Britney Spears will appear in NFL Kickoff Live 2003 on September 4 following a $35 million campaign leading up to the event. The NFL hopes to generate Superbowl-like buzz allowing the league to bookend the season with mega-events, Spears will appear in ads promoting the event and will also perform an hour long concert prior to the kick off of the New York Jets/Washington Redskins game. Also performing will be Mary J. Blige and Aretha Franklin.
Advertisers are getting into the game with Pepsi putting up $2.5 million to place its Pepsi Vanilla as a presenting sponsor.
“We think for the N.F.L. to try to create a Super Bowl-type event at the beginning of the football season, to bookend the season, is credible,” said Dave Burwick, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola.
“This event happened to coincide quite nicely with the launch of Pepsi Vanilla,” he added. “It’s an opportunity to create interest in our product at a time when people are re-engaging in the N.F.L.”
With Britney Spears on top of the Yahoo and Lycos search popularity lists following her Elle spread, the event will, no doubt, be a success.
