, chief marketing officer of Pepsi-Cola North America, said: "It's a way to connect with consumers in a non-traditional way. There are 50m people that will come to the venue and another 40m will be driving by."

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